SRE

SRE Renergi technology captures the energy content in warm flue gases, instead of simply releasing this as waste heat from heat plants fired with green biomass. By increasing the surface available for heat exchange several fold, with the aid of very tiny water drops, and leading moist flue gases across this surface, the Renergi system cleans the flue gases and increases energy efficiency by 25-30%. This means a 25-30% reduction in carbon dioxide, near particulate-free emissions, reduced sulfur emissions, and reduced odor. Their intelligent manufacturing process has cut costs providing the end-user with a pay-back period of two to three years. They currently market a standardized range of products for boilers between 1.5 and 30 MW.

 
The SRE drying system connects an extra drying unit to a flue gas condenser and uses the combined system to capture the surplus energy in smoke stacks at sawmills and pellet plants. This energy is subsequently used to dry biomass. With this system, a producer can reduce energy needed to dry biomass by 40-50%.
 
Opcon Powerbox generates fossil-free electricity from waste heat at 55°C, heat that would otherwise be lost and dumped in the closest river. The waste heat gasifies a work medium which then expands and drives a generator. One unit running year-round can deliver 3 400 MWh power, on average. Investment per kWh produced is less than half that for conventional wind power.

With SRE Renergi, the energy efficiency of a biomass-fired heat plant increases by 25-30%, significantly improving its competivieness relative to fossil-fueled power plants. The system is particularly suited for regions with heating needs and a good supply of forestry products, and which are structured to allow for district heating systems. District heating implies large climate benefits. In Växjö, Sweden, emissions per person were reduced by 30% between 1993 and 2006, mainly due to switching to district heating. Now the goal is freedom from fossil fuels altogether. If biomass-fired heat plants producing 50 TWh heat energy—equivalent to the production in Sweden today—were to use Renergi, the same amount of biomass as used by those plants could instead yield 65 TWh and reduce the end user’s need for complementary electric

heat by the same amount. Deployment at this scale in each of the European, US, and Chinese markets would save a total of 45 million tons of carbon dioxide.
 
With the SRE drying system, the climate benefits come from the large energy savings in production of bioenergy products. Currently, pellets are mainly manufactured in Canada and Europe, but the market is expanding rapidly as opportunities for replacing fossil fuels with biomass are understood. New technology that makes possible manufacturing pellets from agricultural biomass residues is expected to affect growth significantly. In many developing economies, large amounts of biomass are burned directly today, with very low efficiency. For example, China burns 200 million tons of biomass at an efficiency of 5-8%, compared to a pellet stove that uses 90% of the energy.
The system would save a large pellet manufacturing plant roughly 80 GWh per year. In terms of reduced emissions, this means 76 240 tons saved in Canada, 66 800 tons in Europe, and 96 000 tons in China. If 20 large pellet manufacturers were to use the drying system in Canada, 100 in Europe, and 50 in China, the annual emission reductions would be 13 million tons of carbon dioxide. Opcon Powerbox could produce as much as 30 TWh fossil-free power from the more than 300 TWh annually lost as waste heat by European industries. If Opcon Powerbox were used to extract just 20% of this potential, 6 TWh, in each of the industrial sectors in Europe, the US, and China, the climate benefit would be a cut in carbon dioxide emissions´of nearly 18 million tons.

The technology can also be used for generating power on board large ships. This would reduce fuel consumption by 5-10% and reduce both CO2 and NOx emissions. Today, there are roughly 90 000 ships above 100 tons and another 20 000 military ships equally large; their combined capacity is 450 000 MW. According to estimates, international shipping uses 289 million tons of fuel annually and emits roughly 920 million tons of carbon dioxide. If Opcon Powerbox were used to reduce fuel consumption by 5-10% on board one-fifth of these ships, this would cut emissions by 9-18 million tons of carbon dioxide. NOx and SOx particulate emissions would be cut too, as would be emissions of hydrocarbons. The climate benefits from these innovations would amount to 94 million tons per year, as much as the total sum of emissions from Israel and Peru.
 
 

HOW WILL SRE/OPCON REACH THE GLOBAL MARKET?

SRE/Opcon has limited resources; currently production is placed in Sweden and China only. They would like to expand primarily through local partners who need to be well-placed and informed within their sectors.
 
EXPANSION/EXPORT STRATEGY
The first SRE drying system and the first full-scale Opcon Powerbox will go online in 2008. The new drying system has already been sold for export and should have great international potential. They are also focusing more on greenhouses, in terms of flue gas cleaning and efficiency, with an eye to exports. Their goal is for exports to yield more than 40% of 2008 revenue, through financial growth and international partners, and for this share to continue growing. They are focusing on those nations that have built and are building biomass-fueled district heating systems and cogeneration plants. Shortly, they will also work with process industries, with flue gas cleaning and energy efficiency measures.
 

 

Company facts

Name:

SRE/Opcon

Business:

Fossil free energy production and products for energy efficiency

The climate innovation:

Three different innovations that enable utilization of vast amounts of energy that are today wasted in the energy production, manufacture and shipping

Climate Effect:

- 94 000 000 tons of CO2/yr

Founded in:

1992

Key persons:

SRE - CEO, Per Egeberg
Opcon - CEO, Per Hedebäck

Homepage:

www.sre.se
www.opcon.se

 

Contact

+46 (0)8 58087300
+46 (0)8 466 45 00
Svensk Rökgasenergi
Box 8263, 163 08 Spånga
SWEDEN
 
Opcon AB / SRM AB
Rotorslingan (Värmdövägen 120)
Nacka
SWEDEN

 

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