The Innergy group and the Finnish Saalasti receive two accécits.
Expobiomasa, the International Bionenergy Fair, has awarded the 2019 Innovation Award to the German company Pallmann for its EcoPulser project, an innovative mill that crushes wood using 'shock waves'.
Likewise, the jury - which valued the innovative nature, originality and efficiency of the 32 finalist projects - granted two accésits, one to the Valencian multinational Innergy, for its new Bio-Bloc generator; and another, to the Finnish Saalasti, for the innovation presented by its latest generation press, the Press 1803 Hippo model.
The jury was made up of representatives of the National Confederation of Installers and Maintainers (CNI), the Revista de Rehabilitación, Reformas y Eficiencia Energética ANERR-News, the Centro de Desarrollo de Energías Renovables (Ceder-CIEMAT) and the Asociación Española de Valorización Biomass Energy (AVEBIOM).
Savings, efficiency and quality
The new Pallmann wood crusher, EcoPulser, can grind around five tons of wood per hour, with only two 22 kW engines each, which allows to generate energy savings of 80% in relation to those of the conventional 'mills'.
As it is a non-sustained breakage model in the physical contact of its parts, it reduces maintenance costs to a third. In addition, in the crushing it does not produce wood dust, so it prevents the formation of ATEX (flammable gases or vapors) and the aspiration system consumes between 10% and 20% less energy. EcoPulser is a team for producers of pellets, briquettes, chips and generation plants, as well as wood recyclers.
As for the innovative Bio-Bloc of the Innergy group, which will make its worldwide presentation at Expobiomasa, it is a new thermal energy generator using hot air turbine technology from biomass and waste. With a compact and transportable design, it allows to eliminate the boiler or pressure equipment, as well as water or oil as heat transfer fluid to move the turbine.
The second prize awarded to the Finnish Saalasti responds to the innovation of its latest generation press 'Press 1803 Hippo', which is 35 times more efficient than the previous ones in the mechanical drying of biomass for energy purposes, since it allows drying a ton with some 25kWh Its use can mean annual savings of millions of euros, also preventing the emission of thousands of tons of CO2.
Technology and environment
The director of Expobiomasa and secretary of the jury of the 2019 Innovation Award, Jorge Herrero, has assessed very positively “the high quality of all applications submitted to this year's call, which are at the forefront of new technologies in terms of energy efficiency, demand for comfort from users and contribution to the maintenance of the environment ”.
Herrero stressed that both the award-winning project and the two accésits are examples of the “very important technological development that manufacturers are achieving, reinforcing the competitiveness of the biomass sector against fossil fuels, the savings offered by new equipment for users, as well as the greater prominence of biomass as an indispensable renewable energy in the fight against greenhouse gas emissions ”.