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Flex Energies Inc., Mission Viejo, CA

Aided by cost-share funding from the U.S. Department of Energy's Biomass Power Program, Flex Energies Inc., Mission Viejo, CA is developing a modular biomass-fueled microturbine electricity generator system. The units will be designed to generate 30 kW of electric power using biogas (landfill gas, anaerobic digester gas) or gasified wood or crop residues. The Flex-Microturbine™ system will use a microturbine manufactured by Capstone Turbine Corporation, and a down-draft biomass gasifier made by BG Technologies.
photo - biomass fuled microturbine
photo - microturbine component

The entire system will be mounted onto a trailer, allowing it to be moved to the location of the fuel supply. By using waste materials and low-grade gases as fuel, the system will generate electricity while helping minimize environmental consequences and costs associated with managing these waste materials. Flex Energies hopes to market the system in rural North America, and in developing countries where there are shortages of electricity and large quantities of available biomass.

Click here for the Executive Summary of the Phase I Feasibility Study for this modular BioPower project.

Phase 2 Activities
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Flex Energies, Inc., will design and fabricate a proof of concept (POC) Flex-MicroturbineJ unit for evaluation purposes. Following successful completion of a POC test program, the design will be modified and three prototype units will be constructed. Prototypes will be tested using landfill gas, anaerobic digester gas, and gasification producer gas. The gasification technology will be obtained on a guarantee basis from BG Technologies, which manufactures a variation of the Ankur gasifier.

Item

Description

Technology

Flex-MicroturbineJ - premixing fuel and air before compression, and use of a catalytic combustor

Size

30-kW microturbine (landfill gas, anaerobic digester gas);

gasification: 300-kWt BTG gasifier

Capital, $/kW

1,000 (1st), 400 (nth)

Efficiency, %

26-30 (based on Capstone values)

Partners

Capstone Turbine Corporation, Cardonna Assoc., EERC, BG Tech.,

Univ. of CA Davis, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, Los Angeles County Sanitation District

Prototypes

30-kW POC unit

three 30-kW prototype units

Preliminary Milestones

Year 1: Design, construct, operate POC unit; Year 2: Receive BTG gasifier , complete prototype microturbine fab/testing