Design and development of a domestic wood-pellet furnace for integrating with a steam-powered micro-turbine for large-scale CHP applications

Biomass combustion, which is a growing business, is used to generate heat and power. It is a very attractive system because it provides energy at cheaper price compared to oil and gas fuels and also emits fewer pollutants into the atmosphere. As the name implies, the combustion system is fired using renewable fuels such as forest and agriculture residues. To date, the biomass combustion systems developed locally, as well as internationally, have been used mainly where there are heat demands. However, Myera Group, a Canadian company, is gradually increasing its share in the energy market. The goal of the company is to deliver professional services to active industrial sections in this field, which enhances their thermal devices from those with limited applications (mainly producing heat) to devices capable of producing both heat and electricity from biomass. These services are believed to ultimately result in increasing the versatility of their systems and optimizing their design to be used in combined heat and power (CHP) applications. However, there are still several challenges to overcome in order to modify the design of the combustion system for CHP purposes and achieve its maximum best performance, which constitute the research objectives of the project.

Faculty Supervisor:

Stefan Cenkowski

Student:

Kurt Hildebrand

Partner:

Myera Group Inc.

Discipline:

Engineering

Sector:

Energy

University:

University of Manitoba