Environment-friendly biofuel – the correct choice of energy producers

Over the past decade, Lithuania has edged forward to be among the EU leaders in biofuel use for energy production. Although the solid groundwork for expanding the use of this environment-friendly fuel has been done, there is scope for more growth. That is the opinion of Giedrius Vaitkevičius, who has been in charge of biofuel boiler construction for Axis Technologies for almost 10 years.

You have been observing the processes taking place in the biofuel market in Lithuania and abroad for quite a while. What is your diagnosis of the situation today?

Lithuania has successfully solved the problem that emerged a few years ago of finding a way to cease depending on Russia for supplies of energy. Today at least 61% of heat energy is produced from biofuel that is local – grown and gathered in our country. It is true that in this field we are still far behind Sweden, but in the context of neighbouring EU countries we are among the leaders. That is a true national success story and an achievement our company can also be proud of.

We were among the first to begin building biofuel boilers in Lithuania, and we have built more than any other company, both for heating purposes and for industry in general.

In addition, we have acquired the most experience in this region concerning the construction of cogenerational power plants. Our experience tells us that the pace of production of green electrical energy in the Baltic countries is quickening. We are active participants in this process, implementing solutions that ensure both greater efficiency of the electrical energy generation plants and the highest standards of environmental protection.

What do you think about the myth still doing the rounds in Lithuania today that natural gas is also a good choice for energy generation?

This can only be asserted by countries that are deficient in biofuel and have their own natural gas resources. Lithuania imports gas, whereas our local biofuel resources are more than enough to produce 100% of our energy requirements.

Biofuel has advantages over gas in regard to the most important parameters, which are very relevant to the public, to industry and to business. First of all – the cost. Right from when biofuel first started to be used in Lithuania, this fuel was always 2–3 times cheaper than gas.

Boilers that burn biofuel do not harm the environment and they meet the highest environmental protection requirements of the EU, which are constantly being made more rigorous. Therefore, a money-conscious business that wants to find a cheaper fuel benefits not only itself but also the local community. Wider use of biofuel means that we are all breathing cleaner air.

Furthermore, the local biofuel market serves our country’s economy well. When biofuel is substituted for the imported fuel, that means a reduction of our funds flowing abroad, since they are staying in the local marketplace. The larger the local biofuel market becomes, the more local jobs are created.

On this question the global scientific community has reached consensus. The reserves of fossil fuels – natural gas, coal – are becoming depleted and the fossil fuel era is coming to an end. The future, and probably more precisely – the present, belongs to renewable energy resources. Such is the reality and there is no point trying to run away from it. Applying biofuel to both energy production and industry, rather than gas, is an economical, effective and environment-friendly solution.

To what extent can energy costs be cut using biofuel?

Our biofuel-fed boilers burn the fuel efficiently, therefore their operational costs are low. When biofuel is used to replace gas, a reduction of up to 30% can be expected in the cost of heating in urban areas; while in industry, a reduction of up to 50% in the cost of energy can be experienced. At the same time, there is a reduction in residual products and emission of air-borne particulate matter.

The highest environmental protection standards are ensured in the boilers we build by the installation of innovative multicyclone and electrostatic filters. They maximally reduce emission of contaminants into the air and they comply in all respects with the ever more stringent EU directives on emission of air-borne particulate matter. Electrostatic filters are designed to clean up combustion products that are created in the process of burning biofuel. The multicyclone filter is enclosed and its purpose is to separate flying ash from smoke.

One of the main reasons for our company’s success is that we work with reliable partners. We are agents for the Swedish company Saxlund, whose technology is famous worldwide due to its effectiveness, its suitability for a wide range of applications, its stability and its reliability.

The high-efficiency Saxlund combustion chambers are suitable for several types of fuel and fuel mixes, and the moisture content of the fuel can be up to 60%. These combustion chambers guarantee very low emission of NOx, CO and air-borne particulate matter.

You also provide solutions for the more effective production of energy.

The Innovations division of our Company is constantly creating more advanced products and improving technology. This enables us to constantly offer our customers new solutions that could make it possible to increase the effectiveness of the boilers.

Among products that ensure the more effective production of energy are the smoke condensation economiser. It regenerates energy by condensing water vapour emitting from the boiler, which is produced when biofuel is burnt, thereby increasing the effectiveness of the energy plant by up to 25%.

Axis Technologies has been operating for more than 10 years in Scandinavia, where heat absorption pumps are now becoming popular. This solution makes it possible to produce 10% more energy from the same amount of biofuel. At present we are ready to begin installing heat absorption pumps in plants that use biofuel in Lithuania.

What would you recommend to the manager of an old gas-fired boiler plant: to adapt it to use biofuel, or to build a new boiler plant?

Both options are feasible: we can to adapt the boiler plant to use biofuel, or we can carry out a new project, all the way from the planning and coordination phase to building the new boiler plant and commissioning it. The project would be planned and coordinated depending on what type of fuel it is intended to use, and we install automated systems that are easy to control.

A boiler plant may be compared to a live organism: all are similar, but each one is different. That’s why one solution is not feasible for all eventualities: each specific case has to be analysed. Only after analysing the situation can we offer an individualised solution, the most effective for the specific case.

One of our basic strengths is that we renew, we reconstruct, we work and we combine different technologies and installations into one efficiently functioning mechanism.