Farm Pilot Project Coordination, Inc.

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Re: Solicitation for gasification equipment

Please be advised that FPPC Inc. is seeking competitive bids for two (2) gasification units with features adapted for continuous feeding of animal waste. Prospective suppliers are invited to review the requirements and respond with an offering for either unit or both gasification units. Proposals will be evaluated and scored against the general requirements defined below and against specific application requirements in the attachment.

General Proposal Requirements:

1) Pricing should be figured on a single unit basis and in accordance with the equipment and delivery requirements specified. Requirements and specifications for the two (2) gasification units are attached.

2) Bids should be submitted to the following address and received no later than 5 pm - Friday February 5th, 2010. Final selection of equipment will be based on the bid that is most closely matches the requirements for the intended application described below.

Attention: Purchasing @ Farm Pilot Project Coordination, Inc.
Address: 4400 118th Avenue, Clearwater, Florida 33762

3) Inquiries, clarifications or requests for additional information may be directed in writing by email at Purchasing: info@fppcinc.org or by contacting Lauren Park at 813-222-3272.

4) Background: It is intended that one gasifier will be deployed in a poultry litter application while the other gasifier will be utilized to process dairy waste. Both gasifiers will be deployed in farm-scale demonstrations. FPPC will assume project management responsibility for integrating the system components at select livestock operations. The purpose of this initiative is to demonstrate commercially viable solutions for the farm owners by generating energy derived from animal manure/waste. Once the system is debugged and running at a steady state, the system will be turned over to the farmer to operate as part of his/her operation. It is expected, that a successful system demonstration can be replicated and the lessons learned will be transferrable to other farms.

5) Cost proposal: All costs should be identified and detailed in a cost proposal. The cost proposal will characterize cost elements by four categories: a) equipment cost, b) shipping/packaging costs, c) estimated cost to install and d) estimated cost to service and provide equipment maintenance. The equipment is expected to be serviceable over an assumed useful life of 10 years. Shipping cost should factor delivery and destination with FPPC taking possession in Florida – at 4400 118th Avenue, Clearwater, FL, Suite 303. Inspection for shipping damage will be conducted upon arrival.

6) Warranty: Any relevant equipment warranty or time period for defective workmanship or parts should be identified. Damage precautions during shipping and /or installation should also be clearly identified.

7) Relevant experience of Supplier (limited to one page): Briefly describe the relevant experience in design, manufacture and supply of gasifiers /gasification systems for animal waste feedstock. To be considered responsive, gasification experience should be listed with a brief description, waste gasified, farm name, location and date.

8) Payment Terms maybe negotiated but generally are expected to be – 25% down; 40% upon delivery of all equipment; balance when equipment is installed and operable.

9) Company brochures/information: At the option of the supplier, more information, product offerings etc may be submitted however this material will not be used in the scoring of bid proposals.

Attachment 1.1 - Feeder/gasification equipment requirements for the poultry waste application

Application overview: FPPC will incorporate thermo-chemical conversion processes (specifically gasification) into its waste treatment demonstration at various livestock operations. The process will utilize animal waste (manure, litter and possibly carcasses) as a feedstock. The heat derived during gasification will be converted to thermal energy to satisfy heating, cooling and electricity needs at the farm. The gasifier equipment should be designed and capable of safely operating continuously with temperatures approaching 1100 degrees Celsius inside the chamber. The gasifier design should target volume /weight reduction of the feedstock and thermal energy as the primary system benefit. Complete combustion of the feedstock is intended; therefore a combustion chamber optimized for syngas production will not be considered favorably in this application. Continuous feeding of poultry litter and reliable removal of ash from the gasifier are important design features of the equipment being sought.

A. Feedstock material: The feedstock will be animal waste collected by the farm owner. This feedstock will be poultry litter, consisting of a mix of poultry manure and wood shavings. The feedstock will be homogenized and blended together for storage in a litter shed. The material is expected to be stored for a maximum of 6 months before it enters the gasifier as a feedstock. The feedstock moisture level is expected to vary within a range (25% to 50% moisture), depending on how fresh the litter is and the prevailing weather conditions during storage. The litter will not be screened but 95% of the material particle size is expected to be within a maximum of 3/4” cubed. There will be occasional clumps and/ or feathers in the litter.

