Power Play

Cycle Systems has taken control of its energy destiny, harnessing locomotive technology to generate electricity for its new automobile shredder.

By Kent Kiser

About five years ago, Bruce Brenner, chairman of Cycle Systems Inc. (Roanoke, Va.), had a problem. His company’s railway dismantling business, American Railroad Equipment (ARE), had retired locomotive engines that contained used parts with little aftermarket value. Brenner needed to find a productive use for the engines. But what?
   The engines had plenty of worthy attributes, including a reputation for being extremely rugged and reliable. Some railways operate their locomotives all day, every day of the year. With an average service life of 35 years and the ability to go 40,000 operating hours—that’s five years of continuous service—between overhauls, you could say locomotive engines are the Energizer bunnies of the engine world. They just keep on generating electricity to power the traction motors and drive the wheels of locomotives.
   The company faced two main challenges to finding new uses for these engines, however—their size and their shipping weight. That gave Brenner an idea: Maybe if he packaged the engines differently, they could be shipped more easily and used to generate electricity for other applications. By exploring that idea, ARE developed a locomotive-based power plant that it can ship in three patent-pending intermodal containers designed to serve as permanent, on-site housing for the plant’s components. ARE introduced its beta unit to the power industry in August 2005. 
   At the same time, as fate would have it, Cycle Systems—ARE’s parent company—decided to install an automobile shredder at its scrap processing plant in Lynchburg, Va. The company’s principals toured other shredding operations to pick up tips on installing their shredder. One day, while examining the drive system of another shredder, the idea just clicked: Cycle Systems could use an ARE system to provide power for its Lynchburg shredder.
   This idea was perfect for two main reasons: First, it gave ARE a chance to test its technology in a real-world installation. “Somebody had to do it first,” says Richard Lerner, vice president of Cycle Systems. “We were putting in a shredder, so why not?” Second, it saved Cycle Systems from spending $1.3 million on electrical upgrades to power its shredder from the regional power grid. If ARE’s power-generation equipment worked, Cycle Systems could operate 
its shredder independently from the electrical grid. In short, the recycler would be its own power provider. As a bonus, the company would fulfill Bruce Brenner’s goal of finding new uses for his locomotive engines.
   ARE and Cycle Systems were confident they had found the perfect solution for their respective problems.

Powering Up
The real test came in the fall of 2005, when Cycle Systems started its new American Pulverizer 80-by-104-inch shredder. This heavy-duty machine, capable of processing 60 tons an hour, served as the guinea pig for ARE’s power-generation system, which has three main components:
• a 16-cylinder, heavy-block, medium-speed locomotive engine with high-boost turbocharger. This engine, like all ARE products, was in zero-hour condition, making it essentially like new;
• a cooling system composed of two water-cooled radiators and two fans; and
• an electrical system containing all switchgear, controls, and proprietary operating programs designed by ARE.
   When Cycle Systems threw the switch, the engine—reliable as ever—started right up and set to the task of powering the new shredder. Fueled by either No. 2 off-road diesel or an 80-20 mixture of petroleum diesel and soybean-based biodiesel (B20), the engine turns a crankshaft that drives an electrical alternator, generating AC power. That power is transformed into DC power that, in turn, drives two 2,250-hp electric motors, both turning at 900 rpm. Next, a twin gear reducer slows the motors’ 900 rpm to 500 rpm—the manufacturer’s recommended speed for the shredder—and transfers this power to the shredder rotor drive shaft.
   “We’re basically making the easiest power to make—AC power—turning that into the most easily controllable power—DC power—running two motors at optimum speed, then bringing that speed down to the optimum rotor speed,” says Mark Pest, sales and marketing director of ARE Energy, the ARE subsidiary formed to market the power-generation system.
   In all, the ARE system provides 3 megawatts of “continuous, dependable, and affordable electricity,” says Jay Brenner, president of Cycle Systems—more than enough energy to power the firm’s shredder.

Reviewing the Results
By pursuing the power-generation idea, Cycle Systems and ARE were embarking on a grand experiment, one with significant financial and operational risks. What if the technology failed in the field? Would ARE’s millions in research and development all be for naught? Would Cycle Systems have to connect to the electrical grid after all—and pay dearly to do so? Such questions are enough to cause financial angst and sleepless nights.
   So far, the risky experiment appears to be a success. In the shredder’s first 1,000 operating hours, the power plant proved to be 100 percent reliable, with not a single downtime incident caused by a power-system failure.
   The tried-and-true engine is a big reason for this reliability. Even so, ARE and Cycle Systems took other steps to increase the system’s dependability. For instance, they opted to use two 2,250-hp electric motors instead of one larger motor. That way, if one motor fails, the shredder can continue operating with the remaining motor. “This redundancy is designed to prevent catastrophic downtime—and it works because we’ve already tried it,” Lerner says, explaining that one of the two electric motors failed soon after startup due to a bad remanufacturing job. Still, the shredder kept operating, just at a lower production level.
   Beyond its reliability, the power-generation system has enabled Cycle Systems to shred competitively on an energy-cost basis compared with other operators in its region. Based on the firm’s calculations, its shredder requires fewer than 700 gallons of diesel a day at a cost below $1,800 a day to produce the equivalent of 29,000 kilowatt hours of electricity. Its output production costs work out to 6 cents per kwh, or between $4 and $5 a ton. Cycle Systems says it could decrease that figure by increasing the percentage of biodiesel in its fuel mixture. That’s because the federal government offers a $1-a-gallon credit for using biodiesel. Some states, such as Texas, also offer tax breaks for companies that generate power using renewable fuels.
   In terms of fuel consumption, Cycle Systems has found its fuel use to be about half its original projections. Part of the explanation, the firm says, is that most processing force comes from the rotational inertia of the shredder’s shaft, rotor, and 26 hammers. When the shredder is choked with material, the power system simply takes in more fuel and brings the shredder back up to speed.
   Because it’s a diesel-fueled system, Cycle Systems and ARE closely monitor the engine’s air emissions, paying particular attention to nitrogen oxides as well as carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, unburned fuel, and particulate matter. Thus far, the NOx emissions from its power plant are 62 percent of original projections. That means the company can apply for operating permit extensions—to allow up to 80 hours a week—without exceeding emissions limits. Also, because the engine’s fuel mix includes biodiesel, it emits less sulfur dioxide—a major contributor to acid rain—than if it burned petroleum diesel exclusively.

