Bouygues Energies & Services, the company responsible for the engineering and construction of the UK’s largest waste-to-energy gasification plant currently underway at Hoddesdon in Hertfordshire, has selected Saxlund International, part of the Trention AB energy and environmental technology group, to provide the critical Push Floor fuel storage and discharge bunkers for the new facility.
Under the contract Saxlund is responsible for the design, installation and commissioning of two crane fed fuel bunkers with shear walls constructed in steel, together capable of handling the 96,000 tonnes of refuse derived fuel (RDF) required by the plant each year. These will receive, store and discharge RDF to twin conveying streams feeding the gasifiers at the plant.
Central to the design is Saxlund’s state-of-the-art Push Floor technology which ensures ‘first in first out’ design principles limiting the opportunity for the fuel to degrade or compact. The reciprocating action back and forth across the floor of the bunker continuously breaks up the material, preventing any build up or bridging, ensuring consistent and measured delivery of fuel to the discharge point.
Matt Drew, Managing Director of Saxlund International said: “This green energy project, just 22 miles North East of London, will be a landmark facility for gasification in the UK. We are delighted that Saxlund equipment has been selected for the fuel handling and storage system. Continuously developed over many years and in use at dozens of waste-to-energy sites across Europe, Saxlund push floor technology is ideal for handling RDF and we are completely focused on delivering a highly resilient, robust and reliable solution for Bouygues Energies & Services.”
Jean-Christophe Perraud, CEO of Bouygues Energies & Services, said: “This contract once again confirms Bouygues Energies & Services capacity to deliver a large, complex industrial project in the energy infrastructure sector and I am delighted we have Saxlund International as our technology partners here. Furthermore, this project will work towards achieving energy independence in the United Kingdom via the production of a local source of energy”.
The £60 million 10 MWe facility developed by AssetGen Partners, the largest of its type in the UK, will employ gasification technology designed by Biomass Power Limited, based in Stafford, and is due to commence operations in the first half of 2017. Once operational, the plant will output 76,000 MWh of green electricity to the grid each year, enough to meet the annual energy demand of approximately 7,000 homes.
