R&D Test Facility/ Pilot Program

EPI entered the marketplace as a supplier of fluid bed technology to the wood products industry in the 1970's. While still serving that industry, EPI has chosen to expand their market with equipment to utilize new emerging fuel sources for electrical power generation and process steam production. A test facility to accommodate various fuels including biomass, tires, municipal and paper sludges, carpet scraps, garbage and industrial plastics was built to provide data suitable for design of full-scale process equipment.

Our current pilot unit reflects our dedication to new fuels and markets with a 3' x 3' square configuration (9 ft. sq. bed area) equipped with inbed and vapor space boiler tube modules. The freeboard height of the fluid bed is 24 feet, providing two seconds of residence time at typical vapor space velocities. Individually controlled overfire air ports penetrate the freeboard at six elevations to facilitate combustion staging. A seventh port, set near the outlet of the vessel, blends ammonia with the flue gas for NOx reduction testing. A close coupled hot cyclone follows the fluid bed combustor as a flue gas pre cleaner for high ash fuels. In the case of high sulfur fuel testing, the cyclone capture can be recirculated back to the combustion vessel as a hybrid design bridging bubbling and circulating fluid bed technology for efficient SO2 reduction.

Flue gases leaving the cyclone are cooled for final cleanup in a baghouse. Gas sampling ports located ahead and behind the baghouse facilitate third- party source testing to collect emission data for new source permitting purposes. EPI also maintains CEM equipment for real time emission monitoring of O2, NOx, SO2, & CO during all pilot test projects. Pilot test programs involving more than fifty different solid, liquid, and gaseous fuels and oil/gas co- firing combinations have been conducted at the EPI research facility. The combustion test rig will accept up to 4.5 MBtu/hour depending upon fuel quality. Results from pilot test programs have been the basis of design for numerous full scale plants that have ultimately achieved both emissions and performance consistent with the initial pilot tests.

Gasification testing, requiring approximately three times the fuel input per square foot of bed area to produce a fuel gas in the range of 200 Btu/SCF, is accomplished with smaller fluid test rigs available at our research center.

Energy Products of Idaho (EPI), 4006 Industrial Ave., Coeur d'Alene, ID 83815. Tel: 208-765-1611; Fax: 208-765-0503.