Visit to the Gasification Pilot Plant
On June 21st was held at the headquarters of the Fundació CTM Centre Tecnològic (Eurecat-CTM), member of the Tecnio network, the Ecorkwaste Open Day organized in the framework of the 25th anniversary of the LIFE programme.
During the meeting different key aspects of the project were presented and the participants had the opportunity to visit the Gasification Pilot Plant that has been built within the framework of the project. The visit was led by Jordi Macià and Frederic Clarens, both from Eurecat-CTM, and Santiago Sahuquillo, from the engineering company Typsa.
The technology selected for the Gasification Pilot Plan was a downdraft reactor because fits better to the requirements of the cork sector. The following actions have been implemented during its building process: cork waste characterization, design and construction of a downdraft gasification reactor and syngas conditioning system and testing of potential industrial applications for ashes.
The expected results of the Gasification Pilot Plant are the integration of automatisms and software and the feasibility and sustainability of the pilot plant operation. In terms of energy production, it is expected a result of around 10kWe and 20KWth from approximately 10Kg/h and the production of recycled/valorised ashes from a gasification process of around the 98%.
Regarding the specific technical results, the Ecorkwaste project aims to study the by-product absorption of selected contaminants and by product physical properties for gasification purposes. The project also seeks to demonstrate the construction of a gasification pilot plant based in a downdraft reactor with energy recovery and the generation of more than 2 kW/h of thermal energy for each kg of waste cork (treatment capacity of 10 kg/d).
Around thirty people attended Ecorkwaste Open Day. They saw first-hand the advances in the construction and operation of the Gasification Pilot Plant with cork and also listened and discussed several presentations highlighting key aspects of the development of the project and the Life programme.
The first presentation and the welcome were held by Dr. Miquel Rovira, to show the actions from Eurecat-CTM about circular economy. To present the LIFE program, Biel Quer, spoke about LIFE programme features. The next one was Joan de Pablo, who spoke about the Ecorkwaste project. Then, was the turn to visit the Gasification Plant.
Patrícia Jové, from Institut Català del Suro, made a tour about the trajectory of 25 years of projects in the cork and winery sectors. Finally, Clara Santamaria, from INNOVI, presented the LIFE project Vineyards for Heat, and Jordi Morató, from UNESCO Chair on Sustainability at UPC, presented the LIFE project REAGRITECH.
