Fumes to Fuel
Climate Technologies is the exclusive distributor worldwide for the combined VOC abatement and power generation technology known as "Fumes-to-Fuel, which can turn your air pollution abatement problems into an energy-producing asset.
Overview
Volatile Organic Compounds ("VOC's") are produced or released in a wide variety of industrial and commercial processes. Substantial EPA regulations require that these compounds must be abated (reduced or eliminated) to mitigate their impact on human health and the environment. State and local governments as well as regulatory agencies similar to the EPA require abatement in most industrialized countries throughout the world. The cost impact of installing and operating the equipment necessary to meet these regulationsis being felt in many industries that deal with VOCs, such as:
- Paint Operations and Manufacturers
- Ethanol Production
- Fiberglass Product Manufacturing
- Chemical and Petrochemical Industries
- Oil Refining
- Printing Processes
- Pulp and Paper
- Adhesives and Resin Manufacturing
- Engineered Wood Products
- Coating and Laminating Operations
- Semiconductors and Electronics
Traditional methods of abatement capture the VOC emissions and burn them in natural gas-fired incinerators, because they are present in concentrations too low to sustain combustion on their own. These abatement incinerators (also known as thermal oxidizers) for a typical industrial application commonly cost from 0.7 to 5 million dollars to build, and could consume natural gas valued at 0.5 to 1 million dollars annually.
Fortunately, Climate Technologies can now offer you new VOC abatement solutions that reduce your up front and operating costs, improve performance, and can even provide electricity and marketable greenhouse gas and emissions credits as byproducts.
An Efficient and Cost Effective Alternative
In 2003, engineers and scientists from Detroit Edison ("DTE") and Ford Motor Company worked together on a method to capture VOC emissions and concentrate them sufficiently in a fluidized bed concentrator so that they could be used as a fuel source or condensed and recycled. The fuel could then be utilized to generate energy, as opposed to the vast consumption of energy in the typical abatement process.
The joint venture between Ford and DTE Energy culminated in successful Fumes-to-Fuel technology ("F2F") alpha testing in 2003 at the Ford Rouge plant in Dearborn, Michigan, and beta testing at the Ford Michigan Truck plant in Wayne, Michigan. Ford and DTE have received substantial US and International patents protecting the concept of Fumes to Fuel.
The F2F system earned Ford the US Environmental Protection Agency Clean Air Excellence Award in 2003.
Climate Technologies participated with Ford and DTE in the conceptual design, development, and acquisition of the hardware required to complete the alpha and beta tests, and currently hold the exclusive worldwide licensing rights to market the patented technologies.
Cost and Benefit
The equipment costs of a traditional abatement system are usually about 10-20% higher than a F2F system. The benefit of the F2F system is derived primarily from the avoidance of natural gas fuel costs to destroy the VOCs. Once captured and concentrated, the VOCs can be condensed and recycled, burned without the need for natural gas fuel to generate process heat, or burned in an engine or reformed and used in a fuel cell to generate electricity. Ford has estimated that the F2F life cycle cost is 20-35% of the cost of a traditional VOC abatement system based upon the historical price of natural gas.
Fumes to Fuel Resources
Read more about Climate Technologies Fumes-to-Fuel system and how it can cleanly convert your VOC emissions to valuable electrical power. Note: All documents are in Adobe PDF format.