• BEA - About us
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BEA – About us
BEA offers technical services for production and combustion of
solid biofuels.
Quality control and fuel analysis
 Experts with > 20 years experience
 Contract with 80+ pellet production plants for ENplus/DINplus
inspection
 Accredited laboratory for fuel analysis
Supply of lab equipment
 for pellet plants
 for fuel laboratories

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MECHANICAL DURABILITY

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1.0 To get started – the most basic production
Control water content of raw material to keep in defined range
QUALITY CONTROL IN PELLET PRODUCTION

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1.0 To get started – the most basic production
• No stable production, very low availability of plant
• No Certification
• High power consumption, high wear
QUALITY CONTROL IN PELLET PRODUCTION

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2.0 simple quality control
Simple instruments to check few product parameters
• Results sometimes very wrong!
• Not suitable to control and stabilize production
• No Certification
QUALITY CONTROL IN PELLET PRODUCTION

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QUALITY CONTROL IN PELLET PRODUCTION
3.0 minimum quality control according
ENplus/DINplus
Product control: Fines, Oversizes, Bulk
density, Water content, Durability
Sampling once per shift
• Sufficient for Certification
• Results sometimes wrong
• Limited suitability for process control

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3.5 quality control exceeding ENplus/DINplus
• Higher sampling and testing frequencies
• Additional parameters like ash content
• Checks along the production process e.g. online moisture control and manual sampling for calibrati
• Investment in high quality instruments with improved precision
QUALITY CONTROL IN PELLET PRODUCTION

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 Reproducibility of test methods is (often) limited
 High influence of staff
 on test result
 analytical skills and understanding may be limited
 mistakes due to „boring“ routine (little validation)
 motivation (decreases e.g. night shifts)
 may get blamed when quality is out of specification
 Limited staff resources
 keeping production running first goal;
 quality control reduced when plant does not operate well
 Non-compliances may be very costly
BUT STILL, CHALLENGES REMAIN

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Automatic analyzers
4.0 online quality control systems
 Reduce human influence
 May increase repeatability (quality of results)
 May be used for plant control
 Improved quality of product (incl. reduced losses due to fines)
 Reduction of wear and energy consumption
 Man-less operation (e.g. night-shift)
 Types and principles
 Automatic analysis  Automatic sampling and analysis (online)
 Single parameters  Multiple parameters
 Physical-mechanical methods  Spectroscopy

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System for durability:
 Fully automatic sampling
 Reproducible accuracy of ± 0.1%
Advantage: fast
Disadvantage: not according
reference method
online, physical-mechanical single parameter
Source: http://www.tekpro.com/nhp300.htm

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online, physical-mechanical some parameters
System for bulk density, moisture,
temperature:
 Fully automatic sampling and analysis
 Output signals may be integrated in plant
control
Advantage: fast, reliable
Disadvantage: complex system
but still not all required parameters
Source: http://www.uny-konsult.se/Pellmes2.htm

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System for moisture, foreign matter, fuel volume
Real-time using X-ray technology
 Designed for power plants, sawmills and bio-refinaries
 Fully automatic on-line analysis
 Measures whole amount of fuel
Advantage: fast, whole amount of fuel
Disadvantage: complex system but important pellet parameters
missing
online, spectrometry some parameters
Source: www.inray.fi

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online, spectrometry some parameters
High end Real-time NIR - Technology
 Highly developed systems from other industries (food, plastics,
board and wood-panels, etc.)
 Lab and on-line analysis systems
 Many parameters possible: moisture, extractives, proteins, ash
(density, durability, energy content)
Source: www.perten.com
Source: www.buhlergroup.com

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online, spectrometry some parameters
Advantage: fast, broad information
Disadvantage:
• complex system needs high level of method
development and calibration.
• Parameters like durability determined
indirectly – change of e.g. raw material or
process need recalibration
• Parameters missing e.g. length distribution
Source: www.buhlergroup.com

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online, physical-mechanical all parameters
BEA - Development 2013-2016
Developed only for pellet industry
Only system worldwide using ISO methods
First instrument installed December 2016 –
in full commercial operation since start
2 systems are currently installed

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 100% automatic, eliminating any staff influence
 All ENplus quality requirements:
 durability
 moisture
 bulk density
 temperature
 optional: length distribution
 Documentation
 within instrument
 exchange with plant control
 and remote access
Key data

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r
interlab. comp.
STD
BEA-PPA
Bulk density 13 kg/m³ 3 kg/m³
Durability 0,17 % < 0,05 %
Moisture 0,20 % < 0,15%
Performance

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