Aabybro Fjernvarme (DE)
Sustainable and energy efficient Danish district heating solution
| Project: District heating plant Owner: Aabybro Fjernvarme (district heating plant) Valve supplier: BROEN A/S |
District heating plays an important part in Danish energy supply and is part of a balanced national energy plan to reduce carbon emissions and the use of finite resources in Denmark.
A small town in the Northern part of Denmark sets a high standard for efficient district heating and presents a sustainable and efficient solution distributing clean and efficient energy to around 2,000 private households in the town of Aabybro.
In 1986 the plant Aabybro Fjernvarme (Aabybro District Heating Plant) switched from oil to wood chips based heating and in April 2016 a brand new energy efficient plant was inaugurated. The plant is established as a co-operative, where the customers are also the owners of the plant.
Kathrine – an energy efficient lady getting the job done
Aabybro Fjernvarme transforms wood chips to energy. The chips come from national forestry and local farmers thinning the vegetation around their fields.
The main component in the heat station in Aabybro is the boiler called Kathrine – named after a famous Danish TV character. She is a solid, sturdy and practical hard working character, who gets the job done.
During the combustion the temperature in Kathrine drops from more than 1,000°C in the combustion chamber to 180°C and as the final step a condensation process is added bringing down the temperature to 38°C. The heat from the combustion process is used to heat up the water for the town of Aabybro.
As yet another gain some of the ashes produced from the combustion are re-circulated and sold as an ingredient for fertilizer materials. Kathrine processes chips with a humidity between 35% - 55%. With a nominal capacity of 8.4 MW she has plenty of power and volume to get the job done.
The boiler was installed by the company Weiss - a Danish plant construction company, who delivered a complete key solution for Aabybro District Heating Plant - also including pumps, valves and pipes.
Weiss is a recognized specialist in district heating plant constructions – and very well familiar with the valves from BROEN. John Myrup from Weiss A/S says:
| “Many customers ask for fully welded ball valves for shut off applications instead of butterfly valves, because the ball valves are more reliable. Over the years Weiss has built up a good experience using BROENs ball valves for district heating plants and it is a brand that customers trust – the valves are long lasting and operate with no problems. BROEN Ballomax® still proves itself among the most efficient and reliable district heating valves on the market today”. |
BROEN Ballomax® - designed to last.
The plates of a large heat exchanger is where the heat from Kathrine is transferred to the outside circuit distributing heated water for the town and the connected local industrial plants. In a closed loop the water circulates back to the plant, where it is again heated up in the heat exchanger, distributed to the households and then the re-circulation continues – driven by the pump station of the heating plant.
In the pump station the BROEN Ballomax® ball valves play an important role as reliable and efficient shut off valves for controlling the flow through the different pipelines, where a valuable stream of hot water supplies the town of Aabybro with hot water.
Giant amounts of water push through the components every day and long lasting reliability is required for any opening and closing mechanism. With temperatures around 165°C shutting the valves tightly and efficiently on and off in order to direct the flow efficiently is very important and no downtime or leakages are accepted.
All BROEN Ballomax® ball valves are tested according to PED module H to secure they will perform satisfactorily over their entire lifetime. Each and every component has been carefully designed.
The spindle of a BROEN Ballomax® valve is mounted from the inside and cannot be ejected and there is minimal maintenance of a BROEN Ballomax valve body as no parts require replacement or lubrication. Only a yearly activation is recommended to secure that the ball does not get stuck in the retainer – this means a minimum of work for the customer.
Inside the valve the control of the media is provided by a stainless steel ball closing against self-lubricating seats to secure superior sealing and low friction – which again means that closing and opening require relatively little torque and small dimensioning of gears and activation.
The floating ball is self-centering and the seats are backed up with springs and retainers to ensure constant contact pressure between the ball and the seat. BROEN Ballomax® allows a maximal handle turn of 90°.
BROEN – complete offerings for district heating.
BROEN Ballomax® valves are used in the distribution system towards the town and Plant Manager at Aabybro Fjernvarme, Torben Stenbroen explains:
| ”I want to have the same quality of valves in the distribution to the town, as I have in the plant and here quality was a deciding parameter in the construction phase. In general we aim for one supplier- and service interface for all valves. With BROEN Ballomax® we hope to get long lasting quality and reliability in our distribution system too”. |
For the town of Aabybro BROEN has supplied valves for installation both above and below ground, isolated flexible main stop valves for house inlets as well as well-valves - combining two valves in one well.