The opening ceremony of the MILENA biomass gasifier was a festive occasion for everyone involved at ECN, with a large turnout of interested people and much praise from both Jacqueline Cramer, Minister of Housing, Spatial Planning and Environment, and the Chairman of the New Gas Energy Transition Platform, Ulco Vermeulen. The Minister spoke of ?a sustainable winner?, convinced that it would soon be implemented commercially.
?We?re always seeking to work together with the government and the private sector, and when they show so much interest and enthusiasm it?s very encouraging!?, said Jan Willem Erisman, unit manager ECN Biomass, Coal & Environmental research, happy with the response and the confidence shown in MILENA technology. The Minister noted that the Dutch economy could benefit substantially from this second generation biomass technology and expressed her confidence in ECN?s ability to market it.
Erisman envisages this happening quickly: ?The laboratory-scale plant has been running constantly and reliably for some time now; the new pilot plant can handle 150 kilogrammes of biomass per hour and will need to prove that it is equally reliable. In about four years? time we expect to have overcome all the teething problems and uncertainties and be able ? in collaboration with the industry ? to process some 2,000 kilogrammes per hour.? This is a challenge that can be met, according to Ton Hoff, managing director of ECN: ?The prospects are good. The technology fits in perfectly with the development of the Netherlands into the gas hub of Europe.?
Green Gas: scaleable, flexible and sustainable
A similar conviction was reflected in the words of Ulco Vermeulen: ?Biomass gasification will soon be able to be tackled on a large scale, and I think biomass will form a larger proportion of the sustainable energy supply than many of you now anticipate. In this context the MILENA gasifier is a major step forward, for one thing because the Netherlands is and will remain a gas country.? He stressed the flexibility of biomass as an energy source - put to use in second generation technology - as it can be obtained from a wide variety of residues and is therefore always available.
?Using biomass as a sustainable energy source is not a straightforward issue?, said Jacqueline Cramer. ?We need to consider quality above quantity. But there is a risk of biomass being placed on hold as an energy source if all the options are lumped together. I would be very annoyed if that were to happen with this superb technology.? After all, there is no doubt as to the sustainability of MILENA technology. ?Considering MILENA against the background of sustainability, I don?t need to think about it for long: MILENA meets all the criteria.?
Minister Cramer tipping biomass onto the conveyor
belt into the gasifier.
MILENA
MILENA fully converts biomass into gas, which, once cleaned and processed, can be used as a substitute for natural gas. Moreover, this Green Gas is CO2 neutral ? even CO2 negative if the CO2 released during production is stored. Striking features of the gasifier are the high efficiency (70 percent), the low production cost and the wide variety of residues that can be used as input.
After the opening ceremony by Jacqueline Cramer the guests were shown around MILENA and various other ECN Biomass, Coal & Environmental research unit plants and had the production of Green Gas explained to them.
