The Energy Efficiency Surge

It is my opinion that the practicality of renewable energy is becoming better understood, and therefore energy investors are acquiring valuable knowledge including the fact that energy supply is not necessarily a primary issue given that since 1970, 70% of all new energy capacity requirements in the United States have been achieved via energy efficiency; not supply (ACEEE).  That being said, the increasing potential for long-term and inexpensive natural gas makes energy efficient technology the new energy focus in America. The rationale makes sense, since the holy grail of profitable and competitive business is efficiency. And, because America’s economy is only 13% energy efficient (ACEEE), the new energy efficiency frontier for industry (which uses 40% of the energy in the US), holds great promise for the resurgence of manufacturing, jobs and tax base. This efficiency effort can make the greatest economic impact to our economy, because outside of labor costs, the cost of energy and environmental compliance are the largest expenditures in industry operations. So, a relevant question arises as whether we can innovate and deploy energy efficient solutions quickly enough to make a difference to our economy?  I say, think efficiency and innovation and our economy will stop trading dollars and start creating real wealth. What do you say?

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Increasing Manufacturing Capacity in the United States

Air quality and air shed management has significantly influenced the issuance of EPA Title V operating permits for major sources of air toxics and volatile organics, because these pollutants contribute to smog and affect environmental health. This regulatory control choke point has influenced manufacturing capacity and jobs considerably in the past thirty years. The issue is manufacturing cost. Many manufacturing facilities overseas do not experience the high cost of environmental protection, however this is beginning to change. With a change in operating cost structures overseas and other emerging economic and other barriers to growth that China and India are beginning to experience, manufacturing capacity may again increase in the United States. In anticipation of a resurgence of manufacturing in the United States, cost effective and energy efficient co-generation and low cost of air pollution control technology are, in my opinion essential.

New Website Announcement for Environment & Power Systems International

Environment & Power Systems International announces our new website at http://www.vocgen.com

A proud Partner at USEPA CHP Partnership

From Pollution Control to Combined Heat and Power Technology Systems

 

ABSTRACT
Conventional pollution control technologies do just that; they control pollution to acceptable levels but provide little else in the way of economic benefits. But what if the redesign of such systems makes it possible to produce useful by-products beyond the so-called “end of pipe” controls? In the case of industrial plants required to reduce volatile organic compounds (VOC), the conventional abatement technologies include regenerative thermal oxidizers (RTOs) which have an efficiency removal rate of 98 percent and higher. Environment and Power Systems International, LLC (EPSI) has developed an alternative technology that uses the VOC-containing gases enriched with natural gas to generate both electricity and useful thermal heat as a by-product of pollution control. This paper describes the alternative technology and reviews the potential contribution to the nation’s electricity supply. Preliminary data suggests there may be 100,000 industrial facilities that might be able to take advantage of this alternative technology. If 60 percent of these facilities adopt the EPSI system by 2020, the primary energy savings might exceed one quad of energy. This is equivalent to the petroleum production that might be provided by opening the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge.

White Paper:  Laitner Sexton 2005 Final Copyright 2010

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Industrial Evolution: Sustainable Technology

Conventional pollution control technologies do just that; they control pollution to acceptable levels but provide little else in the way of economic benefits.  But what if the redesign of such systems makes it possible to produce useful by-products beyond the so-called “end of pipe” controls?  In the case of industrial plants required to reduce volatile organic compounds (VOC), the conventional abatement technologies include regenerative thermal oxidizers (RTOs) which have an efficiency removal rate of 98 percent and higher.  Environment and Power Systems International, LLC (EPSI) has developed an alternative technology that uses the VOC-containing gases enriched with natural gas to generate both electricity and useful thermal heat as a by-product of pollution control.  This paper describes the alternative technology and reviews the potential contribution to the nation’s electricity supply.  Preliminary data suggests there may be 100,000 industrial facilities that might be able to take advantage of this alternative technology.  If 60 percent of these facilities adopt the EPSI system by 2030, the primary energy savings might exceed one quad of energy.  This is equivalent to the petroleum production that might be provided by opening the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge.  See: White Paper and VOCGEN Web Site

You are invited to express your support for this emerging technology on this weblog or at The VOCGEN Group on LinkedIn.   

2010 Copyright Environment & Power Systems International

A Next Generation Energy Solution for the 21st Century

VOCGEN CHP is a “next generation” small scale decentralized CHP energy solution for industrial facilities that generate and control (abate) VOC air emissions and that can use high quality heat and electricity on site. VOCGEN is also appropriate for installation at facilities that traditionally emit VOCs without any air pollution controls, which is a net ozone reduction strategy that competes directly with the concept of emission credits. The customer value proposition is an enhanced combined heat and power (CHP) economic model that dramatically improves profitability, competitiveness and provides greater technical and operational flexibility than traditional VOC abatement equipment.

Specifically, VOCGEN represents an enhanced CHP economic model by eliminating the life cycle cost of traditional thermal destruct equipment. The voc abatement utility makes this small, yet scalable CHP solution cost-effective and quite profitable when compared to even the most efficient regenerative thermal oxidizers (RTO) offered in today’s marketplace. The latest economic feasibility studies completed for a number of Fortune 500 and Fortune Global 500 companies in various industry sectors have resulted in impressive IRR; simple payback periods of less than 2 years for 20-year projects; total systems with an overall energy efficiency of 90%; an annual operational cost of $0.00 with annual heat credits of $400,000 or greater when operating two (2) 56kWe VOCGEN gensets.

The sensible use of high Btu value solvent emissions known as VOCs as well as natural gas in small, yet scalable cogeneration systems (≥500kWe) for industry sectors such as manufacturing, petrochemical and synthetic organic chemical manufacturing industry (SOCMI) will prove a pivotal energy solution for major sources in regulated markets including Europa and North America, providing tens of thousands of legacy equipment replacement opportunities.

