Avoid the Pile – Unless You Have Ecoremedy!

Even in the world of waste, feedstock can be classified as “good” and “bad.” Almost everyone can process dry wood chips, but rarely do you find someone offering to take care of cow pies and other animal manure.

If you find yourself in the market for a gasifier and have a smelly sort of feedstock, then Enginuity’s Ecoremedy might be one to consider. The modular system uses patented grating and air distribution systems to process high-moisture content feedstocks that may otherwise be unable to be converted to energy.

Ecoremedy (Courtesy: Enginuity Energy, LLC) 

Unlike other partial oxidation gasifiers on the market, Ecoremedy processes feedstocks with a moisture content of up to 65 percent and/or an ash content exceeding 50 percent without pre-drying. Cutting out this step saves money on the process of gasifying a feedstock you can already get for next to nothing.

Ecoremedy is small and scalable, ranging from 100 kWe to 35 MWe and can process anywhere from 12 to 120 tons per day, depending on moisture content and need.

So why haven’t we seen one on every acre of farmland swallowing up excess chicken manure and allowing us to frolic through the pastures unconcerned with where we land? Ecoremedy produces a low-quality syngas and we suspect it is fairly expensive. Enginuity, an engineering firm located in Mechanicsburg, Pa., has a demonstration model on the campus of Harrisburg Area Community College and invites potential investors to test out the process with their own feedstock, but has not yet been able to land a commercial contract.

Vice President of Operations and International Business Development said it best when he said, “Like everyone else, we have a line of people who want to be number two.”

Enginuity appears to be focusing its efforts on Europe because the cost of electricity is higher and gasification projects are already in existence.

Better BTU Take: This is another example of technology getting smaller and more modular and we love it. It’s a shame that Enginuity has been unable to get a commercialized plant domestically, but we think focusing on Europe is the company’s best bet.  

IST Energy – Finding Its Niche

There is a business philosophy that says you should do one thing and do it well. Find your niche, specialize in something and establish yourself.

IST Energy's GEM is modular, making for easy
transportation. Courtesy: Entrepreneur Magazine.

That’s exactly what IST Energy is doing. The Waltham, Mass.-based company has developed its Green Energy Machine (GEM), a “container-sized waste-to-energy conversion system” and is currently working on getting its first project installed at Edwards Air Force Base in California.

What makes the GEM a perfect fit for the military is its small size and modular shape, making it easy to deploy to bases overseas. The system takes paper, plastic, food and agricultural waste and shreds it before sucking out the moisture to create dense pellets. The pellets are then fed into a downdraft gasifier which yields a low-BTU syngas (approximately 180 BTU/SCF) that can be used in an electric boiler or generator.

While the flagship project was originally scheduled to be up and working in early 2011, the project has been stalled by permitting obstacles. The company made progress in December and hopes to be commencing demo activities soon.

Better BTU Take: With a price tage of $1.1million and an electrical output of 72 kWe, the GEM is still fairly expensive for the private sector. IST Energy has been smart by targeting the military, where the price of the electricity isn’t as important as the availability of it in remote locations.