[ferro-alloys.com]

  Last week, Swedish Stirling, a clean technology company that converts toxic gases into electricity, opened a new pilot power plant at Samancor Chrome's TC smelter in Mooinooi, South Africa.

  PWR BLOK 400-F is a containerized system, each system is composed of 14 Stirling engines, which can recover the heat generated by smelter exhaust gas and convert it into electric energy. The net output power of each PWR Blok is up to 400 kW. The modularity improves the convenience of capacity expansion.

  Larson, the company's founder and chief executive, said: "the mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen has been changing, and internal combustion engines can't handle these mixtures. But for the Stirling engine, that's not a problem. "

  Previously, the company signed an agreement with Afarak Mogale, a subsidiary of ferrochrome manufacturer Afarak, to apply PWR Blok technology to the ferrochrome industry in South Africa for the first time. But in 2020, Afarak was involved in a commercial rescue, so the company removed the equipment from Afarak Mogale plant.

  Larson said PWR Blok has a strong appeal for South African ferrochrome manufacturers. First, the rise in electricity charges is likely to lead to the expansion of production costs. Using this technology, smelters are expected to reduce their annual electricity charges to Eskom by 15%. Secondly, the system can effectively deal with power load shedding, environmental problems and carbon tax. At the same time, the return on investment of the system is only a little over five years. "So the financial drive is high," Larson said.

  Currently, Stirling in Sweden focuses on the South African market. In addition to Samanco, the company is also interested in selling the technology to Glencore and Richards Bay alloys.

• [Editor:Catherine Ren]