Movable system for temporarily replacing the feeding hopper of a plant for producing biogas / biomethane

Abstract

An autonomous movable system for feeding a digester of a plant for producing biogas / biomethane during a maintenance / repair period of the fixed feeding system of the digester itself comprises a trailer or semitrailer or roll-off skid onto which there are installed: a loading hopper (1) of a solid fraction, diluting means (2) for sucking a liquid fraction from a tank of the digester, mixing means (3) for suitably mixing said liquid fraction and said solid fraction to form an enriched compound to be sent to the digester, a power generator or generator unit (4) for feeding at least all the pumps and diluting and mixing means, a control unit (5) for managing and controlling all the components present in the movable system and relative sensors and measuring devices.

Description

[0001] MOVABLE SYSTEM FOR TEMPORARILY REPLACING THE FEEDING HOPPER OF A PLANT FOR PRODUCING BIOGAS / BIOMETHANE

[0002] The present invention relates to the field of plants for producing biogas, with particular reference to the feeding hoppers of anaerobic digesters.

[0003] More specifically, the invention relates to a feeding system mounted on a trailer or semi-trailer, or on a roll-off skid to be easily transported close to a digester for which there is a need to perform maintenance / repai r activities involving stopping the part relative to feeding the digester itself.

[0004] To this end, it is worth noting that the invention is applicable not only to a digester, but also to a post digester or to a sealing biogas tank, without a solid biomass loading system, which, by employing the present invention, may become an actual digester.

[0005] Currently, when there is a need to perform maintenance and / or repair activities on the feeding system of a digester, the operation of the digester itself must be interrupted because, given that the feeding of the organic solid matrices generating the biogas is lacking, the digester remains “fasting” and therefore cannot produce biogas.

[0006] Given that such a maintenance / repai r activity may also last days or weeks, it is apparent that this results in serious economic damage for the company because the production of biogas can resume only once the maintenance / repai r has terminated, in addition to this, in these cases, considering the time required to resume the biological activity, it is necessary to gradually resume solid biomass loading to avoid digestion problems, with consequent further slowdowns in resuming the complete production of biogas.

[0007] The main object of the present invention is to overcome these problems by providing a movable feeding system adapted to feed the digester during the maintenance / repai r period of the fixed feeding system of the digester itself. Or for any intervention to be performed on the primary digester, to which the only loading system of the solid biomass is applied, present in the plant for producing biogas or biomethane.

[0008] This was obtained by creating an autonomous movable feeding system comprising a trailer or semi-trailer or roll-off skid on which there are installed: a loading hopper (1) of a solid fraction, diluting means (2) for sucking the liquid fraction from the tank of the digester, mixing means (3) for suitably mixing said liquid fraction and said solid fraction to form an enriched compound which is sent to said tank of the digester, a power generator or generator unit (4) for feeding at least all the pumps and diluting and mixing means, a control unit (5) for managing and controlling all the components present in the movable feeding system and the relative sensors and measuring devices, in which said movable system is installable on site by connecting it temporarily to the digester by means of a suction tube (6) for sucking the liquid fraction from the digester tank, and to a delivery tube (7) for delivering, into such a tank, the compound consisting of the solid fraction which was mixed with the liquid one, as well as to a simple 220 v single-phase electrical supply (domestic voltage).

[0009] A better understanding of the invention will be achieved by means of the following description and with reference to the accompanying figures, which illustrate a preferred embodiment, by way of example. in the drawings:

[0010] Figure 1 shows a front and rear side view of the invention showing the hopper for loading the biomass which may be loaded, for example, with a front loader or with a telescopic loader;

[0011] Figure 2 is a top view of the movable feeding system of Figure 1;

[0012] Figure 3 is a view from the right side;

[0013] Figure 4 is a top view of the movable feeding system of Figure 1, but without the hopper;

[0014] Figure 5 shows two 3D views of the present invention, from the rear and front side, respectively;

[0015] Figure 6 is a Piping and instrumentation Diagram (P&ID ) of the movable feeding system according to the i nventi on . with reference to the figures described above, the movable feeding system of a digester for producing biogas / biomethane of the present invention comprises substantially a trailer or semi-trailer or roll-off skid on which there are arranged: a hopper (1) for feeding / mixing the solid fraction contained therein;

[0016] - a diluting pump (2) configured to be connected to a pipe (6) for sucking the liquid fraction from the digester;

[0017] - a mixing pump (3) for mixing the solid fraction with the liquid one, fed by said hopper (1) and by said diluting pump (2) and configured to be connected to a pipe (7) for sending the enriched compound to the digester;

[0018] - two hydraulic actuation valves (12, 13) mounted in input to the diluting pump (2) and in output from the mixing pump (3), respectively, which are configured to regulate the passage of the liquid;

[0019] - a power generator (4) for feeding said pumps, said hopper (1) and all the actuation and control devices on the semi-trailer;

[0020] - a control unit (5) connected to said pumps, said hopper and to all the actuation and control devices on the semi-trailer;

[0021] - connection means (14) to a water network;

[0022] - connection means (15) to a 220 V single-phase electrical network.

[0023] According to a first peculiar feature of the invention, the feeding system is completely independent since both the control unit (5) that manages the operating logics and the generator (4) are mounted onboard the trailer or semi-trailer or roll-off skid, and further said system is remotely configurable and monitorable by means of special connection means of the wi Fi , GSM, radio, IOT, 4G, 5G type or other kind of the known type.

[0024] This peculiarity is very important because the presence of generator (4) allows the movable feeding system to be placed on site with a simple 220 v electrical supply, which may be provided with a simple extension cord and does not require the intervention of a specialized electrician, which instead would be required if it were necessary to provide a 40-80 kva electrical supply, which is required to feed all the engines and pumps installed on the semi-trailer hereto described.

