AC Global Energy uses Sennebogen loader at biomass facility

A production facility owned by AC Global Energy (ACGE), Singapore, located near Knoxville, Tennessee, is designed to convert biomass into drop-in-the-tank fuel. The facility was developed as a turnkey operation for ACGE to process locally harvested pulpwood into energy products.

At the front end of the process is a log-loading station that receives truckloads of wood to be fed into a primary chipper. In the center of the loading station is a 818 M rubber-tired log loader from Sennebogen, Stanely, North Carolina, which unloads and stacks the wood, then feeds it to a helical chipper from Laimet, Laitila, Finland. The wood chips go through secondary processing before entering a patented cellulose to hydrogen process (CHyP) reactor for conversion into a synthetic gas (syngas).

The syngas produced by the CHyP process can be used in various energy applications, such as supplementing fuel in diesel generator systems, fueling natural gas generators or producing synthetic diesel fuel.

ACGE specializes in “clean energy” projects. According to John Borden, ACGE’s business development manager in North America, the Knoxville plant is just the first of multiple sites that the company foresees for other nearby centers in the future. “The system is highly scalable, but it’s also economical for smaller production sites, too,” Borden says. “Any location with a good supply of biomass nearby can put this technology to work economically.”

As the Knoxville operation ramps up in 2018, Borden says it will process 500 tons of wood per day and output up to 7,000,000 gallons of drop-in-the-tank diesel annually.  Secondary streams produce marketable coproducts, including wood vinegar and biochar, which can be used in farming to improve plant nutrition and soil health. Biochar also helps to reduce soil emissions of greenhouse gases.

The 818 M provides ACGE with a machine designed to handle multiple duties as the operation works up to full capacity. “We considered installing a more traditional stationary loader near the feed deck,” Borden says. “But we decided that a rubber-tired log loader would give us more flexibility. We equipped it with a Timber Grab SGH rotary log grapple to load the incoming wood. We also have an orange peel attachment that the 818 M can use to transfer chips. We receive some of our biomass as chips instead of logs, so the 818 M is always ready to handle those loads as well as feeding chips into the next stage of the process. It’s even strong enough to pull a decent size log trailer.”

Borden has worked the pilot team for four years. “For our loading applications, Sennebogen was always the leader, in my mind. We did our due diligence on other machines, but I saw Sennebogen’s aftersales capabilities in Stanley, North Carolina, and that was a key factor for us. The head office, parts warehouse and training center are very impressive,” he says.

“Our operators like the 818 very much, too,” Borden says. “It handles very well, and the elevating cab gives them a very direct look into the trucks they’re unloading. The first few trucks were taking longer to unload but, with some experience now, we’re down to about 15 minutes per truck.”

“I will definitely be looking to Senneboegn again when we’re ready to open our next plant,” he says. “We’re very happy with the service from their distributor here, Power Equipment. Once the CHyP process and the rest of this operation is fully verified, we will be set to repeat the program in new locations.”