OPRA Turbines at e-EUBCE

OPRA Turbines participated in the virtual European Biomass Conference and Exhibition (EUBCE) on 7th July 2020. EUBCE is a well-established international conference tackling various areas of biomass, including conversion of biomass to energy. The focus of this conference was the Bioeconomy’s role in the post-pandemic economic recovery. When moving away from COVID-19, the economic recovery plan can accelerate the decarbonization of the energy system whereby advanced bio-fuels and renewable hydrogen can be complementary to solar and wind power.

Thijs Bouten, OPRA Principal Combustion Engineer, presented a paper on “Experimental and Numerical Investigation of the Application of Fast-Pyrolysis Oil in a Gas Turbine Combustor” during the conference. The paper covers the latest state-of-the art developments related to pyrolysis oil application in OPRA’s low calorific fuel combustor. The work of OPRA is supported by various project partners in the EnCat project. This includes novel numerical methods for accurate simulations on the combustion phenomena in the combustor and advanced measurement techniques for fuel spray characterization. The paper also includes the test results of the optimized gas turbine combustor, whereby the capability to efficiently burn 100% biomass derived, commercially available pyrolysis oil is extended from 70-100% load to 30-100% load.

Thijs shared his experience in participating in a virtual conference: “The setup of the virtual conference fortunately allowed for interaction with the speakers, in this way, you are still attending a conference and not just watching a video. A major advantage of the virtual conference is that you do not have to select the room you are in to attend a session. You can easily switch rooms and watch back a presentation that you missed while attending another session.”

Why EUBCE event was important for OPRA?

OPRA’s mission is to drive the world’s energy transition. The application of fuels from (biomass) waste streams in high efficiency CHP installations can complement the energy transition. The EUBCE is a forum for technologies enabling the transition away from fossil fuel economies, which is fully in line with OPRA’s mission. Therefore, OPRA also participates in the ERA-NET EnCat project, where we can push limits by innovation through collaboration. The consortium of universities, research institutes and companies strengthens the innovative environment by collaboration of experts in various areas relevant to pyrolysis oil production and its applications.