Co-firing Biomass, Sewage Sludge and Municipal Waste is Hot Topic Hour Aug. 5, 2010
Too many persons, co-firing of biomass, municipal waste and sewage sludge with fossil fuels is seen as an easy, economical way to achieve CO2 reduction mandates and make the planet greener. But those who have done it know that co-firing and even firing only bio-materials are typically not without many significant problems. Obtaining a reliable, consistent supply of a specific biomass material is just the start of the problems faced by engineers and management considering co-firing at an existing plant or developing a new plant where the fuel will exclusively be a bio-material or waste. The lower energy content of biomass which may require de-rating of an existing plant and considerably more material handling than fossil fuels must be considered. And, unless a plant is specifically designed to handle and combust a specific bio-material, there will be compatibility issues with existing plant equipment particularly material handling and pulverizing systems and boiler feed and combustion systems. The composition of the combustion gases from burning bio-material can also have both a positive or negative effect on stack emissions and the air pollution control systems required to meet emission limits and must be considered.
The following speakers will describe their experience with planning, permitting, developing and operating plants that co-fire of all types of biomass and address the typical problems that can be expected, offer solutions to these problems as well as describe any new equipment designs, technology and systems being developed to make co-firing or combustion of bio-materials easier and more efficient. The speakers may also address other issues related to combustion of bio-materials such as how to insure that the process results in a net CO2 reduction considering the complete fuel production, processing, transport and use cycle; the benefits of co-locating an ethanol plant with a fossil fuel power plant and the pros and cons of gasifying the bio-materials before combustion in the boiler or using the gas as a reburn fuel.
Dr. Dirk T. Van Essendelft, Chemical and Biochemical Engineer, U.S. Department of Energy, National Energy Technology Laboratory, Separations and Fuels Processing Division will describe the research programs being conducted in the NETL Office of Research and Development to identify, understand and address the technical and logistical challenges involved in utilizing biomass in conjunction with traditional fossil fuels to produce energy with significantly reduced or negative carbon footprints. The strategic focus lies within gasification technologies, but much of the research has applicability in direct combustion as well. The research at NETL has been broken down into five topics: material preparation and feeding, computational modeling, reaction chemistry, materials, and systems analysis. The objective is to comprehensively address issues related to adding biomass to the feed of advanced gasification systems.
Barry Freel, Vice-president for Technology at Ensyn will describe a process that converts biomass to combustible oil. UOP, a Honeywell company and Ensyn have formed a Joint Venture called Envergent Technologies to provide a proven, practical thermal conversion process that converts biomass to pyrolysis oil (PyOil) that can be used in heat applications, power projects or converted to transportation fuels. Co-firing of PyOil can readily be accomplished in existing boiler applications offering the advantage of supplementing fossil fuels with renewable, very low sulfur, green liquid fuel. The presentation will introduce the technology and cover the experience and success of co-firing PyOil in power boilers.
Marc A. Cremer, Ph.D., Manager of Engineering Analysis at Reaction Engineering International will present “Assessing Combustion and Emission Impacts of Firing Biomass for Power Generation”. The potential environmental advantages of replacing a portion of the nation’s coal consumption with renewable biomass have been well documented – CO2, SOX, NOX and CO emissions reduction. However, practical implementation of these concepts can be complex. In addition, the limited base of commercially relevant experience and the unique properties of biomass fuels lead to even greater uncertainty, thereby limiting industry acceptance. This presentation identifies potential fuel related impacts on combustion performance and emissions, and focuses on the application of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software as a tool to provide understanding and guidance in evaluating various biomass firing strategies and furnace designs.
Sam Mitra of Beltran Technologies, Inc. will discuss biomass gasifier systems.
To register for the "Hot Topic Hour" on August 5, 2010 at 10 a.m. CDT (Chicago time), click on: http://www.mcilvainecompany.com/brochures/FGDnetoppbroch/Default1.htm
Bob McIlvaine
President
847 784 0012 ext 112
rmcilvaine@mcilvainecompany.com