Waste Heat Recovery Systems & Geothermal Power Generation Equipment
Barber-Nichols, Inc. (BNI) specializes in the design and manufacture of Waste Heat Recovery Systems & Geothermal Power Generation Equipment. Thermodynamic Cycle Systems including Organic Ranking Cycles (ORC) and Steam Rankine Cycles are a core competency at BNI. These systems are used to turn industrial waste and geothermal heat, as low as 115° C (240° F), into electrical energy.
BNI recently designed an ORC system, custom manufactured the turbine, and assembled the turbine-generator skid for an industrial waste heat application. The end user is capturing waste heat from their manufacturing process, turning it into 2.7 MW (Net) of electrical power, and using it to offset their dependence on the public utility.
The WinEagle Power Plant generates 700 kW (Net) from one geothermal well via ORC heat engines. Two modules were factory assembled and shipped to the site where evaporative condensers were then mounted on top. The two identical modules use induction generators providing power to drive all auxiliary equipment including the brine pump. This is an unattended plant which will start and stop automatically. This system uses a variable frequency drive on the brine pump to optimize plant performance during the high demand summer months. Cold water makeup for the evaporative condensers is drawn from a cold water well. This plant was put into commercial operation in September 1985 and has demonstrated more than 98% availability since that time.
Barber-Nichols designed and manufactured a 500 kW waste heat powered turbine-generator for the Coastal Chemical Company. Coastal's manufacturing process passed a hot stream of nitrogen gas across a pressure letdown valve and dumped it to atmosphere. BNI replaced the pressure letdown valve with a turbine and used it to drive an electrical generator. The power now being generated was incorporated back into Coastal's manufacturing process and used to decrease the company's dependence on the local electrical utility.
The Amedee Power Plant generates 2 MW (Net) from two geothermal 
wells, again, via ORC heat engines. The two module plant was field erected from factory assembled skids. This plant is rather unique in that one module uses an induction generator and the second module uses a synchronous generator. This configuration is extremely efficient and holds the plant power factor to an acceptable level.
Barber-Nichols designs and manufactures turbocompressors that remove Non-Condensable Gas (NCG) from the condensers at flash steam geothermal power plants. In geothermal power plants, NCG enters the process equipment along with the steam. NCG then collects in the sub-atmospheric pressure steam condensers and it must be pressurized before it can be vented to the atmosphere. In some cases, compression of NCG requires up to 20% of the power produced by the plant. High efficiency turbocompressors manufactured by Barber-Nichols dramatically reduce these power requirements. Typically, motor-driven liquid-ring vacuum pumps or steam-jet ejectors are used to pressurize the non-condensable gas stream. BNI's turbocompressors are nearly 30% more efficient than liquid-ring pumps and 250% more efficient than steam-jet ejectors.
Due to hardware installation, system start-up, operator training, and post sale service requirements, Barber-Nichols is currently positioned to provide this equipment for use in North America only. Please call BNI to discuss your waste heat recovery system and power generation needs.