Demonstrated Performance: FastOx® Gasification Technology
Sierra Energy’s FastOx gasification technology has been developed and tested at bench and pilot scales.
Bench-Scale Success: The RETC Facility
Initial bench-scale testing was conducted on a 2 metric tons per day (MTPD) system at the Renewable Energy Testing Center (RETC) in Sacramento, California, from 2009 to 2013. This phase supported validation of the technology's performance on numerous waste streams and informed the design of the pilot system.
Extensive Feedstock Testing: The RETC system completed 67 test runs across a diverse range of feedstocks:
Traditional fuels like charcoal briquettes, lump charcoal, metallurgical coke, and oil shale.
Biomass materials including woodchips, ecopellets, and walnut shells.
Complex waste streams such as mixed plastics, glass, shredded tires, and simulated municipal solid waste (MSW).
Validated Outputs & Environmental Safety
High-Quality Syngas: Syngas composition and quality were monitored using Real-Time Gas Analysis Equipment to evaluate performance and validate syngas properties as a function of feed composition.
Safe, Usable Slag: Slag samples were tested under the U.S. EPA Toxicity Characteristic Leaching Procedure (TCLP) and were found to satisfy applicable TCLP criteria for non-hazardous status.
Valuable Byproducts: The slag was evaluated and determined to meet California Department of Transportation requirements as a Class 2 alternative base material, supporting its potential use as a replacement aggregate.
Pilot-Scale Demonstration: Fort Hunter-Liggett
Building on this success, a 10 MTPD demonstration pilot was deployed at Fort Hunter-Liggett in Monterey County, California, operating from 2018 to 2023. The demonstration efforts advanced the process to Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 7.
Demonstrated Efficiency and Reliability
Extensive Operation: Following commissioning in 2018, the unit completed 13 test campaigns, logging a total of 1,500 hours of operation.
Real-World Fuel Processing: The majority of testing successfully utilized refuse-derived fuel (RDF) derived from municipal solid waste.
Clean Syngas Production: The system demonstrated the production of clean, energy-dense syngas suitable for power generation in an internal combustion generator.
High Efficiency: Sierra Energy achieved Cold Gas Efficiency (CGE) of 81% on the RDF feedstock.
Predictable Production: Slag composition and production were validated and found to meet expectations based on previous RETC testing.
Continuous Innovation: The 100 MTPD Commercial Offering
Pilot testing allowed several improvements to be implemented, generating new intellectual property and advancing the system's design. The following enhancements have been tested or designed for inclusion in Sierra Energy’s upcoming 100 MTPD commercial offering:
Enhanced Material Handling: Improved solid material feed systems to handle a wider range of waste feedstocks.
Durability Upgrades: More reliable injection lances and water-cooled, refractory-lined support for materials in the high-temperature zone.
Streamlined Design: The gasifier and polisher have been combined into a single vessel, reducing costs and improving operability.
Optimized Control: Advanced control strategies are designed to improve syngas yield and improve polisher tar destruction.
Advanced Gas Cleaning: Features include alkali sorbent-based dry-gas cleaning for halide removal and centrifuge treatment of wet-gas cleaning water to remove soot and recycle it back to the gasifier.
To validate these improvements at the pilot scale, a second-generation demonstration gasifier has been designed, fabricated, and delivered to Fort Hunter-Liggett for installation.
Primary document · also published in the TechPipe™ knowledge base ↗.