B. Duty-Cycle and material transfer: The gasifier will be equipped to operate in a continuous mode with an appropriately designed feeding mechanism. The gasifier will not be operated in a batch mode except for short periods of testing. Material handling and feedstock for the gasifier should consider the capacity equivalent of a feed hopper having at least 600 lb weight capacity and approximate volume of 25 cubic feet. The gasifier flow should be sized for a throughput, averaging 300lbs/hour (+/- 50lbs/hr) at an average of 37.5% moisture. The feedstock’s HHV is expected to be approximately 6,000 Btu/lb. The ash content based on 100% dry matter is expected to average 18%. The gasifier is expected to run 24 hours, 7 days a week and be down for scheduled maintenance for a total accumulation of 2 weeks a year.

C. Ash: The ash generated from gasification must be automatically removed from the gasifier without intervention of an operator. Ideally, ash should exit the gasifier so that it can be conveyed to a storage bin. The ash should be exposed to sufficient time/temperature that it has become sterile and free of dioxins. The gasifier should not reach such high temperatures that the ash is vitrified. If the gasifier is a fluidized bed design and sand is utilized, provisions must be made for separating sand from the ash.

D. Controls: The controls should be designed to be as simple and cost effective as possible and user friendly for the farm application. Controls need not be fully automated, however the gasifier is expected to run unattended no more than 6 hours without an operator checking the gasifier and making adjustments as needed. Safety and fail safe features should be incorporated to keep the operator and machine safe (i.e. run away conditions, guards for moving parts, etc.).

E. Thermal output: Thermal energy from the gasifier’s flue stack will be extracted using a boiler to produce heated water. A boiler having a rating in the input range of 800,000 – 1,200,000 Btu/hour with an absolute maximum of 1,500,000 Btu/hour has been sized for this system to stay within permitting limitations.

F. Site requirements:

Electrical: Either a 120/240V single phase and/or a 208V three phase electrical service will be available at the gasification site. Electrical controls will be in a minimum of NEMA-4 type enclosures. Please indicate the electrical service requirements to make the equipment fully functional: voltage, amperage, and phase required.

Water: Cooling water maybe required to service the equipment. Please specify any cooling needs required for equipment provided.

Starting gas: Once started, the gasifier will sustain combustion consuming only poultry litter as fuel. During startup and maintenance, however, it is anticipated that propane gas available at the site will be used to heat the feedstock until the chamber conditions are hot enough to sustain combustion. Propane will be supplied at the site, but piping and burner details should be supplied so that proper installation can be planned. A description of the burner and configuration of the burner piping should be provided in the bid package.

Building related requirements: The gasifier will be housed in an unheated building at the farm. Recommendations for protecting and housing equipment (if needed) should be provided with the bid.

a) Footprint and foundation requirements to support the equipment furnished should be described. The supplier must submit a sketch of the gasification unit with sufficient outline dimensions to indicate how equipment should be oriented, connected and installed.

b) The building will not be climate controlled and outdoor temperature are expected to vary from freezing conditions during winter to high humidity conditions at 110 degrees F in the summer. c) The flue stack configuration will need to be described at five foot intervals through the roof of a building.

d) All equipment surface temperatures should be below 150F when operating except the stack and ash handling equipment.

G. Maintenance, site support and start-up procedures: A description of the normal gasification start-up should be provided. During commissioning, an initial debugging or a break-in period may also be recommended by the supplier. Please provide any information related to initial startup as well as any detailed procedure to allow proper project planning. Recommendations for starting fuel use (i.e. propane) and its expected costs should also be described and included in the bid package.

While simple general maintenance can generally be handled by the farmer, (i.e. greasing bearings, general cleaning, etc.) It is expected the machine can be reasonably maintained for a 10 year period without a major repair or rebuild. Procedures for performing normal maintenance should be included.

Recommendations for technical support at the site (and its cost) should be briefly described and included in the bid package.

Attachment 1.2 – Feeder/gasification unit requirements for dairy waste application

Application overview: FPPC will incorporate thermo-chemical conversion processes (specifically gasification) into its waste treatment demonstration at various livestock operations. The process will utilize animal waste (manure) as a feedstock. The heat derived during gasification will be converted to thermal energy to satisfy heating, cooling, and electricity needs at the farm. The gasifier equipment should be designed and capable of safely operating continuously with temperatures approaching 1100 degrees Celsius inside the chamber. The gasifier design should target volume /weight reduction of the feedstock and thermal energy as the primary system benefit. Complete combustion of the feedstock is intended; therefore a combustion chamber optimized for syngas production will not be considered favorably in this application. Continuous feeding of dairy solids and reliable removal of ash from the gasifier are important design features of the equipment being sought.

