Biomass is a general term used to describe a variety of materials including wood chips, pellets, saw dust, milled switch grass, corn stover, etc. From a material storage and handling perspective, these materials can exhibit various handling challenges. Materials such as milled corn stover are very light and often exhibit nesting tendencies that result in discharge issues from hoppers and silos, whereas materials such as woodchips exhibit strong interlocking tendencies. Pellets may undergo attrition and generate dust, which can pose an explosion hazard. Municipal Solids Waste (MSW) is a feedstock which has flow characteristics that are similar to biomass materials. As such, MSW feedstocks also experience similar flow issues during handling. Whether it is feedstock receiving, stockpile reclaim, silos or feed hoppers, or feed-systems to pressurized reactors, unless properly designed, these systems can experience flow problems such as flow stoppages, limited live storage capacity, feed rate limitation, etc. Similarly, if the feeder and transfer chutes are not designed properly, they can result in flow problems. These problems in the feedstock receiving area can be avoided by properly designing or retrofitting the storage and handling systems.
We have been at the forefront of developing reliable feedstock handling technology for various types of biomass feedstocks including corn stover, switchgrass, miscanthus, woodchips, sawdust, pellets as well as MSW and other waste steams. Typical handling applications involve receiving of feedstock at the plant, storage of feedstock, handling in the yard, feeding to drying process, feeding to size-reduction as well as feeding to pressurized reactors or boilers.
Learn more about our novel Jen-Zero™ technology for reliably feeding biomass and waste feedstocks into pressurized environment.
Watch video below about our work with the Los Alamos Labs on creating a smart chute to handle biomass in a commercially viable means.
Biomass and MSW Industry Services
- On-site review of interlocking/flow issues
- Biomass flow properties testing
- Silo, feeder, and chute design
- Pneumatic conveying testing of biomass
- Lock hopper, pre-steamer vessel design
- Solids pump® or mass flow screw supply
- Structural design of storage silos or bins
- Modeling of prototype biomass process
- Licensable Jen-Zero™ technology for feeding into high pressure environment
Whether you are reclaiming biomass for co-firing or direct combustion, feeding bio-feedstocks for thermochemical reactions, or converting biofuels or recycled content into syngas or liquid fuels, Jenike & Johanson can help you achieve reliable material flow and required throughput.
