Solids Handling Considerations and Challenges in Pilot and Demonstration Plants

Renewed interest in biofuels and alternative fuels has led to a need to further development of solids handling feed systems for pilot and demonstration scale plants. Many solids handling systems at the pilot and demonstration scale have challenges associated with them such as bridging, deposition, pressurized feed, uniform feed rate, and temperature distribution. Companies often are required to use a continuous solids feed system, as funding for scaling up to the demonstration or commercial scale is dependent on the technical feasibility of a continuous system. However, solids feeding systems are often not available at these scales, and therefore require custom design and fabrication. This session is dedicated to sharing best practice techniques and solutions for meeting the challenges of solids handling systems.