POWER April 2011 - 56

ALTERNATIVE FUELS
" The biggest benefit of biomass cofiring
that we will see in the near future is
its use in extending the life of marginal
coal-fired plants. "
- Jason Hayes, American Coal Council
available on a sustained basis without the
long hauling of the biomass. "
Gupta pointed out that Ontario Power
Generation's (OPG) Nanticoke and Atikokan
Generating Stations in Canada are
good examples of successful biomass projects
(see " OPG Charts Move from Coal to
Biomass, " April 2010).
In 2007, OPG installed a direct injection
system for agro-biomass with a capacity
of 50 MW at its then-eight-unit,
3,640-MW Nanticoke Generating Station.
However, much of the success of the program
entailed the use of the dedicated mill
concept, in which wood pellets were processed
through the existing coal pulverizers,
without coal, and were subsequently
conveyed to the furnace with the existing
firing systems.
In 2008, proof-of-concept testing was
conducted at Atikokan to assess the feasibility
of operating the 227-MW lignite
boiler with various percentages of biomass,
specifically pelletized wood. The
Atikokan program also employed the dedicated
milling concept.
More recently, due to the economic
downturn and new emission regulations,
Atikokan's role has changed to providing
reliability during peak demand times and
back-up generation when other sources are
unavailable, according to OPG sources.
Nonetheless, OPG is moving ahead with
planning and approvals for repowering
Atikokan using wood-fiber biomass in
2013. OPG's biomass program requires
fuels to be from sustainable sources.
As at Atikokan, Nanticoke's role has
changed to one of providing reliability
during peak demand periods and backup
generation as a result of the economic
downturn, new electricity supply in the
province, and new emission regulations.
Looking to the future, Ontario's LongTerm
Energy Plan, announced by the minister
of energy in November 2010, called
for the shutdown of two more Nanticoke
coal-fueled generators by late 2011 (two
were decommissioned at the end of 2010).
The plan recognizes that the conversion of
some units to natural gas is an option, if
those units are needed for system reliabil56
ity.
According to OPG sources, cofiring of
natural gas and biomass may be considered
in the future for OPG generators, which
first will be repowered by natural gas.
Recent Developments
Negatively Affecting Biomass
Cofiring Initiatives
Chris Blazek, vice president of marketing
for Enviro-Burn Inc., told POWER about
several trends he thinks are slowing down
the progress of new cofiring projects. His
company specializes in providing turnkey
cofiring biomass programs.
" The cofiring of biomass in utility boilers
showed much promise two years ago,
supported by encouragement from the
new Obama administration and local state
renewable portfolio standards, " he said.
" More recent EPA [U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency] legislation, the recession,
low natural gas prices, and even
push-back by some environmental groups
have significantly lessened the power industry's
interest in biomass cofiring. "
Now many older coal-fired boilers that
were targeted for cofiring are targeted for
possible shutdown, due to EPA regulations,
according to Blazek. He argues that
what is needed today is a national energy
policy that supports a diversified renewable
energy portfolio as well as local regulations
that reward utilities for being good
stewards of the environment.
Gupta concurred with Blazek's opinion
that a number of cofiring initiatives
are at a standstill. " There have been some
initiatives on biomass cofiring projects in
the U.S., but several of these initiatives
are now on hold for variety of reasons, "
he said. " For one thing, there is the new
boiler MACT [maximum achievable control
technology] rule of EPA that severely
impacts on the use of biomass cofiring.
Industry is reluctant to add new pollution
control systems in boilers, such as scrubbers
and SCR technology, unless the payback
time is relatively short-on the order
of three years. Also, Southern Company
and Duke had plans for biomass cofiring,
but these projects are now on hold for the
indefinite term. " This scenario is unlikely
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to change in the near term, says Gupta, as
the cost of natural gas is relatively low.
He also pointed out that the current
slowdown in launching biomass cofiring
initiatives extends beyond the U.S. " In Europe,
there was a big drive in the past to
build biomass plants, but now they seem
to be pushing back on the biomass plants, "
Gupta said. " Now in Europe there is more
emphasis on wind energy, which has its
own benefits and challenges. "
Future Directions
Thirty-six states now have some sort of
goal for making renewables or " alternative
energy " a portion of their generation mix.
Goals for the percentage of renewables go
as high as California's 33% by 2020. Pending
federal legislation, if enacted, would
establish a national renewable energy/efficiency
standard of 20% in 2020. Coalconsuming
utilities and industrials are
exploring biomass as an option for state
renewable portfolio standards compliance.
" I would suggest that the biggest benefit
of biomass cofiring that we will see in the
near future is its use in extending the life of
marginal coal-fired plants, " Hayes said. " Biomass
cofiring will give efficiency benefits,
emissions reductions, and help to provide a
baseload generation option that also meets
state renewable portfolio standards. "
Gupta argued that in the future, the U.S.
government must take a lead role in technology
demonstrations with both standalone
biomass-fired units and cofired
units if the industry is to move forward
with this option to meet state renewable
portfolio standards.
Castaldi is optimistic about the future
role of biomass cofiring in the U.S. " I
would say that increased overall usage is
likely to occur, but at low biomass-coal ratios
in any one given boiler, " he said. " At
low to moderate biomass-to-coal ratios,
cofiring appears to have the best overall
performance for reducing emissions and
ensuring trouble-free operation in a coalfired
combustion system. The reductions
in mercury and sulfur emissions are big
benefits. Also if CO2
issues remain, that
would help. My estimation is that biomass
energy will make up approximately 20% of
the energy supply mix in about 20 years. "
Biomass cofiring represents an excellent
opportunity to use coal-our country's
most abundant and affordable energy resource-in
a more environmentally sound
manner. New technical advances should
make cofiring biomass an affordable fuel
choice for utilities in the near future. ■
-Angela Neville, JD, is senior
editor of POWER.
POWER | April 2011
http://www.powermag.com
POWER April 2011

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