SOMA Engineering | Ekover

Ekover - Next Millennium Technology

SOMA Engineering designs, manufactures and assembles the complete production line for EKOVER fuel. More information about this environment-friendly technology is available at www.ekover.cz.

Production technology

The fuel base is organic waste from the agricultural industrial treatment and drying of agricultural products. With the use of our energy-saving technology of pressing without chemical additives, the base is transformed into environmentally-friendly and economic fuel.

INPUT

• INPUT
• in agriculture during the cleaning of seeds, crops, cereals, processing oil plants
• from malt houses (barley)
• from mills (cereal dust, pollard)
• from breweries (malt sprouts, stillage)
• supplementary materials
• sawdust, shavings, cut straw, hay

The waste material is loaded in a reservoir, from where it goes directly to the mould where EKOVER granules are made under high pressure. The granules are transported by conveyor belts for storage, dispatch or packing.

PROCESSING: PRODUCTION LINE SOMA

OUTPUT - EKOVER granules

The company Ekover offers to provide you with a complete technical solution, including the delivery of fuel production technology, manufacturing licence, and cooperation in the supply of raw materials, and sales of the fuel.

Fuel

The basic raw material of the pellets is organic waste from the industrial treatment and drying of agricultural products. Under the provisions of Section 14, Subsection 1 of the Waste Management Act, and the Ministry of Environment's Decree No. 381/2001 Coll., the waste is classified among vegetable fibre waste under catalogue number 02 01 03. This category is excluded from emission standards. It is assumed that the volume of CO2 gas converted into oxygen by a plant throughout its vegetative period equals the volume of CO2 released by its burning. Burning biomass, unlike burning coal, does not create the greenhouse effect.

However, EKOVER fuel is not produced from plant biomass that could be returned to fields, or used elsewhere. This is mainly waste – the result of the treatment of cereals, leguminous and oil-bearing plants, which would end up in dumps. It is completely unsuitable as field fertiliser, because it contains weed seeds, and the result would be fields rank with weeds, and the consequent excessive use of herbicides. Moreover, the material is dry, as corn is first dried and treated, and no energy is consumed for drying as with chips.

The pellets are circular granules, 6-8 mm in diameter and 10-30 mm in length. They are produced without chemical admixtures by pressing under high pressure, which results in high density and minimum volume.

The granules are made in two ways. The classic method is contingent upon drying and milling of the input material, which is energy consuming, economically ineffective and increases the price. The new technology of pressing the waste material from the treatment and drying of agricultural products does not consume a great deal of energy, thus it is very economic.

COMPARISON OF EKOVER FUEL AND BROWN COAL

	EKOVER	HNĚDÉ UHLÍ
Sulphur content	0.10-0.13%	2-3%
Heating value	14-17 MJ/kg	12-17 MJ/kg
Specific weight	550-650 kg/m³	700 kg/m³
Ash content	5%	10-30%

Comparison of heating costs by fuel type

ADVANTAGES FOR END USERS:

Exclusion from emission standards

companies that decide to use this source of energy will no longer be bothered by the volume of emissions, as these are not included in the emission standards, and they can trade emission volumes, which is an attractive financial resource.

Burning subsidies

the State provides a contribution of up to 50% (maximum CZK 70,000) of the cost of a biomass boiler (wood, chips, pellets), of environmentally-friendly types of heating and hot water production for flats and family houses using biomass.

Burning in coal boilers

the pellets can be burned easily in regular boilers, fireplaces, stoves and industrial burners, however the efficiency is around 90% in boilers designed for burning vegetable pellets.

Cost savings

considerably reduced price of the heating season below CZK 10,000 a year for an average family house maintaining the comfort level.

Price stability of the fuel

there is a reasonable assumption of price stability of the fuel, as the raw materials for its production are abundant and not made more expensive by transport distances, as the resources are mostly local.

Burning subsidies for "clean fuel"

the State provides a subsidy of redemption price for producer of electric energy who is producing an electric energy by burning clean Ekover fuel belonging to a group of "Brown biomass".

Suitable for boilers

• in power stations
• in municipal heat stations
• in biomass incinerators
• in industrial enterprises
• in households

If you request more information, please contact us: sales@soma.cz.