Waste Today Magazine: Air Burners hosts BioCharger demo event
New air curtain burner creates a closed-looped system for managing vegetative waste while powering electric machinery off-grid.
Air Burners, a Palm City, Florida-based manufacturer of air curtain burner systems, showcased its BioCharger, which turns green waste into green energy, at a March event in Florida. The event took place at an Air Burners demonstration site hosted by TCIRood, a local Florida landscaping company.
Recent destructive wildfires affecting the U.S. have shown the immense need for more efficient forest management and land clearing in wildfire-prone areas, the company says. Developed in collaboration with Volvo Construction Equipment, Shippensburg, Pennsylvania, and Rolls-Royce Power Systems, the BioCharger addresses that need while reducing black carbon emissions compared to traditional disposal methods, according to Air Burners.
The BioCharger is a fully portable air curtain burner system that converts radiant heat into electricity, stores the generated power and then charges electric vehicles and equipment on-site. The machine utilizes an Organic Rankine Cycle system to generate electricity, which is then stored in the attached storage module’s 600 kilowatt-hours battery, allowing the end user to charge their machinery locally. Air Burners says this capability opens an untapped potential for forest management, land clearing and wildfire mitigation services.
“Electric machinery is the logical next step in the fight against climate change and concerns over air quality,” says Brian O’Connor, president of Air Burners. “We saw a need for off-grid power generation and charging in the forest and vegetative management space to accommodate that shift. The BioCharger is our response to filling that need.”
Attendees listened to a presentation that explained the current landscape of vegetative waste management and the technology behind this new product while receiving exclusive access to experience BioCharger technology in action. As part of the demonstration, a Volvo compact electric wheel loader was used to show the capabilities of the BioCharger to recharge 48V equipment.
Posted by Shelley Mann, Managing Editor.