Some of the advanced capabilities and benefits of VOCGEN include:

1)       Rapid starts and stops for either intermittent operations, or continuous operations;

2)       Processing 6,000 cfm per genset and >200,000 cfm VOC-laden air using VOC concentrator technology or stacked gensets;

3)       The thermal destruction of typical low boiler VOC mixtures and concentrations;

4)       Advanced VOC combustor with no moving parts, media substrates or catalysts to maintain

5)       Advanced automation and control systems for high equipment availability and reliability

6)       Automated temperature controls that rapidly respond to a variety of VOC species during operation;

7)       A five-minute system start time resulting in VOC destruct readiness and energy generation;

8)       VOC destruct/removal efficiencies (DRE) that achieve USEPA MACT standards for major sources;

9)       The optional replacement of emergency standby power generators and a demand response solution

10)    The cost-effective option of utilizing liquid or gaseous fuels with “switch on the fly” capability;

11)    The offset of purchased power and fuel(s) for process and/or building heating and cooling;

12)    An increase in production reliability by adverting brownouts and/or blackout events and production losses;

13)    Significant carbon emission reductions when compared to conventional regional power generation;

14)    Avoidance of public funding requirements to make the project economically feasible and beneficial

15)    Less permitting complexity with a focus on “inside the fence” Part 70/71 Title V and stationary gas turbine emission sources

16)    A net decrease in air shed inventories of ozone and toxics

17)    An increase in manufacturing capacity, jobs and tax base

18)    Over 50 industrial applications, e.g., manufacturing, pharmaceutical, petrochemical, fuel transport, etc.

19)    Fulfillment of power utility energy efficiency portfolio requirements and joint project ownership scenarios

20)    Direct reduction in environmental health, global climate, homeland security and aging grid concerns

21)    Fulfillment of environmental and energy efficiency goals of the US EPA, US DOE and the European Commission

22)   Fuel flexible operations utilizing liquid and gaseous fuels such as natural gas, butane, propane, diesel, regular gas, Jet-A, ethanol, etc.

Contact Steve Sexton (stevensexton1@gmail.com) at Environment & Power Systems International to ask about a feasibility review and lease to own opportunities for 2012 and 2013. Initial planning strategies include installation of new, pre-certified equipment for further evaluation and planning of facility-wide replacement of legacy thermal oxidizer equipment and the transition to some level of independent CHP and optionally, grid synchronization for droop controlled distributed energy (DE).

2011 Copyright Environment & Power Systems International

VOCGEN WEB SITE

THE VOCGEN CHP ENERGY MARKET – A Wealth Generating Energy Technology for Industry

Representing an enhanced CHP economic model, VOCGEN technology is capable of pushing small-scale combined heat and power (CHP) to its full potential by replacing tens of thousands of existing industrial air pollution control systems worldwide exclusive of the need for government economic incentives. 

In the United States alone, the EPA and the States have issued thousands of Part 70 permits (Title V of the Clean Air Act) to facilities classified as major sources of volatile organics (VOC) and that deploy pollution controls to cut regulated air emissions. The VOCGEN CHP niche market in the U.S. is represented by many discrete industrial categories subject to these regulations.

The starting point for on site CHP investment is a review of market related variables or risks including technical, economic and regulatory factors. Key factors include energy prices that represent a “spark spread” sufficient to forecast the financial success of a CHP project. Large scale combined heat and power/distributed energy (CHP/DE) projects are often handicapped because they are subject to far-reaching project development criteria and permitting. Small and scalable VOCGEN CHP are however, capable of flexible modes of operation including quick start and stop functionality, representing a logical alternative technology for the replacement of existing thermal oxidizers and that can comply with existing permit conditions and requirements; power utility demand response programs; significantly reduce carbon emissions; operating with or without switch gear and grid interconnection.

Shale gas discoveries represent a tremendous potential supply of low-cost natural gas for many years to come and it seems that increasing pollution control regulations by the EPA will greatly influence the coal-fired generation industry and increase the cost of electricity.  The CHP/DE market outlook is therefore improving and may perhaps be resurrected sometime in the near future due to an improved spark spread and regulatory favorability at key deregulated States. However, simple payback and operational cost savings for proposed CHP projects are at this time not entirely compelling except in areas of the country where electrical prices are quite high.

VOCGEN CHP enhances the traditional economic and social benefits of CHP for industry by additionally eliminating the life-cycle costs of traditional air pollution controls. Bottom line results are based on feasibility studies recently completed with Fortune 500 companies revealing $400K to >$500K annual cost of operations savings for each 560kWe generator set deployed in 20-year projects; ≤2 year simple payback vs. 5 to 8 years for conventional CHP; >50% carbon emissions reduction; and >50% internal rate of return (IRR).

A recent technology comparison and economic feasibility assessment for a polyethylene laminate process produced a customer plan of action at the corporate level as follows:

YEAR ONE

1. Complete a third-party EPA VOC destruct performance test certification at the Environment & Power Systems International demonstration facility
2. Install one (1) VOCGEN CHP genset and quantify and qualify all required performance targets

YEAR TWO

1.  Replace three (3) existing thermal oxidizers at a single facility with ten (10) 560kW gensets

• VOC-laden air flow – 60,000 cfm
• 52 lbs per hour VOC loading rate – 6:00am to 5:00pm Monday – Friday
• VOC destruction at >98% destruct and removal efficiency (DRE)
• Operational cost savings for the 20-year project >$84,000,000 (USD) (calculated in today’s dollars)

2011 Copyright Environment & Power Systems International

VOCGEN WEB SITE