Service key to success of waste-to-energy project: Perkins supplies additional engines for landfill power generation application

Together with its Belgian partner for electrical power generation projects, E. Van Wingen NV, Perkins Engines has recently supplied an extension to the electrical power generation capacity, at Belgium's largest landfill site.

The installation of six new power generation modules employing 90[degrees] V configuration versions of Perkins' 4000 series engines at the Mont-Saint-Guibert waste site brings the total to 13. Six of the existing seven modules date from a contract supplied in 1996 by Perkins and E. Van Wingen, (EVW), based in Evergem, a suburb of Ghent.

The power generation modules employ the 16-cylinder 4016 TESI spark-ignited gas engines (3.82 L/cyl., bore 160 x stroke 190 mm) built and adapted to landfill gas at Perkins works in Stafford, U.K. Driving Leroy Somer generators, each generator set produces 700 kW at 1500 rpm. Output voltage at the generator terminals is 400 V, which is stepped up to 11 kV for distribution to the Belgian national grid. With a combined output of over 9.5 MW Mont-Saint-Guibert delivers more than 200 million kWh to around 20,000 homes in the area, EVW estimates.

Mont-Saint-Guibert is operated by CETEM, a division of U.K. waste disposal specialists Shanks plc, and receives 300,000 tons of waste annually. The landfill gas produced is filtered and then compressed prior to cleaning, drying and screening so that the proportion of methane in the gas is around 50%. Since February 2003, CETEM reports the site has stopped accepting industrial waste, and the distinction is being made between poor and rich gases. Rich gases will contain more methane and will serve to fuel biogas engines. For the poor gases, Shanks is considering burning them to dry the sludge from wastewater treatment plants and then using the briquettes to fuel another installation that could be capable of generating another 4 MW. Initially, six 4016 TESI modules were installed in 1996, followed by a seventh module in 2002, bringing the total electrical output of the site to 5 MW. In the same year the original six engines underwent a 35,000 hour major overhaul, on the basis of which EVW and CETEM determined that the engines' life cycle could realistically be extended to 80,000 hours. At the time of writing, the oldest engines had logged over 45,000 operating hours, and are proving to be real workhorses, Perkins and EVW note. The recent engine commissioning is the result of a follow-up order placed by CETEM in 2003.

The Mont-Saint-Guibert site is expected to carry on producing sufficient gas to operate engines for the next 20 years, long after it ceases to accept household waste. Perkins notes that the landfill gas version of the 61 L displacement 4016 TESI engine is well suited to installations where there is good gas maturity. For installations where the amount of gas precludes the use of larger power modules, the company is developing and introducing a higher efficiency, low-emissions module, like the smaller, six-cylinder 4006 TESI landfill gas engine. Rated 402 hp at 1500 rpm, it can be used at sites before and after the normal 15 to 20 years of gas maturity, maximizing site life and enhancing potential revenues from electricity generation.

Perkins explains that E. Van Wingen has been a major instrument in helping it develop a presence in the European power generation marketplace. As a niche operator, putting the emphasis on service and quality, the company has built up a portfolio of installations across a variety of applications, including the extremes of landfill sites and horticultural installations. In total, the Belgian company has purchased and packaged over 1500 engines for these applications. It has assisted in the field-testing of a number of new Perkins engine ranges, including the 2800 series, 2300 series and the 4000 series diesel and gas families. The validation work in the field has meant not only shortened development times but also improved quality of the final product, Perkins stated.

Under Perkins' OEM partners philosophy, it works with specific OEMs that specialize in providing total support to the customer and end-user. Perkins and EVW signed the first OEM partnership agreement in 2002, representing a charter to formalize commitment to the end-user, the companies stated. The agreement underlines the pursuit of excellence in customer support, described in a mission statement endorsed by both partners. Under the agreement EVW takes the full Perkins product range (400 to 4000 series), and the staff are trained across both diesel and gas products. Customers benefit from having competent engineers at hand, Full overhaul and maintenance programs and guaranteed genuine Perkins parts.

Jean-Pierre Van Wingen, general manager of EVW notes that organization and service are keywords. "Our solid know-how is backed by our dynamic team of well over 40 staff and the off-the-shelf availability of- spare parts."