At Axair we’re familiar with supplying industrial fans for use within renewable energy generation and offer a range of fans specially designed for use in Biomass fuel applications. These fans range from low to high pressure including those for materials handling and high temperatures.
The simplest Biomass heaters burn chipped Biomass materials such as wood, straw and elephant grass and use medium pressure blowers such as the Sodeca CMP, CMR and CMA ranges to provide combustion air. The energy produced can be used to heat water or air and in the latter case, Axair can offer quiet, low-pressure centrifugal fans for space heating in the BD range.
This week we look at the top things to consider when selecting industrial fans for use within biomass and biofuel generation.
If using an industrial fan for use in a heavy application, the fan selector must ensure that there is enough pressure generated by the fan to achieve the desired results. For example in wood chip applications, we must consider how much there is and how thick it may be. With the correct pressure, in this example, the woodchip can be dried effectively to pass on to the end user.
When selecting the fan suitable, it is important to recognise the type of installation. Is the industrial fan to be installed directly into the equipment to produce or extract air? Using the example of a wood chip burner, an industrial fan may be attached to the machine to pump air and therefore increase the temperature. The right industrial fan will need to be chosen for the project.
If the life expectancy of the project is around 20 years, an effective maintenance programme is essential. It is important to know how often to maintain and check the industrial fan components in order to keep the equipment running smoothly and to its optimum performance.
Control is important because it can be set for the benefit of the application. In the instance of wood chip boilers, the fire could be blown out if it is too strong and would also lose the fire if not strong enough. Setting efficient control may also assist in achieving cost effective saving on energy consumption and can be done automatically saving time in the future.
If using heat exchangers, the temperature will be too hot for certain industrial fans. It is very common for high temperatures in biomass applications. Therefore the selected fan must be suitable for the application.
The right selection of air volume helps with the heat transfer in biomass applications. Too much and the heat cannot be felt, too little and there would be too much heat. Not only will the desired effect not be achieved but energy could be wasted in the process.
For more information on industrial fans suitable for biomass applications visit our applications page here or contact us on 01782 349 430.