Jenbacher Engine Picked For Wood Power Plant

INNIO said that one of its Jenbacher J412 gas engines will be at the core of a wood power plant for EnergieWerk Ilg GmbH, based in Dornbirn in the Austrian province of Vorarlberg.

EnergieWerk Ilg will now expand the plant, built by the Tyrolian company SynCraft three years ago, by adding an additional wood gasifier and the Jenbacher J412 gas engine that will generate an output of 500 kW. The 12-cylinder J412 has a bore and stroke of 145 x 185 mm.

While wood power plants are a well-known and highly efficient technology for the conversion of wood into gas and subsequently into heat and power, they are technological challenging, INNIO said. Despite repeated efforts, many concepts have failed to be operational for serial production to date. This is not the case with the Stöcken wood power plant in Dornbirn, Austria, which has been in commission since 2016 and will now being expanded.

Delivered in April 2019, the Jenbacher gas engine has been tailored to meet the needs of wood gas and is expected to start operation by the end of the year. In addition to the power generated, the facility uses the engine’s waste heat as well as the heat emerging from the gasification process. This is how the facility achieves a total efficiency of more than 90%, INNIO said. Furthermore, every operating hour yields around 20 kg of valuable charcoal, which can be used for barbecues, animal feed supplementation or soil fertilization.

INNIO’s Jenbacher gas engine business unit has explored the use of special gases like wood gas for decades. With the contract awarded for EnergieWerk Ilg generating power from wood gas has come full circle for INNIO Jenbacher, having collaborated successfully with the Schwaz-based technology company SynCraft since 2008.

“Having collaborated with INNIO Jenbacher for many years, we are happy to be able to demonstrate our forward-looking technology internationally,” said Marcel Huber, founder and managing director of SynCraft. “As wind and sun are not always available as renewable energy sources, energy generation from renewable resources like wood is an excellent addition.”

The harmonized and optimized systems of SynCraft and INNIO Jenbacher will soon be used in other international projects in Japan and Germany.

“The fuel-flexible Jenbacher gas engines can deliver reliable performance with efficiencies of more than 90% with special gases,” says Carlos Lange, president and CEO of INNIO. “INNIO supports customers with tailor-made solutions and takes into account all major parameters—ranging from special gas requirements, specific emission standards and the electrical and thermal efficiency rates required to the individual economic criteria.”

Based on special gases, INNIO’s Jenbacher combined heat and power technology offers economic and ecological benefits. So far, total capacity for Jenbacher special gas engines delivered globally totals more than 11 GW.