Hidro+ Inventor and technology developer.
To contribute to ecological sustainability and humanity.
James Kwok is a Chartered Professional Engineer with over 30 years experience in large-scale engineering projects and research and development. He is the instigator and inventor of numerous innovations in the field of Fluidised-Bed Combustion technology (FBC) that have been widely adopted and commercialized in the designs of FBC systems around the world. More than a decade after their initial implementation in the proprietary Fludised-Bed Reactor, the technologies continue to be considered the cutting-edge and world's best practice for power generation from biomass and lignite.
James Kwok has designed and deployed many commercial projects in environmental low emissions power generation technology and has previously been granted with, and was the holder of, power generation and transmission licenses in Australian states - including the first license granted by the Electricity Regulator in the State of Tasmania. James is the inventor and technologist of numerous world patents and patents pending and has collaborated as co-developer on different projects with Prof Dr Udo Hellwig of ERK Germany and Ion Boldea of Politehnica University, Timisoara Romania.
In December 2010 James completed and commissioned a pre-commercial HidroTower plant with a 20kW capacity. This plant is the first-stage of its designed capacity, consisting of a 7m water tower with hydrostatic energy harnessed via rack and pinion gears that power a flywheel to rotate a generator to produce electricity. Located at Stapylton East in Queensland Australia, this plant is in the process of being independently verified. Together being verified is the structural engineering calculations, computational fluid dynamics (CFD), and designs and documentation for the HidroTower commercial 1MW module plant.
James is a Registered Professional Engineer in Australia [NPER2232083], Chartered Professional Engineer and Fellow of the Institution of Engineers Australia; Member of the Australian College of Mechanical Engineers; in the Panel of the Australian National Registered Chartered Professional Engineers; and Fellow of the Australian Institute of Management.
1980-1990
During the 1980s to 1990, James Kwok held a senior project planner position for the heavy industrial projects division of CMPS Sydney, being then the largest and oldest Australian consulting engineers, with over 2000 engineers in multi-disciplined capabilities.
1990-2000
In the 1990s to 2000s, James Kwok co-owned the engineering and construction firm Energy Equipment Australia (and EE Power Systems), conducting research and development as well as the deployment of many commercial projects in environmental low emissions power generation. James led teams on major projects utilizing the patented proprietary technology of the Fluidised-Bed Reactor (FBR) - being where CO2 gas recycling is applied to control high combustion temperatures and emissions. The FBR processes includes low-temperature gasification followed by high-temperature combustion in one-reactor, and has been commercially verified by independent experts as meeting the world's best practice for power generation using either low calorific value fossils fuels, such as high moisture coal and lignite (brown coal); and organic materials such as biomass (woody waste). It has been tested and proven as being suitable for a low-emission coal liquefaction.
Numerous FBR large steam generator plants (up to 50t/h) using lignite as fuel have been built and are in commercial operation throughout Australia for major industries, including a plant built in 1993 for Joe White Malting in Tamworth, NSW.
During the year 1993-1998,
Energy Equipment was the principal contractor for the 200,000Nm3/hr environmental lignite (brown coal) gasification project in Yima, Henan Province, to supply clean de-sulphurized town-gas
to the capital city Zhengzhou City. This project involved sub-technology support from Lurgi AG GmbH of Germany (Melbourne) and CMPS&F (Sydney) / Egis Group (French). This $350,000,000 project at the time of completion was the largest engineering project ever exported by a foreign company to PRChina. The project emphasis was to curb the pollution and dust emissions from the households using lignite (brown coal) for heating and cooking.
In 1995 Energy Equipment Australia designed and built a 30,000Nm3/hr commercial environmental coal gasification plant using lignite as fuel in Henan Province PRChina for the State owned Steel company, Lou Yang Heavy Machineries. This plant is still in commercial operation producing clean-gas for steel works furnaces and high quality (de-sulphurized) town gas. Another commercial plant using 30t/d sludge from a waste-water treatment plant as feedstock, being part of a bio-diesel production facility, was built in 1996 for the Waste Management Authority at Subiaco Waste Water Works, Western Australia.
In 1998 James Kwok initiated and co-developed with Prof Dr Udo Hellwig of ERK Germany the unique integrated 'shell-tubes', rated at 35t/h superheated steam generator at T400degC and P40barg, to power a 7MWt steam-turbine which was incorporated in the 25m high proprietary and patented Energy Equipment Fluidised-Bed Reactor (FBR).
