Emerson solutions help customers convert biomass to low-cost energy

Emerson Process Management, a business of Emerson, is expanding its energy management portfolio with new technologies and services that help companies and municipalities convert low-cost waste and biomass into renewable energy more efficiently and reliably, with lower carbon emissions.

As regulatory agencies increase renewable fuels standards and governments consider renewable energy and carbon management legislation, Emerson’s technology and plant automation and control solutions are helping customers convert biomass or waste fuel – whether waste gases from a petroleum refinery, hydrogen from a chemical plant, biogas from potato waste at a french fry plant, or wood waste from a pulp mill – into steam and electrical power.

In the United States, for example, the industrial sector accounts for nearly 30 percent of the energy used nationwide and 27 percent of the country’s carbon emissions.

“Biomass-to-energy conversion is the fastest-growing segment of the energy business,” said Steve Sonnenberg, president of Emerson Process Management. “Faced with high energy costs and environmental goals, our customers recognize they can retrofit decades-old plants to convert their own waste streams into environmentally friendly and low-cost sources of power, which is a plus to both the environment and their bottom line.”

Emerson’s new combustion optimization technology uses Model Predictive Control (MPC) and other algorithms to determine the heat release of biomass and waste fuels. With this capability, the combustion can be optimized to the highest potential efficiency and the waste fuel can be maximized to minimize the cost of energy and reduce emissions. This provides the most affordable and environmentally friendly operation available in the industrial energy market.

“With this technology, many of our customers are operating on renewable energy up to 95 percent of the time,” Sonnenberg said.

Seattle Steam, a district heating facility that provides heat in the form of steam to 200 buildings and hospitals in Seattle’s central business district, turned to Emerson’s new combustion optimization technology when it decided to rely on low-cost urban wood waste to provide energy for downtown Seattle.

“We have reduced our annual carbon emissions by 60 percent since turning on the new biomass facility that uses wood instead of natural gas,” says Stan Gent, president and chief executive officer of Seattle Steam. “We are looking at upgrading the control systems at all of our existing facilities to achieve additional efficiency gains.”

Emerson’s energy solution includes biomass and waste fuel combustion optimization technology that provides automatic, real-time process adjustments based on changing quality and availability of alternative fuels, costs of alternate and fossil fuels, emissions, and process constraints. Emerson also provides energy monitoring and controls to spot unusual energy usage, identify opportunities to improve energy efficiency, and manage operations based on real-time energy costs.

Emerson also leverages its wireless measurement technologies in its energy management programs to reduce the installed cost of monitoring instruments and to allow more measurements in tougher places. In fact, wireless measurements are being installed at approximately a third of the cost of traditional hardwired implementations.

Biomass currently provides more than 3 percent of the total energy consumption in the United States, with U.S. government studies* predicting biomass could supply up to 15 percent of U.S. energy demand by 2030.

Emerson Process Management is a leader in renewable energy, working with hundreds of biomass-to-energy industrial customers, advanced biofuel companies converting cellulosic feedstocks into premium fuels, and commercial power generators converting wind, solar, and hydro power and biomass into electricity. Emerson has a dedicated staff of experienced energy consultants who assist customers with identifying opportunities, developing alternate fuel solutions, and implementing overall sustainable energy programs.

* “Biomass as Feedstock for a Bioenergy and Bioproducts Industry: The Technical Feasibility of a Billion-Ton Annual Supply” (U.S. Department of Energy Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Environmental Science Division, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Forest Service, and USDA Agricultural Research Service)

About Emerson Process Management
Emerson Process Management, an Emerson business, is a leader in helping businesses automate their production, processing, and distribution in the oil and gas, refining, chemical, pulp and paper, power, water and wastewater treatment, mining and metals, food and beverage, life sciences, and other industries. The company combines superior products and technology with industry-specific engineering, consulting, project management, and maintenance services. Its brands include PlantWeb, Syncade, DeltaV, Fisher, Micro Motion, Rosemount, Daniel, Ovation and AMS Suite.