HPG – Prepared Food


HPG TECHNOLOGY — OPEN KIMONO

TITAN | ANKUR PG2200 | Hydrogen Producer Gas

1. HPG Technology at a Glance

TITAN converts prepared forest residues into Hydrogen Producer Gas (HPG) using modular ANKUR PG2200 gasifiers.

Each TITAN island contains six PG2200 gasifiers arranged as three pairs.

Two islands form one TITAN cluster, giving twelve PG2200 gasifiers per cluster.

TITAN is developed one cluster per phase, with a maximum build-out of three clusters:

1 island = 6 PG2200

1 cluster = 2 islands = 12 PG2200

1 phase = 1 cluster

Maximum TITAN = 3 clusters = 6 islands = 36 PG2200

The operating philosophy is deliberately conservative.

TITAN operates its gasifiers within their optimum operational envelope rather than continuously at maximum capability. The installed design envelope provides additional gas-manufacturing capacity when required and enables individual gasifiers to be rotated offline for cleaning and maintenance while the remaining units maintain HPG production.

TITAN HPG — Design Basis

The difference between the preferred operating point and the installed design envelope is intentional.

It provides flexibility for feedstock variation, gasifier rotation, cleaning, maintenance, operating reserve and increased HPG manufacture when required.

2. ANKUR Technology Pedigree

ANKUR has developed and supplied modular gasification systems since 1986.

TITAN therefore starts with an established gasification platform and integrates it into a larger HPG production, gas-cleaning, energy-recovery and microbial-conversion system.

ANKUR Experience

The PG2200 provides TITAN with a repeatable modular production unit rather than requiring development of a single very large bespoke gasification reactor.

The architecture is deliberately repetitive.

Pair → island → cluster → phase → TITAN.

The same gasification module is repeated as TITAN expands.

3. Syngas Project — Direct Gasification Experience

TITAN is not Syngas Project’s first physical experience with ANKUR gasification technology.

Syngas Project previously built, installed, commissioned and operated two full-size ANKUR gasifiers at RUMIA, Poland.

RUMIA Experience

RUMIA provides direct construction and operating experience behind the present TITAN design.

Producer-gas measurements obtained during this work also provide a practical comparison with the representative European forest-residue gas data used for TITAN.

4. Modular Construction and Rapid Installation

The PG2200 is designed for manufacture, packing, transportation, rapid assembly and replication.

Syngas Project retains the ANKUR packing, stuffing and erection arrangements used during its previous gasifier programme.

Installation

ANKUR’s own test facilities demonstrate this modularity particularly clearly.

A gasifier selected for testing can be taken from storage, positioned on the test bed, assembled, connected and brought into operation rapidly.

Factory Sequence

Select gasifier → move from storage → position on test stand → assemble → connect mechanical services → complete electrical and instrumentation connections → load feedstock → fire gasifier → establish producer-gas operation

In practical demonstrations experienced by the project team, a gasifier selected the previous day could be installed on the test bed and fired the following morning.

The installation window is therefore influenced principally by the organisation and experience of the local installation team — particularly electrical and controls personnel — rather than by the mechanical complexity of the gasifier.

5. Operating Envelope, Headroom and Gasifier Rotation

TITAN operates its PG2200 gasifiers within their optimum operational envelope.

The principle is similar to driving a car.

A car is designed with considerably more power and speed than is required for normal driving. You drive at the optimum speed for the road, the conditions and the local speed limit, while retaining additional power when you need it.

TITAN operates its gasifiers on the same principle.

The design envelope establishes the installed capability of the gasification system.

The operational envelope is where the gasifiers provide the best combination of stable HPG production, gas quality, efficiency and equipment performance.

The difference provides the additional power — the “oomph” — when TITAN needs it.

Operating Envelope

The reserve is therefore not created by permanently leaving a gasifier idle.

During normal operation the gasification system operates comfortably within its available capability.

When an individual PG2200 is taken offline, the remaining five can increase their contribution within the available operating envelope and pick up the required HPG duty.

Gasifier Rotation

6 gasifiers operating within the optimum envelope

1 PG2200 selected for rotation

5 PG2200 increase duty within available headroom

Required common HPG production maintained

Offline gasifier cleaned and inspected

Gasifier recharged

Gasifier prepared for the next operating rotation

This is an important part of TITAN’s operating philosophy.

There is no permanently designated standby gasifier.

Instead, the modular paired arrangement allows individual units to move through an operating, cleaning and maintenance cycle while the island continues manufacturing HPG.

