Community Power Corporation 14800, Grasslands Dr. , Englewood,, United States

About CPC

Community Power Corporation (CPC), established in 1995, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Afognak Native Corporation and is the world's leading developer and supplier of small, modular biomass gasification systems. The BioMax®100 Gen2, a 21st century, fully automated modular gasification systems currently come in a 130 kWe (net) power block. A BioMax® system offers new options for lowering a facility’s cost and reducing its carbon footprint by converting a variety of onsite biomass waste streams to onsite clean and green power, heat and cooling. The BioMax® is NOT an incinerator. BioMax® systems use an advanced, proprietary and patented downdraft gasification technology to convert onsite or nearby biomass waste streams and/or residues to usable energy. Feedstocks include wood chips, nut shells and energy crops. Unlike most renewable energy systems, the BioMax® is able to operate 24x7, unattended, providing a highly reliable, reasonably priced energy for its customers. It does not require the sun to shine or the wind to blow. The BioMax®100 power block can be combined into larger systems providing additional flexibility for energy users. Commercial enterprises, agricultural processors, government facilities and research institutions are currently using the BioMax® systems.
CPC is also in the process of developing a modular gas-to-liquid Fischer Tropsch product called the LiquiMax®. The LiquiMax® will enable producer gas or flare gas to be converted into liquid product such as wax, diesel or jet fuel.
CPC’s was the first company world-wide to:
Deploy automated, modular biopower systems capable of operating unattended in Energy Services Company (ESCO) applications.
Manufactures complete, turn key modular biopower systems in standard ISO containers.
Develop on-site energy independence solutions that can produce power, heat and cooling.
Develop a prototype modular gas-to-liquid syndiesel plant.

About Afognak Native Corporation
Afognak Native Corporation, the parent company of CPC, is an Alaska Native Corporation formed under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA), a 1971 settlement between the U.S. government and Alaska’s indigenous peoples. Afognak Native Corporation’s shareholders are the indigenous people of Afognak Island. Shares cannot be bought, sold, or traded. Profits earned by the business ventures are returned for the benefit of the shareholders and their Native community, providing dividends and job training, scholarships and funding social services and cultural preservation programs. In 2011, Afognak acquired the Community Power Corporation, the world’s leading small-modular biopower company. The acquisition leverages Afognak’s and its wholly-owned subsidiary Alutiiq, LLC’s expertise while expanding business activities in the energy industry.

What is Gasification?

History of Gasification

The process of converting energy by gasifying organic material has been around for more than 180 years. During much of that time, coal and peat were the primary fuels used to power gasification plants. Initially in the US, gasification technology was used to produce gas from coal or coke for municipal lighting and cooking. By 1850, the major cities of the world had "gaslight." About 1880, the internal combustion engine was invented and “Producer Gas” was used to make electricity. Eventually, natural gas pipelines displaced the municipal plants. Gasification became popular again during the world wars, especially World War II when gasoline became scarce. Wood gas generators helped to power about a million vehicles world-wide in 1945. In the late 1990s, the Department of Energy contracted CPC and three other companies to develop a new generation of small modular biopower systems. CPC was the first to deploy a system under the program and is the world leader in small modular biopower systems.
Current Gasification Technologies
There are five basic gasifier technologies currently in commercial use:
“Down Draft” Fixed Bed. In this technology, the oxidizing agent (steam, oxygen and/or air) flows through the feedstock in the same direction as the feedstock is moving through the gasifier. The fuel gas exits the gasifier at a high temperature, and since all tars pass through a very hot bed of char as the gas exits, tar levels are fairly low. A highly advanced proprietary down-draft gasifier is the “heart” of all BioMax® Systems.
“Up Draft” Fixed Bed. The up draft gasifier is essentially the same design as the down draft, except the oxidizing agent flows in the opposite direction of the feedstock. Throughput for this type of gasifier is relatively low. Gas exit temperatures generally result in the gas needing extensive cleaning because the process produces large quantities of tar.
Fluidized Bed Reactor. Granulated feedstock is used in this process and it becomes fluidized with the introduction of the oxygen or air. Fuel throughput is higher than the fixed bed, however, the tar levels can be higher and conversion efficiencies can be rather low.
Entrained Flow. This technology uses atomized, pulverized, dry feedstock which is usually processed with pure oxygen and not air. The process requires high temperature and pressure. It is used primarily for high volume processing.
Plasma. High voltage, high current electricity is passed through electrodes creating an electrical arc. An inert gas passes through the feedstock and the arc breaking the feedstock into a fuel gas. This gasification method operates at very high temperatures and can process any kind of waste. This technology is often used in chemical production.
Gasification Chemistry
The organic feedstock goes through several different thermochemical processes:
Dehydration or drying. The feedstock, if needed, is dried before the gasification process and the moisture extracted is used in later chemical reactions.
Pyrolysis. Next, organic materials are thermo-chemically decomposed at elevated temperatures in the absence of oxygen releasing volatiles and producing char. This prepares the chemically changed feedstock for combustion.
Combustion. A carefully controlled burn using small amounts of air allows the volatiles and the char to react with the oxygen to form primarily carbon dioxide, water and trace amounts of carbon monoxide. The heat created in the process is used in the gasification process.
Gasification. In this step, the char reacts with the carbon dioxide and the steam produced in previous steps to form carbon monoxide and hydrogen.
Equilibrium. A chemical reaction known as the “water gas shift reaction” helps to balance the carbon monoxide, steam, carbon dioxide and hydrogen in the gasifier establishing a chemical equilibrium during the final step of the process.
The gasification process is NOT incineration. Incineration is simply burning. The output is mainly carbon dioxide and heat plus toxic materials that may have been present in the materials. Gasification targets non-toxic carbonaceous feedstocks and the output is clean fuel gas that can be used to make electricity, heat and liquid fuels.

