Carbon-neutral steam generation using biomass: A successful project in Finzelberg

Finzelberg Project:

At its Andernach site, Finzelberg GmbH & Co. KG has commissioned a modern biomass steam plant from MAWERA. The plant is fueled by regional wood chips and provides a sustainable supply of process heat for production. Finzelberg extracts active ingredients from plant-based raw materials, which are then processed into high-quality pharmaceuticals. Large amounts of heat are required for thermal processing—particularly in evaporators and drying systems. This heat is currently provided by saturated steam—in the future, the new biomass plant will take over this role entirely.

By switching to biomass, the company reduces its annual CO₂ emissions by approximately 9,000 tons—an active contribution to climate protection. A particular highlight of the project is the integrated electricity generation via an ORC module. It uses the plant’s waste heat to vaporize a working fluid, which drives a generator in the expansion engine to produce electricity. The fluid is then cooled again in the condenser—a closed-loop system for maximum efficiency.

Fuel is discharged from the bunker via a hydraulic moving floor, which impresses with its low energy consumption and high operational safety. A downstream vibrating conveyor ensures a uniform feed of the material to the trough chain conveyor. The subsequent transport is handled by a trough chain conveyor, which enables high conveying capacities even over longer distances. From the trough chain conveyor, the fuel enters the material chute and is conveyed into the hydraulic feed.

The heart of the combustion process is the SRT 8000 multi-stage grate furnace, which is specifically designed for biogenic fuels with high ash and water content. This allows for the efficient utilization of cost-effective, non-pre-dried fuels such as wood chips, bark, green waste, landscape maintenance wood, and waste wood.

MAWERA relies on durable, reliable technology in all its systems. The solid steel construction and the use of high-quality refractory materials ensure high long-term system availability—even under demanding operating conditions.

The installed biomass steam heat exchanger has a capacity of 12 t/h at a permissible operating pressure of 16 bar(g). The steam and hot water sides are equipped with specially matched components to optimally meet the requirements of the Finzelberg process.

FACTS

Turnkey steam plant with a nominal capacity of 8,000 kW or 12,000 kg/h of saturated steam capacity

FUEL: Forest wood chips, waste wood A1

SCOPE OF SYSTEM:

• Moving floor discharge
• SRT step grate firing
• Steam boiler plant with SW economizer
• Complete ash removal
• Flue gas routing & flue gas cleaning
• Second WW economizer
• Freestanding chimney system
• Maintenance platform & landings
• Electrical cabling
• Steam and water-side piping
• Piping insulation
• ORC module for electricity generation