The distinction is simple:

Design envelope = the power available.

Operational envelope = where we normally achieve the best performance.

Operating headroom = the additional power available when the process requires it.

6. Biomass Consumption

TITAN budgets approximately 420 tonnes/day of prepared forest residues.

Biomass Operating Basis

Individual PG2200 feed is not treated as a fixed tonnes-per-hour number.

Feed varies according to reactor-bed condition, biomass characteristics, operating configuration and required HPG production.

The control philosophy is straightforward:

adjust the input to maintain the required gas output.

The substantial difference between preferred operation and the peak design envelope also allows TITAN to accommodate changes in the usable energy contained within the biomass.

7. Forest-Residue Specification

The PG2200 uses prepared, relatively coarse woody biomass rather than finely pulverised material.

ANKUR PG2200 Feed Basis

The relatively coarse specification is important.

The PG2200 does not require finely milled biomass.

This reduces unnecessary dust and fines, while screening removes undersize material before it enters the principal gasifier feed.

8. Biomass Preparation and Natural Variation

Preparation Sequence

Forest residue is a natural material.

Moisture, density and calorific value vary between batches.

This is normal.

TITAN Response to Feedstock Variation

The wide gasification operating envelope is one of the mechanisms through which TITAN accommodates this normal variation.

9. Char, Ash and Biochar

Gasification converts the majority of useful biomass energy into HPG while retaining a solid carbon and mineral fraction.

TITAN recovers this material through the dry char and ash handling system.

The raw gasifier discharge and final qualified biochar product are not automatically treated as identical.

The recovered carbon-rich fraction is characterised and processed as required against its final product specification.

10. Carbon Pathways

Carbon entering TITAN is deliberately distributed between gaseous, liquid and solid products.

Gasification is therefore the first carbon-conversion stage, not the final product stage.

The principal purpose of the HPG system is to transform solid renewable carbon into a controlled gaseous molecular feedstock that can be directed to the downstream conversion platform.

11. Inside the PG2200

Temperatures within the active high-temperature gasification environment can exceed 1,000°C.

The gas subsequently cools progressively through the downstream treatment train.

Reactor temperature, hot-gas temperature, filtration temperature and conditioned-gas temperature are therefore separate operating conditions.

12. ANKUR Ultra Clean Gas Mode

TITAN uses the ANKUR Ultra Clean Gas configuration before the HPG reaches microbial conversion.

Mist, condensate and particulate removal are routine elements of gas conditioning rather than exceptional operating events.

The objective is a stable conditioned HPG stream suitable for the downstream biological conversion systems.

13. Representative European Forest-Residue HPG

The current TITAN gas composition is based on controlled ANKUR gasification testing of representative European forest residues.

The resulting gas envelope is aligned with Syngas Project’s producer-gas measurements from its full-size ANKUR gasifiers at RUMIA.

It therefore represents the best available representative dataset for the present pre-FID project stage.

Representative Conditioned HPG

The representative composition is applied to the TITAN design flow of:

20,000 Nm³/h per island

14. Representative Gas Envelope

Forest biomass is a natural feedstock.

Precise gas composition changes with feedstock, moisture, season and operating conditions.

TITAN therefore designs around an HPG operating envelope, not the assumption that every hour will reproduce one laboratory analysis exactly.

This deliberately moves the project from representative design data toward site-specific measured operating data as TITAN progresses through engineering, commissioning and operation.

15. HPG Energy Cross-Check

The representative gas dataset and the current TITAN HPG energy basis are therefore closely aligned.

16. Header Box — The Engineering Boundary

The header box establishes the engineering boundary between HPG manufacture and downstream biological conversion.

ANKUR HPG Production

Prepared forest residue

6 × PG2200 — 3 paired lines

Hot filtration

Cooling

Condensate removal

Mist elimination

Fine polishing

HEADER BOX

20,000 Nm³/h

51.5 MW HPG

Conditioned Hydrogen Producer Gas

Biological Conversion

Acetogenic conversion

and/or

Methanogenic conversion

WGS where required

Fermentation

Product recovery

Thermal integration

The interface is deliberately clear:

ANKUR produces and conditions the HPG. The downstream systems convert the conditioned molecules into products.

17. HPG to Products

At the standard 50:50 operating position:

The 50:50 position is an operating basis, not an inherent restriction.

TITAN can adjust the allocation of conditioned HPG according to product requirements and market demand.

This is fundamental to the platform:

the common intermediate product is HPG; the downstream allocation determines which final products TITAN manufactures.

