Biomass CHP Plant Güssing - A Success Story

ABSTRACT: A steam biomass gasification process has been demonstrated in Güssing, AT. The combined heat and power (CHP) plant has a fuel capacity of 8 MW and an electrical output of about 2 MWel with an electrical efficiency of about 25 %. Wood chips with a water content of 20- 30 % are used as fuel. The plant consists of a dual fluidized bed steam gasifier, a two stage gas cleaning system, a gas engine with an electricity generator, and a heat utilization system. The start up of the plant was in January 2002 and until September 2002 2500 hours of operation with the gasifier and the gas cleaning system and 750 hours of operation with the gas engine could be reached. The overall performance of the CHP plant is very good, however, some minor problems had to be solved. The most important parts operate quite well only the cooler of the producer gas had to be improved. In Austria and also in other European countries there are currently good conditions for an economical operation of an CHP-plant based on biomass due to high prices for green electricity. Nevertheless, further efforts have to be done to reduce the investment as well as the operating costs. The producer gas has a high amount of H2 and CO and is therefore also well suited for the production of synthesis gas.