Barr assisted National Carbon Technologies (NCT) from conceptual design to startup in two project phases to redevelop an existing biomass carbon facility to produce wood-based activated carbon products and meet new market demands of the proprietary product. The proprietary process includes raw-material pre-processing, drying, a pyrolysis step with heat recovery, off-gas combustion, and finished-product sizing and packaging.
The initial phase included support of environmental permitting. Barr conducted process modeling for the facility to evaluate mass and energy balances. The results were used to support phase one of the facility redevelopment, showing that the project would fit within the existing permit and its limits. We further assisted with startup and operations compliance tracking and conducted stack testing for engineering and compliance purposes. Restarting an existing reactor identified extensive heat transfer issues. Barr prepared reactor modeling and heat transfer calculations and provided design engineering to upgrade the process as a self-sustaining heat source for the reactor.
The second phase included expansion and involved extensive design engineering support. This included full reactor process modeling and process flowsheet development using CHEMCAD for a new, larger reactor, including optimization of burner performance and self-sustaining heat recovery. Overall, Barr provided detailed design for process flow, structural, electrical/controls, wood/product conveyance, and dust collection, as well as procurement assistance. In support of startup, we developed instrument lists and process and instrumentation diagrams (P&IDs). This involved onsite process review and startup and troubleshooting assistance.