Located in Chichester, United Kingdom, GSS Energy is a small
startup company that has developed a small pyrolysis unit. Housed in a 40-foot
container, the physical specs of the k500 Mobile Pyrolysis Unit may be small,
but GSS Energy hopes it will be the biggest thing from Britain since the Beatles.
Pyrolysis still falls under the umbrella of gasification
because it heats up the feedstock to convert it to a gas, which is then burned.
Unlike partial oxidation gasifiers, there is no additional air introduced in
the pyrolysis process. The procedure isn’t a new one – it’s been around for
over 100 years and is widely used in the chemical and petroleum industries, but
hasn’t been commonly used for trash disposal. Similar to other gasifiers, the
end result of a pyrolysis unit is a syngas that can be used for a variety of
things including fueling a boiler and making electricity.
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| Courtesy: GSS Energy. |
The k500 Mobile Pyrolysis Unit produces a syngas that can be
used to create electricity in gas reciprocating engines. The gasifier’s only
emissions come from using an external source (i.e. butane) to get the unit to
temperature. GSS Energy reports that at a price of $2.3 million pounds, a
developer processing 4,200 tons per year should recover his initial investment
after approximately three years.
The modular unit can generate roughly 500kW, or ½ MW. Part
of the key to its efficiency is a control system, which can be operated
remotely, and which is continuously adjusting and measuring different features
to ensure maximum efficiency is consistently achieved.
Although there is no demonstration model for the k500, a
smaller unit (k150) was built and is currently operating in Dubai. The units,
which take only five months to build and are fully operational upon delivery,
are built in Thailand and the first k500 should be available by Nov. 2012.
GSS Energy also offers a diesel version of its mobile
pyrolysis unit. It comes with an additional catalytic processor, distillate
unit and storage tanks to convert the syngas to diesel. Currently there are
four of these diesel units in use in Thailand, where the diesel it generates
from plastics is being used in garbage trucks.
Better BTU Take: This is the first pyrolysis gasifier we’ve
reviewed and we like the idea because it creates a higher-BTU syngas. We love
the modular design because it opens up the market to a lot of industrial
applications. Of course, none of this means much until we can actually see a
k500 unit in operation. GSS Energy reports that the reason it doesn’t have a
demonstration unit is because so many people were interested in purchasing
right away that there is already a backlog of orders. We’ll keep you updated
when the product rolls off the line.