BioMax® Gasification CHP Systems

CPC's BioMax® Gasification Systems convert carbon-rich, biomass feedstocks into a clean producer gas (syngas) containing equal amounts of hydrogen and carbon monoxide, a small amount of methane, some carbon dioxide, water vapor and the balance nitrogen. CPC's proprietary gasification technology enables the producer gas stream from the BioMax® to have extremely low level of tar, such that the systems use no water for gas clean up and produces no waste water that requires treatment before disposal, unlike most gasification systems.  The BioMax®systems are fully automated, using software to precisely control material flow, gasification, gas cooling and filtration to produce extremely clean syngas. The systems can also be monitored and controlled remotely. The high degree of automation and remote monitoring capability enables the BioMax® to be able to operate unattended. Unlike thermal energy derived from incineration of organic feedstocks, the BioMax® Systems’ syngas is a clean burning renewable fuel gas that can be used as a substitute for gasoline, natural gas, fuel oil or propane. Using gas-to-liquid Fischer Tropsch technologies, the BioMax® Systems’ syngas can be further processed into a number of chemical products including synthetic diesel, jet fuel and more. In the near future, customers will be able to produce liquid fuel (syndiesel) by adding our liquid fuels module (LiquiMax®).

BioMax® Advantages

1. BioMax® can be configured for numerous energy services including combined heat and power (CHP), gas only (boilers & driers), and cooling.
2. BioMax® is a turnkey system. It is built in ISO 20ft containers and tested in factory, and can be installed in under a week. The customer need only provide a concrete pad, electrical and thermal (if desired) inter-connects.
3. BioMax® can operate 24x7, with or without sunlight, with or without wind.
4. BioMax® uses highly efficient and advanced proprietary design, down-draft gasifier technology that produces extremely low level of tar in the producer gas.
5. BioMax® employs dry filter for gas clean-up. It uses no water or oil scrubbers, produces no waste water (disposal issue); no water ponds required; no waste water treatment system (additional cost) required.
6. BioMax®100 is commercially available, proven, with multiple field installations.
7. BioMax® is fully automated, can be remotely controlled, can operate unattended. System start up, operation, monitoring, diagnosis and shut down can all be carried out onsite or remotely over the Internet using an iPad, iPhone, PC or similar devices. Important system functions are continuously monitored and logged with three levels of alarms (alerts are sent via the Internet to a smart device or computer). Emergency or scheduled shut downs are automatic and do not require an on-site attendant.
8. BioMax® requires low maintenance. Maintenance and Operation BioMax® systems require approximately 30-45 minutes per day for maintenance and to prepare the biomass feedstock.
9. BioMax® meets US EPA requirements.
10. BioMax® enables biomass ‘waste’ stream mitigation to reduce or eliminate disposal cost.
11. BioMax® produces usable biochar byproduct.
12. BioMax® has a compact footprint – 30ft x 30ft (10m x 10m), unlike most renewable energy systems of similar power output.

BioMax® Benefits

The BioMax® system delivers on its promises.
The customer benefits include:
Cost savings (power, heat, cooling and waste reduction)
Energy independence & security
24 x 7 energy production
Easy to install and easy to move
Environmentally friendly
Typical BioMax® User Benefits:
Converts onsite or nearby waste streams and/or residues to energy services (power, heat, cooling)
Reduces dependence on fossil fuels and the electric grid
Locked-in energy savings – eliminate utility and energy services price increases
Adapts to feedstock changes that may occur in the customer’s business
The BioMax® system applications can be added or removed to accommodate changing customer business equipment and practices
Reduced emissions and other environmental concerns enhancing a company’s image