18. Electrical and Thermal Balance

TITAN’s electrical philosophy is based on minimising parasitic consumption and maximising energy recovery.

The objective is specifically to avoid consuming saleable renewable methane simply to operate the plant.

Identified Electrical Demand

Recovered and Renewable Electrical Supply

On the current basis:

4.0 MWe recovered generation − 3.3 MWe identified demand = ~0.7 MWe base operating window before rooftop solar.

This is an operating margin, not an assumed permanent export.

19. Resist the Use of Own Gas

The electrical hierarchy is deliberately structured to preserve TITAN’s renewable methane as a saleable product.

TITAN is therefore designed as an actively managed electrical island.

Gas-engine generation remains available without requiring interruption of HPG or fermentation production, but it is not intended to become the normal source of plant electricity.

The objective is to preserve the highest practical proportion of renewable methane for LRNG production and sale, rather than consume it internally for routine power generation.

20. BESS and Renewable Reserve

BESS and rooftop solar are integral operating components of the TITAN energy system.

As TITAN moves through detailed engineering, every practical opportunity will be taken to reduce consumption, increase heat recovery, increase renewable generation and optimise storage.

21. Modular Operation and Maintenance

The six-PG2200 island architecture provides significant operational flexibility.

Operating Response

The modular architecture means maintenance does not automatically mean stopping HPG production.

When one gasifier is removed from service, the remaining five have available headroom to pick up the required duty.

The offline gasifier can then be cleaned, inspected and charged ready for the next operating rotation.

ANKUR’s historical TITAN engineering summarised the modular principle simply:

“You can run any line any Gasifier as per requirements.”

22. ANKUR Continuous Technical Presence

ANKUR’s involvement does not end at equipment delivery.

The objective is continuity through:

manufacture → installation → commissioning → operation → maintenance → replication.

As TITAN expands from one cluster to two and ultimately three clusters, the operating knowledge established on the first twelve PG2200 units is therefore transferred directly into subsequent phases.

23. Sector 3 — PG350 Training Gasifier

In addition to the production PG2200 units, TITAN installs a dedicated ANKUR PG350 training gasifier in Sector 3.

PG350 Training Facility

The PG350 allows practical training without using a commercial PG2200 production unit as the classroom.

Together with ANKUR’s continuous technical presence, Sector 3 becomes TITAN’s permanent HPG operating, maintenance and training capability.

24. HPG Open Kimono — Final Position

HPG Design Position

TITAN uses a modular gasification architecture based on six ANKUR PG2200 gasifiers per island, arranged as three pairs.

Two islands form one cluster, giving twelve PG2200 gasifiers per cluster.

Each TITAN phase adds one complete cluster. At maximum build-out, TITAN comprises three clusters, six islands and thirty-six PG2200 gasifiers.

The production system is deliberately operated within its optimum operational envelope rather than continuously at maximum capability.

Approximately 70 MW of preferred biomass-energy input supports the design basis of 51.5 MW / 20,000 Nm³/h of conditioned HPG, against a peak design envelope of approximately 100 MW.

That difference is intentional.

Like a car that is normally driven at the optimum speed for the road while retaining additional power when required, TITAN operates its gasifiers where they perform best while retaining substantial additional capability.

That headroom has an important operational purpose.

An individual PG2200 can be taken offline for cleaning, inspection and maintenance. The remaining five gasifiers can increase their contribution within the available operating envelope to maintain the required common HPG duty.

The offline gasifier is then cleaned, inspected, recharged and prepared for the next operating rotation.

There is therefore no permanently designated standby gasifier.

The reserve is built into the operating capability of the gasification system itself.

TITAN simultaneously seeks to minimise its own consumption of the products it manufactures.

Current identified electrical demand is approximately 3.3 MWe, against approximately 4.0 MWe of base recovered generation from the header-gas turbine and ORC heat cascade, before rooftop solar.

BESS, rooftop PV and additional renewable reserve power are integral to this strategy.

Gas engines remain available as flexible reserve generation, but the objective is explicitly to resist consuming saleable renewable methane for routine plant electricity.

The TITAN HPG operating principle is therefore:

Prepare the forest residue → operate all PG2200 gasifiers within their optimum envelope → manufacture conditioned HPG → rotate individual gasifiers for cleaning and maintenance → use installed headroom to maintain production → recover char/biochar → recover available energy → minimise internal electrical consumption → preserve renewable gas for sale → increase HPG manufacture when required.