VALORFAT® PROCESS
S3d offers a fatty by-product energy recovery unit for agri-foodstuff industrialists (slaughterhouses, meat curing plants, prepared meat product plants etc.). The innovative ValorFat® process consists in simultaneously producing electricity and heat using vegetable or animal fat.

VIDEO PRESENTATION AND PRODUCT FACT-SHEET
Download the presentation video (wmv format, french, 6 Mo) as well as the product fact-sheet (pdf format, 6 Mo) of the ValorFat® process.

APPLICATION EXAMPLES
Recycling of slaughter by-products
Recycling of cooking oil and fat (partly consumed fuel)
Recycling of flotation fat (agri-foodstuffs industry, catering)

ADDED VALUE
The ValorFat® process comes within the framework of a sustainable development approach by contributing to reducing CO2 emissions. This technology also presents other assets in keeping with an industrial logic:

Simple to use
· On-site, compact and automatic equipment
· variable sizes depending on the tonnage (50 to 10,000 tons of fat per year)
Reliability
· all installations have a one year warranty (parts and labour)
· remote controlling of the installations
Elimination of fatty by-products
· no residual waste
· controlling of the management of fatty by-products
· cutting of the removal/logistics costs
Efficient by-product energy recovery
· production of electricity
· heat production in the form of hot water

Finally, the return on investment of the offered installations is 2 to 6 years depending on the tonnage to be processed.

PRINCIPLES
The patented ValorFat® installations combine:

Purification of fatty by-products
Conversion of fat into biofuel
Powering of a cogeneration Diesel engine
Electricity and heat production

PRESENTATION OF A FAT RECYCLING UNIT

First of all, the fatty by-products are processed to extract the pure fat. It is turned into biofuel by dilution (adding of ethanol) and by emulsification (incorporation of micro-droplets of water in the oil phase). It powers a Diesel engine whose work is converted into electricity by using a generator while heat exchangers enable hot water to be produced.
Pre-processing the fat favours its combustion, notably thanks to the micro-explosion phenomenon. This leads to a significant decrease in the NOx pollutant and particle emissions. Consequentially, the fouling of the installations is minimal, enabling reduced maintenance and high availability.

MICRO-EXPLOSION

Facility at Maillard La Bainaise (meat curing, 35)

COGENERATION ENGINES

TRIED AND TESTED
M. Patrick Coelenbier (Sales manager Saria industries Brittany):
"According to research recently carried out, almost 120,000 tons of animal fat and frying oil could be converted into biofuel per year and thus recycled energetically".

Mr. Gabriel Bonnin (Euralis):
"The ValorFat technique is exactly what I need. It would enable me to eliminate the fatty waste which costs me money, all the while cutting my energy costs."

Mr. Gilles Prat (Synertec, a subsidiary of Vinci Energies):
"This process validated by laboratories opens wide perspectives for the energetic recovery of biomass."

GASIFICATION: GAS PRODUCER
PRESENTATION
Gasification is a thermochemical process which changes biomass into biogas. This way, it enables the production of electricity and heat from organic waste through cogeneration in a gas engine. Its balanced carbon footprint and reduced pollutant emissions make it environmentally friendly.
 
The overall efficiency of this equipment can reach up to 90%, of which 20 to 35% is electricity.
 
We can therefore say that gasification is an efficient and clean organic waste energy recovery method, which enables the production of "green" energy all year round. S3d offers its expertise for the study and the implementation of equipment with capacities between 50 kW and 3 MW.
 
To do this, a collaboration between academic and industrial partners was set up. It concerns staged gasification which physically separates the various stages of the process to achieve the best results; as well as using a Stirling engine combined with a counter-current gas producer.

HOW DOES IT WORK?
Biomass gasification may be broken down into four stages:
1 - The drying period enables the evaporation of the humidity contained in the biomass
2 - Pyrolysis, under the effect of the heat, changes the biomass into a mixture of gas (methane, carbon monoxide and dioxide, hydrogen, steam and tar) and semi-coke (charcoal)
3 - partial oxidation burns part of the gas and/or semi-coke to provide the heat required for the process
4 - Reduction volatilises the remaining semi-coke into a gaseous product (essentially CO and H2).

1 ton of wood burned (NHV 3,6kWh/Kg) equals:
1,2 MWh of electricity
2 MWh of heat
up to 60% of savings on the energy bill compared to natural gas
up to 0,8 tons of CO2 avoided

GENERAL GASIFICATION PRINCIPLE

Finally, the carbon contained in the biomass is transferred entirely into the produced gases, whose heating value (NHV) equals 5 to 6 MJ/Nm3. The latter is used in a cogeneration engine to produce electricity and heat.
The only residue of the process is the ash whose quality depends on the biomass used (1 to 10% of the initial mass).
 
There are various types of gas producers depending on the nature of the fuel used and the power of the equipment.
 
For wood waste (wood shavings, wood chips), staged gasification enables the highest performance rate for the 250 kW - 5 MW range. Adding a separate pyrolisis reactor enables you to limit gas processing when eliminating particles. The installation is therefore very easy to use and highly efficient. It is coupled to a standard cogeneration gas engine.

HOW THE GAS PRODUCER WORKS


For small installations (< 250 kW), the advantage of Stirling engines is that they require little maintenance and that many different types of fuel may be used (straw, agricultural waste…). Indeed, unlike internal combustion engines, they use an external heat source to produce mechanical work. This source may either be provided by a conventional boiler or by a gas producer depending on the existing equipment.

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