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Project name:

Austrian company active in the food industry seeks sustainable solutions for combusting a gas mixture and using the resulting heat in existing plants

Status: Idea
Creation date: 10-10-2022

Project objectives:

Short summary The company located in the region of Lower Austria produces and sells food products generated from processing fruit seeds. A solution is being sought to utilize a gas mixture (arising as waste product) in a combustion chamber. The goal is to make this gas stream harmless to humans and the environment. The company is looking for plant engineers who are experienced in gas combustion. A technical, a manufacturing or a research cooperation agreement is envisaged.

Full description The company is active in the food industry and aims to implement sustainability standards in their processing line. During the processing of fruit seeds a gas mixture consisting of hydrogen cyanide (HCN), acetone and 2-butanone is generated, affecting the environment and the health of humans if released into the air. Therefore, they seek a solution to extract this gas mixture from a reactor by means of a vacuum compressor followed by suitable gas combustion to transform it into harmless products. The process generating products from fruit seeds represents a solid extraction carried out as a batch operation with a total reaction time of 4-6 hours. At the beginning of the reaction process, the volatile components hydrocyanic acid, acetone and 2-butanone pass into the gaseous phase and have to be extracted with a vacuum pump in order to ensure that the pressure in the reactor remains constant. As it is a biological starting product, strongly fluctuating starting concentrations are to be expected. After a reaction time of about 2 hours, large amounts of water vapor are produced, which is loaded with small amounts of the same substances found in the initial peak. Accordingly, extraction and treatment of this water vapor must also be taken into account in the process development in order to avoid the release of harmful substances in the environment. An additional requirement of the solution sought is that the heat resulting from the combustion of the gas can be used in existing plants. Therefore, the heat of the mass flow exiting the combustion chamber is to be recovered by a heat exchanger. This energy is to be used to heat the reactor in which the described reaction takes place. The reactor shall be heated by water heating. Companies best suited to develop the solution sought are engineering companies or plant manufacturers having experience with vacuum plants and waste gas combustion.

Technical Specification or Expertise Sought Technical data for combustion: - The process that produces the waste gas to be burned is a batch process. - Per batch, 3000-3500 kg of feedstock are treated with a residence time of 6-9 hours. - Since the feedstock is of biological origin, the concentration of pollutants to be combusted varies greatly. - The maximum amounts passing into the gaseous phase in theory are 16 kg HCN, 4.8 kg acetone and 6 kg 2-butanone. - At the beginning of the process a strong peak has to be expected to be burned. - The process is divided into 2 phases. Phase 1: Biochemical treatment in which, among other things, the pollutants pass into the gaseous phase, Phase 2: Drying. - The gaseous phase passing through the combustion chamber in phase 2 consists largely of water vapor, and the pollutants are of subordinate magnitude. In order to ensure combustion in spite of this, a back-up firing system should be used. - It is also possible to combine phase 1 and phase 2, if this would facilitate the combustion and the limits to be respected. In this case, the gas quantities given above would be mixed with approximately 250 kg/h of steam. - The company is also able to work out a certain margin with an adapted process control with regard to concentrations and volume flows. This means that certain "adjusting screws" are available to make it easier to render the gas harmless. Accordingly, an optimum operating point can be jointly worked out with regard to waste gas treatment. - In order to be able to use the heat resulting from gas combustion, the mass flow exiting the combustion chamber shall be recoverable by a heat exchanger.
Contact / source: NEXT EEN Widgets (europa.eu)

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