A. Feedstock material: The feedstock will be animal waste collected by the farm owner. This feedstock will be dairy solids and will likely have some minimum sand content. The feedstock will be homogenized and blended together. The material is expected to be stored less than 1 week before it enters the gasifier as a feedstock. The feedstock moisture level is expected to vary within a range (45% to 55% moisture), depending on how fresh the dairy solids are and the prevailing weather conditions during storage. There will be occasional clumps and the manure will be similar to fresh cut grass in consistency and particle size.

B. Duty-Cycle and material transfer: The gasifier will be equipped to operate in a continuous mode with an appropriately designed feeding mechanism. The gasifier will not be operated in a batch mode except during short periods of testing. Material handling and feedstock for the gasifier should consider the capacity equivalent of a feed hopper having at least 1,000 lb weight capacity and approximate volume of 50 cubic feet. The gasifier flow should be sized for a throughput, averaging 750 lbs/hour (+/- 100 lbs/hr) at an average of 50% moisture. The feedstock’s HHV is expected to be approximately 7,500 Btu/lb. The ash content based on 100% dry matter is expected to average 5%. The gasifier is expected to run 24 hours, 7 days a week and be down for scheduled maintenance for a total accumulation of 2 weeks a year.

C. Ash: The ash generated from gasification must be automatically removed from the gasifier without intervention of an operator. Ideally, ash should exit the gasifier so that it can be conveyed to a storage bin. The ash should be exposed to sufficient time/temperature that it has become sterile and free of dioxins. The gasifier should not reach such high temperatures that the ash is vitrified. If the gasifier is a fluidized bed design utilizing sand, provisions must be made to separate sand from the ash.

D. Controls: The controls should be designed to be as simple and cost effective as possible and user friendly for the farm application. Controls need not be fully automated, however the gasifier is expected to run unattended no more than 6 hours without an operator checking the gasifier and making adjustments as needed. Safety and fail safe features should be incorporated to keep the operator and machine safe (i.e. run away conditions, guards for moving parts, etc.).

E. Thermal output: Thermal energy from the gasifier’s flue stack will be extracted using a boiler to produce heated water. A boiler having a rating in the input range of 2,500,000 – 4,000,000 Btu/hour with an absolute maximum of 5,000,000 Btu/hour has been sized for this system to stay within permitting limitations.

F. Site requirements:

Electrical: Either a 120/240V single phase and/or a 208V three phase electrical service will be available at the gasification site. Electrical controls will be in a minimum of NEMA-4 type enclosures. Please indicate the electrical service requirements to make the equipment fully functional: voltage, amperage, and phase required.

Water: Cooling water maybe required to service the equipment. Please specify any cooling needs required for equipment provided.

Starting gas: Once started, the gasifier will sustain combustion consuming only poultry litter as fuel. During startup and maintenance, however, it is anticipated that propane gas available at the site will be used to heat the feedstock until the chamber conditions are hot enough to sustain combustion. Propane will be supplied at the site, but piping and burner details should be supplied so that proper installation can be planned. A description of the burner and configuration of the burner piping should be provided in the bid package.

Building related requirements: The gasifier will be housed in an unheated building at the farm. Recommendations for protecting and housing equipment (if needed) should be provided with the bid.

a) Footprint and foundation requirements to support the equipment furnished should be described. The supplier must submit a sketch of the gasification unit with sufficient outline dimensions to indicate how equipment should be oriented, connected and installed.

b) The building will not be climate controlled and outdoor temperature are expected to vary from freezing conditions during winter to high humidity conditions at 110 degrees F in the summer. c) The flue stack configuration will need to be described at five foot intervals through the roof of a building.

d) All equipment surface temperatures should be below 150F when operating except the stack and ash handling equipment.

G. Maintenance, site support and start-up procedures: A description of the normal gasification start-up should be provided. During commissioning, an initial debugging or a break-in period may also be recommended by the supplier. Please provide any information related to initial startup as well as any detailed procedure to allow proper project planning. Recommendations for starting fuel use (i.e. propane) and its expected costs should also be described and included in the bid package.

While simple general maintenance can generally be handled by the farmer, (i.e. greasing bearings, general cleaning, etc.) It is expected the machine can be reasonably maintained for a 10 year period without a major repair or rebuild. Procedures for performing normal maintenance should be included.

Recommendations for technical support at the site (and its cost) should be briefly described and included in the bid package.

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