Aries Clean Energy, formerly PHG Energy, has evolved its product line and focus from offering industrial fuel gas conversion equipment to providing clean energy, sustainable waste disposal solutions, and in-house R&D expertise. The company already holds eight patents in the biomass and biosolids gasification field鈥攕everal of which were used to build the world鈥檚 largest downdraft gasifier last year in Lebanon, Tennessee.
鈥淢ore companies, governments, and academic institutions are prioritizing sustainability and embracing the global transition to renewable energy,鈥� said Aries CEO Greg Bafalis. 鈥淥ur downdraft and fluidized bed gasification projects have proven themselves viable with over 50,000 hours of commercial production. We stand ready to help these institutions meet their renewable energy, zero landfill waste, and emission reduction goals.鈥�
Aries Clean Energy is addressing some of the industry鈥檚 greatest challenges with waste-to-energy. Its eight patents solve long-standing problems in feedstock diversification, cleaner synthetic fuel gas, and emission reductions.
Unlike older disposal systems that include a burning or incineration step, Aries Clean Energy鈥檚 downdraft gasification process uses a sustainable thermo-chemical process to produce a synthetic fuel gas鈥攆rom a mixture that could include wood, scrap tires, and wastewater sludge 鈥� that can be used much like natural gas for thermal applications (e.g., boilers and kilns) and the production of electricity. The process also produces a valuable by-product, high-carbon biochar, which can be used in agricultural and industrial applications. The process itself produces no emissions, ash, or odor.
Diverting biomass-based materials from landfills not only saves landfill space but can also lower waste disposal and transportation costs, while helping users meet sustainability targets. 聽In 2016, Aries Clean Energy completed construction on the world鈥檚 largest downdraft gasifier in Lebanon, Tennessee with a throughput capacity of 64 tons per day, five times greater than previous installations. The system will divert over 8,000 tons of material from landfills each year and will produce 36,000MW-hrs of electricity over 20 years.
鈥淭his [Lebanon] facility is going to be a model for waste-to-energy partnerships as well as the first stage in moving our city completely away from dumping waste into landfills,鈥� said Philip Craighead, Mayor of Lebanon, Tennessee (2008-2016).
In its early years as PHG Energy, the company installed 12 gasifiers at brick manufacturing plants in the Southeast鈥攑roviding synthetic gas from biomass sources for use in kilns. When the Great Recession hit the building industry in 2010, brick production halted and the price of natural gas plummeted. At that point, Aries Clean Energy began to look at deploying its technology with businesses and municipalities to reduce emissions and landfill waste, create green power, and seek new opportunities to spark its R&D efforts.
Aries Clean Energy first demonstrated its ability to produce renewable electric power in 2011, using its gasification technology to convert wood chips into synthetic gas that was further cleaned and used to run a 1-MW Caterpillar generator. The electricity was sold back to the grid as part of the Tennessee Valley Authority鈥檚 Generation Partners Program.
The company also collaborated with GE Power & Water to merge its downdraft gasification technology with GE鈥檚 Clean Cycle ORC (Organic Rankine Cycle) generator to create an integrated waste-to-energy technology that is operational at the current R&D plant in Covington, Tennessee.
Aries Clean Energy鈥檚 R&D division also developed and patented a solution for reducing the heavy tar content of biomass fuel. The process involves filtering synthetic fuel gas through high-carbon biochar and removing impurities using microwave-induced plasma fields. This effort has moved from laboratory to field-testing at one of Aries Clean Energy鈥檚 R&D biomass facilities and is showing success in producing cleaner synthetic fuel gas, as well as lower capital and operations and management costs.
鈥淧utting these clean and sustainable energy innovations to work in more locations, and bringing some of our latest research and development efforts to the marketplace this year, are going to be exciting for our company and for the industry,鈥� added Bafalis.
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