Dürr Systems, Clean Technology Systems (CTS), has completed the installation and commissioning of what it says is “the world’s largest ventilation air methane/coal mine methane (VAM/CMM) oxidation and utilisation project at the Gaohe coal mine.” The mine is owned by the Lu’An Coal Mining Group in Shanxi Province, China. This project was formally put into operation in May 2015.
The project enables 8.9 million Nm3 methane/y to be used for power generation, reduces greenhouse gas emissions by 1.4 Mt/y of CO2e and significantly reduces the amount of coal dust particulates, a major source of air pollution. Methane’s global warming potential is 25 times more than that of CO2
Up to 1,020,000 Nm3/h of ventilation air methane and 60,000 Nm3/h of coal mine methane are thermally oxidized in the project using Durr’s Regenerative Thermal Oxidizer (RTO) technology.
Up to 300,000 Nm3/h of hot exhaust gas is delivered to a boiler to generate water steam which is used for the generation of up to 30 MW of electricity by a turbine generator.
Dürr Systems, CTS has also engineered, built, installed and commissioned the first full-scale VAM oxidation system in the USA, which has been successfully operating since 2013. Furthermore, the company has begun the engineering phase of several new VAM/CMM oxidation and utilisation projects throughout China.
| Technical data | |
| Regenerative Thermal Oxidizers included: | 12 |
| System square footage: | 250,000 |
| Process flow: | 1,020,000 Nm3/h of VAM and 60,000 Nm3/h of CMM |
| Available generated electricity: | Up to 30 MW |