Anyone know of a boiler that will run on Methane?

[EddyP]

I'm doing a bit of a feasibility study for one of my sites at work, the admin block is currently heated by electric convector heaters, i've worked out this is costing us approximately £14k/year.
As the site is a sewage treatment works we have a plentiful supply of methane, so i'm considering if its possible to get a combi boiler that will heat the admin block and run on this gas that we have.

Any one know?

Thanks

 

[Deleted member 105431]

natural gas is methane.

 

[EddyP]

Ok then, biogas, I know its different to natural gas, as some of the boilers we use for heating parts of the process run on it but require different burners.

 

[oilman]

It would probably be better to run a generator on the methane, and use the heat from the generator to do the heating, and you will then have a more valuable fuel in the form of electricity which you can use and sell the excess.

 

[Paul Barker]

I wouldn't expect there to be a huge difference, natural gas contains trace amounts of ethane and is adjusted with propane and butane to control calorific value but it isn't significantly different to pure methane.

However a CHP is a good move. Loads of stuff on the net about using methane in petrol and diesel engines.

 

[EddyP]

Theres already a 0.5mW CHP on site, however the heat from it is used for parts of the process on site, there isn't really any waste heat available, it may be an option to install a smaller unit in addition to it for the admin block heating though.

 

[Agile]

Theres already a 0.5mW CHP on site, however the heat from it is used for parts of the process on site, there isn't really any waste heat available, it may be an option to install a smaller unit in addition to it for the admin block heating though.

0.5 mW is such a small amount of power that you would get more by blowing down a straw!

Most worthwhile CHP industrial units are upwards of 0.5 MW ( or 500 KW ! )

Do you have to change your clothes and shower before going to the shops or a restaurant after work?

The sewage plant near Slough can be smelt for miles around in the summer! I spent a few afternoons walking round it looking for a suitable site for an MF broadcasting transmitter ( about 30 kW RF power ).

Tony

 

[WDIK]

generally they are about 200kw/ hr.

 

[WDIK]

on the subject of Biogas.

there is no specific content of methane in biogas.

tops its 60% methane.

the rest is CO2 sulphides and volatiles

you couldnt even begin to imagine exposing a low nox burner to that.

one of the after combustion precipitations are sulphuric acid crystals.


so no I dont think a combi would work on bio gas

 

[75pete]

I have never known a sawage works not to have a back-up dual fuel boiler.
if the chp is down for time the boiler would be needed or the process would be in danger.
A new pipe line to supply the new boiler should be of ss steel and the boiler should also be duel fuel or you run the risk of no heating
You are talking ££
Expect your ./. methane to be 65ish and wet

 

[D_Hailsham]

As the site is a sewage treatment works we have a plentiful supply of methane, so i'm considering if its possible to get a combi boiler that will heat the admin block and run on this gas that we have.

Many years ago I visited a sewage works which had an electricity generator powered by an engine running on the methane produced. This produced enough electricity for the complete site; the excess was sold to the CEGB.

 

[oilman]

generally they are about 200kw/ hr.

That makes no sense.

 

[EddyP]

As the site is a sewage treatment works we have a plentiful supply of methane, so i'm considering if its possible to get a combi boiler that will heat the admin block and run on this gas that we have.

Many years ago I visited a sewage works which had an electricity generator powered by an engine running on the methane produced. This produced enough electricity for the complete site; the excess was sold to the CEGB.

Which is what we do.

Apologies with the typo, its a half megawatt CHP, not a half milliwatt lol, I beleive on this particular site, its all exported to the grid not used on site.

And yes there are back up systems for when the CHP is down, this is the boilers I talked earlier.

However there is no system in the admin building.
I'll speak to the people that supply our other boilers, they might know.

 

[JPH/01]

About 25 years ago I fitted a boiler at a sewage treatment works,this had a nu-way burner designed for natural gas.
After some advise from nu-way and a bit of trial and error it ran very well on the methane harvested directly from the works.