Biothermica

Maximizing Ventilation Air Methane (VAM) abatement at minimum cost

Based on the experience gained from its first VAM project, Biothermica has developed a Second generation Vamox® Regenerative Thermal Oxidizer (RTO) system fully optimized by Biothermica’s engineers to maximize carbon credits production in the most economical fashion.

For illustrative purposes, at 0.9% v/v (the methane concentration typically observed on vent bleeder shafts in the U.S), this Vamox® system would generate about 750 tCO2e/24h (~260,000 tCO2e/year based on 95% uptime), with a total parasitic power consumption of only 700 hp (520 kW) approximately.

The VAMOX® technology provides many advantages and features, including:

• Proven fail-safe design and safety features exceeding MSHA’s requirements to ensure miners’ safety.
• Mechanical connection to the vent shaft designed to prevent any possible impact on the mine’s ventilation capacity while also preventing VAM dilution.
• RTO’s design can be customized using a proven process simulator to optimize the system’s performance over the specific range of VAM flow rate and methane concentration specified.
• Proprietary control strategy, including the auto-adjustment of process parameters based on methane concentration, in order to maximize performance and allow processing VAM with highly variable methane concentration up to 1.2% without experiencing overheat issues.
• Low parasitic power consumption and maintenance costs.
• Designed for facilitated relocation. System built in modular sections that can be easily dismantled and moved within ~2 months to different shafts throughout their service life, as the progression of underground mining activities lead to the commissioning of new ventilation fans.

SPECIFICATIONS (can be customized):

• Flow capacity: up to 140,000 acfm (~240,000 Nm³/h)
• Footprint: 4,700 ft² (44’ × 106’) / 416 m² (13 m × 32 m)
• %CH₄ Range: 0.3% – 1.2%
• Methane destruction efficiency: up to 98%