[0025] The single-phase feeding indeed serves to keep fed said control unit (5), or an uninterruptible power supply and a PLC arranged in said control unit (5), and therefore, the whole control and automation system, so that each time it becomes necessary to start feeding the digester with the biomass, the generator unit, and accordingly, the whole system, is set in motion. This single-phase electrical supply is usable also to operate a possible conditioning system of the control unit itself, to avoid summer overheating or winter freezing.

[0026] Another peculiar feature of the invention consists in that the hopper fastening plates are specifically arranged on the platform of the trai 1 er / semi - trailer / roll-off skid and in that, interposed between such plates and the body of the hopper (1), are loading cells (10) configured to measure the i ncrease / decrease in weight of the material (solid fraction) loaded therein by the operator.

[0027] According to the invention, provided in the body of the hopper (1) is a bed of longitudinal augers (8) adapted to convey the loaded material to a transverse auger (9) configured to feed said mixing pump (3).

[0028] The pumps mounted on the semi-trailer are connected to the digester of the plant for producing biogas / biomethane, preferably by means of a temporary line consisting of (rigid) polyethylene pipes: the diluting pump (2) sucks the liquid fraction from the digester tank and conveys it into the mixing pump (3) which, once the solid fraction coming from the hopper (1) is added, generates an “enriched” compound which is re-pumped into said digester tank.

[0029] The movable feeding system according to the present invention comprises also a hydraulic control unit (11) controlled by the control unit (5) and configured to actuate at least said hydraulic actuation valves (12, 13) associated with the diluting pump (2) and the mixing pump (3), respectively.

Claims

CLAIMS:

1. An autonomous movable feeding system for feeding a digester of a plant for producing biogas / biomethane during a mai ntenance / repai r period of the fixed feeding system of the digester itself, is characterized in that it comprises a trailer or semitrailer or roll-off skid onto which there are installed: a loading hopper (1) of a solid fraction, diluting means (2) for sucking a liquid fraction from a tank of the digester, mixing means (3) for suitably mixing said liquid fraction and said solid fraction to form an enriched compound to be sent to the digester, a power generator or generator unit (4) for feeding at least all the pumps and diluting and mixing means, a control unit (5) for managing and controlling all the components present in the movable system and relative sensors and measuring devices; as well as connection means to a 220 v single-phase electrical supply configured to directly or indirectly feed said control unit (5).

2. The feeding system according to the preceding claim, characterized in that it is configured to be installable on site by temporarily connecting it to the digester by means of a suction tube (6) for sucking the liquid fraction from the digester tank, and to a delivery tube (7) for delivering, into such a tank, the compound consisting of the solid fraction which was mixed with the liquid one, as well as to a simple 220 v singlephase electrical supply.

3. The feeding system according to the preceding claim, characterized in that it comprises substantially a trailer or semi-trailer on which there are arranged:- a hopper (1) for feeding / mixing the solid fraction contained therein;- a diluting pump (2) configured to be connected to a pipe (6) for sucking the liquid fraction from the digester;- a mixing pump (3) for mixing the solid fraction with the liquid one, fed by said hopper (1) and by said diluting pump (2) and configured to be connected to a pipe (7) for sending the enriched compound to the digester;- two hydraulic actuation valves (12, 13) mounted in input to the diluting pump (2) and in output from the mixing pump (3), respectively, which are configured to regulate the passage of the liquid;- a power generator (4) for feeding said pumps, said hopper (1) and all the actuation and control devices on the semi-trailer;- a control unit (5) connected to said pumps, said hopper and to all the actuation and control devices on the semi-trailer;- connection means (14) to a water network;- connection means (15) to a 220 V single-phase electrical network.

4. The feeding system according to one or more of the preceding claims, characterized in that said control unit (5) that manages the operating logics and said generator (4) are mounted onboard the trailer or semitrailer or roll-off skid, wherein said system is remotely configurable and monitorable by means of special connection means of the wi Fi , GSM, radio, IOT, 4G, 5G type or other kind of the known type.

5. The feeding system according to claim 2 or 3, characterized in that said single-phase electrical supply is configured to feed an uninterruptible power supply and a PLC - arranged in said control unit (5) - and therefore, the whole control and automation system which is configured so as to start the generator unit and, accordingly, the whole movable feeding system each time it becomes necessary to start feeding the digester with the biomass.

6. The feeding system according to claim 2 or 3, characterized in that said single-phase electrical supply is configured to feed a conditioning system of the control unit itself, to avoid summer overheating or winter freezing.

7. The feeding system according to one or more of the preceding claims, characterized in that hopper fastening plates are arranged on the platform of the trai 1 er / semi -trai 1 er / rol 1 -off skid and in that interposed between such plates and the body of the hopper (1) are loading cells (10) configured to measure the increase / decrease in weight of the material (solid fraction) loaded therein by the operator.

8. The feeding system according to one or more of the preceding claims, characterized in that provided in the body of the hopper (1) is a bed of longitudinal augers (8) configured to convey the loaded material to a transverse auger (9) configured to feed said mixing pump (3).

9. The feeding system according to claim 3, characterized in that the pumps mounted on the semitrailer are connected to the digester of the plant forproducing biogas / biomethane preferably by means of a temporary line consisting of polyethylene pipes: the diluting pump (2) is configured to suck the liquid fraction from the digester tank and convey it into the mixing pump (3) which, added the solid fraction coming from the hopper (1), is configured to generate an “enriched” compound and to re-pump it into said digester tank.

10. The feeding system according to claim 3, characterized in that it comprises also a hydraulic control unit (11) controlled by the control unit (5) and configured to actuate at least said hydraulic actuation valves (12, 13) associated with the diluting pump (2) and the mixing pump (3), respectively.

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