UK’s Largest Biomass to Energy Plant Gets Fuel Flexibility Boost : Wood Waste to Energy Plant Upgraded with Saxlund Push Floor

SSE Enterprise saxlund waste to energy slough wood waste biomass
© SSE Enterprise

Saxlund International has completes a new fuel to boiler supply system at the UK’s largest dedicated biomass fired Combined Heat and Power (CHP) plant in Slough.

Slough Heat & Power, owned and operated by utility firm, SSE Enterprise, installed the system to broaden the fuel envelope at the site and increase fuel flexibility. The plant is now said to be running at full capacity feeding shredded waste or waste wood chips at a rate of 25 tonnes per hour to an existing boiler.

Saxlund explained that the Push Floor system is able to feed the boiler and the additional fuel stream was designed to upgrade the fuel reception storage and screening capacity.

Lead contractor O.Kay Engineering, a specialist in waste processing technology and turnkey recycling plants, were supported by alternative fuel and materials handling company Saxlund International and were responsible for the design and delivery of the whole solution to SSE Enterprise.

The Saxlund element within the plant incorporates a new 720 cubic metre fuel reception area with live storage for approximately six hours of operation using the company’s push floor discharge solution which operates on ‘first in, first out’ principles to minimise the opportunity for stored material to degrade.

The overall system was designed and project managed by O.Kay Engineering’s in-house team of designers and project managers.

The Saxlund discharge system is at the front-end of the O.Kay system and delivers the material onto outtake conveyors which feed the material in the fuel screening system before onward delivery into the fuel hopper of the boiler.

The supplier said that the system can handle both woodchip and RTU (Ready to Use) fuels and incorporates screening of this fuel stock and removal of metals to ensure correct particle size and quality of fuel.

Material is continually weighed and the system can also be fed from an existing back up feed stock via an existing Push Floor and discharge system.

The system is able to operate from a locally mounted HMI (human machine interface) and also a computer based HMI in the boiler room all linked to the central process control network. The main handling and screening system was designed and installed to run in an ATEX 21 (Explosive Atmosphere directive) environment.

“Fuel flexibility and being able to work with changing fuel specifications is an important issue for waste to energy and biomass combustions plants,” explained Matt Drew, managing director of Saxlund International.

He added that the company has now installed equipment and solutions on three occasions at Slough Heat and Power.

Chris Battle, sales manager O.Kay Engineering Services added: “The installation presented some challenges in that three of the existing four feed lines had to be removed in stages while the plant was still running.”

“The removal of the final line and main installation could then be carried out with the resulting installation providing Slough Heat & Power with a simpler, more efficient and reliable fuel feeding system,” concluded Battle.

Read More

Waste Gasification Fuel Bunker Contract for Saxlund in Herts, UK

Saxlund International is to supply push floor fuel storage and discharge bunkers for a new 96,000 tonne per year waste to energy gasification facility currently under construction in Hertfordshire, UK.

Wood waste to energy projects to generate 26.4 MW in Estonia, Lithuania

Saxlund International, together with Axis Industries will deliver two new biomass combined heat and power projects valued at 78m Euros.

UK Wood Waste Processor & RDF Producer Acquired by Veolia

Gloucestershire, UK based waste wood processer and Refuse Derived Fuel producer has been acquired by French environmental services giant, Veolia.