Schnarre Engineering and Associates LLC

Comfort Letters

It’s been a long time since I last posted here, but there really has not been much to write about. The EPA has now released a handful of ‘comfort letters’ allowing state DEPs and endusers to move forward with testing and long-term usage of engineered fuels. With these latest determinations, recognizing the value in diverting waste materials from landfill, the EPA seems to be giving a green light to move forward.
For many endusers across all industries that AF equipment in place, his will allow the fast tracking of existing AF programs. Other companies just starting out that are developing a program based on fuel price alone will struggle. There are many reasons for this to be true and really justifies a separate blog attempt in the future.
CFD
As always, we highly recommend CFD modeling the process ahead of time to gain a better understanding of the current process performance. Only then can you accurately establish correct location and injection velocities of a new fuel. New fuel customers should not only spent the time evaluating new fuel options but also examine the various CFD solutions that may apply. In the end, the technology is a valuable engineering tool.
Let’s hope we can curb our fossil fuel dependance further with this latest turn of events.

EPA Solid Waste link

As mentioned earlier the EPA has updated their definitions of solid waste, which should make things easier for the industries to obtain test permit and formal revisions to existing permits allowing the combustion of waste derived materials within their process.   Key wording such as ‘processed’ allows for waste derived fuels to be re-classified as a product available to the industries.  This also avoids the complications that would arise if the companies would need to obtain an incineration permit to handle ’solid waste’.

Much more available at:

http://www.epa.gov/epawaste/nonhaz/define/index.htm#fr

Enjoy - if it has BTU and it’s none haz, let’s burn it!  Of course let’s also stay within our existing permit limits.

Back to Blog

It’s been a while since the last entry and it also indicates that there was not much to write about. Like the stalled US recovery, many of the programs that we have been involved with are also stalled. Budgets are still tight, energy prices are increasing with recent events and environmental issues are still being worked on.
There is a glimmmer of hope related to the EPA’s ruling on the definition of solid wastes. This ruling directly affects the permitting requirements for industry to burn non-hazardous waste materials. I still don’t understand why it has taken this long, and if not ordered by a judge, the EPA’s ruling would have taken even longer to be published. Why re-invent the wheel when many European have similar or even stricter regulations than the EPA’s latest round of definitions?
I will be writng more on this in the next couple of days, so stay tuned!

Benefits of CFD modeling

With tough economic times and industries that have been hit hard,  the trend for CFD usage is becoming more and more apparent.   It makes sense that now more than ever companies are looking to reduce energy consumption, increase alternative fuel usage and minimize emissions controlled by the environmental agencies.  Even in cases where companies are required to introduce SNCR, the CFD modeling becomes important to locate the injection points correctly, thereby reducing ammonia slip.

Schnarre engineering is currently working with Cinar Ltd on severall projects to meet well established objectives related to the issues already mentioned.

As an example, Cinar’s ability to track particle trajectories while monitoring their calcination levels proves to be an improtant tool when solving process related issues.

More on Cinar can be found at http://www.cinar.co.uk/.

I’m sure that this engineering tool will be considered by many as companies get back on their feet.

Global Fuels Conference 2010 - Washington DC

Vexor Technology wins ‘Global alternative fuels company of the year ‘ for more information visit http://www.propubs.com/gfc/