2000s
A large-scale (5MWe) renewable power generating plant using 70,000 t/yr of garden waste (biomass) as fuel, was built using the latest Energy Equipment FBR technology and commissioned at Stapylton, Queensland. This plant was amongst Australia’s first using a multi-stage air condenser system for cooling (instead of water). The plant was constructed as an embedded generator for an Industrial complex in South East Queensland, Australia. In 2002 this plant was granted with Australia’s first renewable energy generation and transmission license and renewable energy certification from the Australian Greenhouse Office (AGO) in Canberra. In 2003 this plant was successfully commissioned with independent expert verification from Burns Roe Worley (Melbourne, Australia). Other verifications were also conducted by Sinclair Knight Mertz (SKM, Sydney Australia); GHD Black & Veatch (Sydney, Australia and USA); and the Queensland State and Environmental Protection Authority; to confirm meeting designed performance, operational and emissions abatements.
James Kwok was also granted with full building permits from the respective Council engineers, and planning approvals from the respective State's peak planning body and Environmental Protection Authorities to construct:- a large scale (3x)20MWe renewable energy plant at Kemerton Industrial Park in Perth, Western Australia (under the auspice of The Shire of Harvey), fueled by green waste from timber mills and residue from bluegum tree plantations; a (3x)20MWe renewable energy plant at Morwell in South Melbourne, Victoria (under the auspice of LaTrobe City Council), fueled by paper mill waste sludge,timber mill waste and plantation residues; a 20MWe renewable energy plant at Yatala Industrial precinct in Stapylton, Queensland (under the auspice of Gold Coast City Council), fueled by green waste from pruning and grass mowing sourced from Council's landfills and direct drop-off by residents in the plant vicinity; Tasmania's first (2x)20MWe renewable energy plant, under the management of George Town City Council, fueled by 220tpa of eucalypt tree plantation residues and green waste from City Council's landfills; and a 5MWe renewable energy plant approved at Nowra in South Sydney, New South Wales (under the auspice of Nowra City Council), fueled by waste-sludge from local paper mills.
In 2002 James Kwok and Dr Rajinder Malik (who was previous to that with The University of Sydney, Chemical Engineering Faculty) developed, designed and documented the process for ethanol production using 85kT/yr of cellulose as feed stock from agriculture waste, in a proposed project in Trangie District, Dubbo City, Central New South Wales of Australia. With a dedicated bio-farm to be located adjacent to the plant, the proposed project was granted with Australia’s first EPA approvals.
The project consisted of a 10MW capacity for steam and power production as a co-generation system for the 30ML/yr ethanol plant. The waste from the ethanol processing was to be used as fuel for the power and steam generating plant, where the access power was exported and high volume steam was supplied for the ethanol plant, of which it would also act as a cooling condensing system for the power plant. The goal was creating a fully integrated, stand-alone, highly efficient process-system from sustainable feedstock supplies that required minimal handling and transport for ethanol production, steam and power generation.
The Australian Federal Government’s anticipated ethanol legislation was not passed at that time and the project was shelved. However in the latter part of 2010, mandatory 10% ethanol-mix legislation has since been passed and E10 fuel has now been introduced to replace the fuel previously known as unleaded.
In 2008 Professor Ion Boldea of Politehnica University, Timisoara Romania, joined as a co-developer in the Hidro+ Multi-module Tower Linear Electric Generator (MTLEG) technology. The Hidro+ MTLEG is a joint patent between James Kwok and Professor Ion Boldea, and is currently world patent pending. Prof Boldea has been a Fellow of the IEEE since 1996 and has published extensively, in English, on the subject of rotary and linear electric machines and drives in the last 25 years. He is author and co-author of 13 books published in the U.S.A. and U.K. and holds 20 Romanian patents and one American patent which is now a commercial product. A member of IEEE-IAS EM and IDC committees, he has won 3 IEEE-IAS best-paper awards. He also holds the 1976 Engineering Award (with S.A. Nasar) of the Romanian Academy of Sciences. Prof Boldea led a team that developed and built an industrial prototype (inverter-fed linear induction and, respectively, rotary induction-driven) subway system for 300 passengers and a linear homopolar synchronous motor-integrated propulsion-suspension MAGLEV: Magnibus-01 of 4 tones on a 150-meter test track.
Further collaborative work conducted recently with an overseas shipping company has yielded blue-prints for the development of the Hidro+ Super-Prime-Mover [HSPM] with 135,000BHP power capacity for retrofit into existing large container ships, as a standard feature for newly constructed ships, or in the interim as a stand-alone HSPM Tow-Ship to tow existing larger container ships on Trans-Atlantic or extreme long-range distances (whilst the ship's existing engine is used for manoeuvring at harbor and port). A single operational HSPM that is equipped with an expander turbo-generator and linear electric generator machines to produce power for prime-propulsion, refrigeration and lighting, is expected to be capable of abating about 175million tons per year of carbon emissions.
Hidro+ is a technology which gives people a choice, and as humans on this earth if your not part of the solution your part of the problem.
