OWEGO, N.Y. — Lockheed Martin Corp. (NYSE: LMT) on Tuesday formally opened a new bioenergy facility at its location in Owego.
The system uses Concord Blue Energy, Inc.’s technology that will convert waste into clean, renewable energy.
Lockheed Martin in October, 2014 signed a manufacturing agreement (see adjacent file photo) with Concord Blue Energy to provide all manufacturing support for the firm’s reformer technology.
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Concord Blue specializes in transforming nearly any form of waste into a variety of clean, renewable fuels and energy.
Concord Blue USA, Inc. is headquartered in Los Angeles. The firm also operates international offices in India and Germany.
“This new bioenergy technology can change the way our world addresses clean energy and waste-management challenges,” Frank Armijo, VP of Lockheed Martin Energy, said in the firm’s news release issued Tuesday. “At our bioenergy facility in Owego, we’re able to reduce our own energy costs while also demonstrating the groundbreaking capability of our technology to potential users.”
Prior to the ribbon cutting, Lockheed Martin “successfully” demonstrated the end-to-end capability of the new system.
The demonstration “validated” its ability to convert waste material into energy for the company’s Owego operations, where it designs and builds space-flight hardware, military helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft, the company said.
How it works
The self-sustaining system can transform waste into electricity through a process called advanced gasification. The process includes four steps.
The company can collect wood waste, municipal solid waste, industrial waste, and more for use as input.
The Owego facility will initially use wood waste, with plans to transition to municipal, commercial, or industrial waste to create its power in the future.
Once the waste is collected, the company can remove metal, glass and other materials and dry them to specification.
As the process continues, Lockheed Martin will then heat and mix proprietary heat-carrier spheres with the organic waste. Once it reaches a certain temperature, the solid waste turns into gas, which then travels to a reforming vessel where the gas is turned into synthesis gas (syngas).
The facility then uses the syngas to fuel a combustion engine that produces electricity. Alternatively, it can also use the syngas to produce hydrogen and biofuels.
Unlike incineration, the process is oxygen-free and flame-free, which means “no harmful” byproducts are produced, emissions are “limited” and waste going to landfills is “greatly reduced,” Lockheed Martin said.
Building off experience from the development of the Owego facility, Lockheed Martin and Concord Blue recently started construction on a bioenergy plant in Herten, Germany.
The facility will convert 50,000 tons of feedstock per year into five megawatts of energy output, enough to power about 5,000 local homes and businesses.
Concord Blue’s technology benefits the environment, fulfilling all international, Environmental Protection Agency, and European regulations for renewable energy and air emissions, the company contends.
Lockheed Martin Energy is a line of business within Lockheed Martin that delivers products across the energy industry to include “demand response solutions,” energy efficiency, energy storage, nuclear systems, ocean-energy technologies, and bioenergy generation, the firm said.
Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com
