Netpro's Experience

IISc-Netpro Open-Top Down-Draft Reburn Solid Biomass Gasifiers.

Organisations Involved in Development and Commercialisation

Government of India (Ministry of New Energy Sources, MNES, and earlier the Department of Science and Technology, DST) has consistently supported and financed the R & D and commercialisation programmes for renewable energy technologies over the last 25 years.

Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore (Combustion, Gasification and Propulsion Laboratory, CGPL) under the leadership of Prof. H. S. Mukunda carries out the research, development, design and testing programmes which provide a solid basis for all commercialisation activities.

DASAG Seuzach, a Swiss company, was the original licensee of IISc for the 100 kW range and undertook the re-engineering and design improvements of the gasifier based power plants. In addition, DASAG co-ordinated the development, pilot and field testing activities in India and Switzerland and undertook the technical and financial packaging of projects for the commercialisation of the technologies.

NETPRO Renewable Energy Ltd., Bangalore, promoted by DASAG Switzerland is now the licensee of IISc for its entire range of ratings. Netpro designs and supplies the gasification island, packages the total power plant including the engine, provides site services and the training of the customers' staff.

Decentralised Energy Systems India Pvt. Ltd., DESI Power, is a company promoted jointly by DASAG and Development Alternatives, one of the largest NGOs in India. DESI Power builds, owns and operates decentralised IRPPs (Independent Rural Power Producers) and transfers them to local partners when they are ready. It has till now built 9 commercial demonstration plants located in villages, at technical universities and in factories. It is now increasingly concentrating on building EmPower Partnership Projects in rural and peri-urban areas for supplying electricity to micro-enterprises, irrigation water to farmers and energy services to local customers.

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Field Experience

The IISc Gasifier, designed and developed by the Combustion Gasification and Propulsion Laboratory, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore (CGPL), has been engineered to thermal power plant standards by DASAG Energy Engineering Ltd. Switzerland and supplied by NETPRO,Bangalore for commercial applications.

Model of todays design, based on IISC technology - shown at EXPO '02, Switzerland

+ Click to see larger image

There are over 30 units of power gasifiers based on IISc Technologies functioning successfully all over India, and three units outside (one In Switzerland, two in Chile). The total Gasifier running experience gained during the last ten years exceeds 40'000 hours which includes around 16000 hours of power gasifier experience. The first commercial Independent Rural Power Producer (IRPP) of DESI Power (100 kWe) went into operation in Orchha, Central India, in 1996.

The plant has operated for over 13000 h with two dual fuel diesel engines of 62.5 kVA rating. Process heat from engine waste heat is now being supplied to the adjacent factory for drying hand-made paper. In January 1996, a similar Gasifier was installed in a test plant in Chatel-St-Denis, Switzerland with the support of the Swiss Federal Ministry of Energy.
Test results were very satisfactory with several types of local wood.

The plant has been dismantled after operating for over 1500 hours, 800 of which were with a gas engine delivering about 52 kW in a single fuel mode with only producer gas. Based on the results, a commercial plant built is now operational in Buel, Switzerland. Larger power gasifiers have been built in India to operate dual fuel engines of up to 500 kWe rating. A pure gas engines of 18 kWe rating is operating on a plantation near Bangalore and a 50 kWe units is expected to be commissioned in Orchha in early 2003. A 220 kWe diesel engine converted to run on pure gas is operating on the test bed in the laboratory of IISc. Several gasifiers are being used in thermal applications to replace fuel oil.

Field experiences of the operational plants have been evaluated in making design improvements of equipment, and the re-engineering the system and the 'Balance of the Plant' (BOP) of these power stations. The sand bed filters which are rather maintenance intensive have now been replaced by new more efficient washing and cleaning system. For round the clock operation, parallel streams of filters can be provided to carry out maintenance without stopping the gasifiers.

Experience of large power plant technology and conventional thermal power plant engineering have been utilised and modern quality assurance system introduced for improving the performance and optimising the cost. These steps have resulted in improving the reliability of gasification based power plants to the level of conventional coal fired power stations.

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List of IISc-Netpro Gasifiers for Power Plants Supplied by
Netpro Renewable Energy (India) Ltd.(December 2002)