Demonstration plant gasifier in Hultsfred - Emå Dairy

Emåmejeriet (Emå Dairy) is a local producer of milk and dairy products in Hultsfred. The plant is owned and run by the farmers themselves. They have a strong local and environmental profile with their slogan "Milk from your area". They have installed a gasification plant where the wood is converted into heat and electricity. 

From oil to woodchips

"Milk from your area" is the  slogan of Emå Dairy.The milk is collected from the local farms in Hagelsrum, Virstad, Fröreda, Torsjö Manor and Ålatorp, which provides short transport journeys and thus a reduced environmental impact. To produce their own electricity and heat from local biofuels lies entirely in line with the plant’s focus on local production. The choice of switching from an oil-based heating system to a gasification plant is due partly to a reduced tax relief for the manufacturing industry. Other reasons have been the ambition to meet consumer's growing environmental awareness, but also because the existing heating system is in urgent need of refurbishment.

By replacing the old oil boiler to a micro scale power plant in the form of a thermal gasifier (Volter), Emå dairy will become virtually self-sufficient in heat. In addition, local electricity will be produced, covering about 20% of the electricity demands. A thermal carburetor provides high electrical efficiency, good controllability and a reasonable investment. 

An accumulation tank will manage the shifting heating requirements during the day. The demands for a high flow temperature of the heat were such that there was only one supplier that could guarantee the specifications necessary for the production of heat to the Emå dairy.

Combined dryer and fuel storage

Fuel availability is a very important parameter when the carburetor works optimally with a coarse fractionated and dry fuel, which are in relatively limited supply in the area.

The solution to this problem was to construct a combined dryer and fuel storage based on demountable containers for flexibility and scalability. One factor that made the dryer economic is that the model Volter ™ has a ventilation connection for low-temperature waste heat, which makes it easy to use low-grade heat for drying.

Volter

The plant is a combination of gasification and combustion, which provides high efficiency. The fuel consists of wood chips. The generator gas can be used for combustion in the burner for the boiler, or used as motor drive for the electricity generation.

Download the fact sheet