Taking the Next Step
   So far, it looks like the Cycle Systems shredder has given ARE Energy exactly what it needed—a successful prototype in the field to show other operators. With this example, ARE Energy can say, “Look, we’re really doing it. It’s not a theory,” notes Jay Brenner. This real-world test case, he says, will enable the company to “take the system to the next step.”
   And what, precisely, is the next step? In short, marketing the locomotive power-generation system to the scrap industry at large as well as to other energy-intensive industries such as wastewater treatment, paper production, and utility support.
   Notably, ARE Energy’s technology is not a one-size-fits-all approach. The firm says it must review every potential customer on a case-by-case basis to assess its energy requirements, electricity and fuel costs, local and state regulations, operational goals, and the range of energy options in its area, among other factors. For some, it might make more sense to tap into the power grid. For others, ARE’s system might be a viable alternative.
   The main advantage of its power-generation system, ARE says, is that it gives the user independence from the energy grid and its related problems and costs. When Cycle Systems’ executives visited other shredders, they heard all kinds of energy horror stories. Some shredders had to operate at night due to electricity shortages during the day. Some were subject to interruptible service that could idle their operations at inopportune times. Some faced incredibly steep electricity costs, especially during periods of peak daytime demand. Others were paying steep monthly electricity bills, with rates based on previous spikes in their usage. As Pest explains, electric utilities take an average of a company’s heaviest usage and can base its annual rate on any 15-minute period in the previous 12 months. In other words, he says, “you can create a power demand spike that you have to live with for the rest of the year.” As Lerner adds, “Most shredders are paying on their maximum demand. Even if they don’t use it, they’re still paying for it.”
   In contrast, when Cycle Systems’ shredder needs more power, “the diesel engine basically just drinks more fuel, builds up power, chugs through it, and returns to its normal processing rate,” Pest says. “When the next heavy load comes, the engine again drinks more fuel, chugs through it, and comes back up to speed and goes on. There’s not a 15-minute legacy you need to live with for 12 months. That’s really the operating freedom we’re talking about.”
Beyond high costs, the other energy problem Cycle Systems avoided by generating its own power was the $1.3 million infrastructure investment its energy provider mandated. “The utility essentially told us, ‘You make the upgrade and it doesn’t belong to you,’” Lerner says. “They wanted us to upgrade their system.”
   Another selling point of the locomotive power-generation system, ARE says, is its fuel flexibility. Fuel options for the power plant include straight petroleum diesel, a mixture of petroleum diesel and biodiesel, and mixtures of these fuels and natural gas. This flexibility enables operators to use the least expensive and most available fuels in their area as well as to change their fuel based on market or weather conditions, the firm notes. In winter, for example, when natural gas prices rise, operators can increase their use of diesel. In summer, when natural gas prices moderate, operators can increase their use of that fuel. 
   ARE Energy also has designed its energy-generating systems for quick and easy installation, offering them essentially as preassembled packages. The firm builds and tests the three main components—the engine, cooling system, and electrical module—at its headquarters in Roanoke, which makes the pieces “basically plug-and-play when they get on site,” Pest says. For the Cycle Systems shredder, operators were able to begin using the ARE Energy system within a few days of its delivery, the company points out.
   One of the most innovative features of ARE’s energy system is its transportability. Each of the three main components ships in its own intermodal, high-cube container measuring 20 feet long by 8 feet wide by 9.5 feet tall, with each component weighing less than 40,000 pounds in its container. The equipment’s standard packaging size and weight meet all interstate highway transport guidelines, making the system “easily transportable anywhere in the world” via road, rail, sea, or air, Pest says. This standardized, modular approach can yield significant savings on transportation costs.
   Once on site, the containers can serve as permanent housing for the system’s components, offering 3 inches of interior insulation to deaden noise and water-tight construction to protect the components from the elements. Though Cycle Systems opted to install its ARE system in specially designed buildings, other shredder operators could take advantage of the system’s containerized feature, Pest notes, by linking the three containers together and installing them in tandem on a single concrete slab measuring 14 feet wide by 70 feet long.
   As ARE Energy unveils its technology to the scrap world, the firm has optimistic but realistic expectations. Ideally, it would like to sell its system to several shredders in the next year. In particular, it would like an installation that uses at least a 50-50 mix of natural gas and diesel. In the meantime, it continues to develop its proprietary system to enable the power unit to operate on a fuel mix of 70 percent or more natural gas.
   In the bigger picture, an ARE Energy system could meet the electricity needs of an entire scrap facility—from its lights and computers to its shredder, shear, and other equipment. While one unit can generate up to 3 MW of electricity, several in tandem could crank out up to 12 MW. “These engines could power your whole scrapyard,” Lerner says. “If someone wanted to be self-sufficient, this system can do it. And if you’re in an area that lets you sell power into the grid, you could even do that.”
   Imagine that—a scrap operation using locomotive technology to become a power-generation facility. That’s a powerful idea in more ways than one. 

Kent Kiser is publisher and editor-in-chief of Scrap.