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Flare stack and area being prepared for possible use as a debris burning location pending approval Dynegy Venice facility Attachment

Compass: Winds of Change: Dynegy Rethinks Coal

Nithin Coca

hu, 18 Dec 2008 20:11:58 GM

This is the weekly blog post from Bruce Nilles, director of the Sierra Club's National Coal Campaign. The dominoes continue to fall in the fight to stop the coal rush: last week . Dynegy. Inc. announced that it was now re-evaluating..​.

What are your thoughts on converting coal plants to burn biomass?
Q. Over the past three years, Southern Co., Northeast Utilities, Dynegy, Xcel Energy, FirstEnergy, and DTE Energy have either converted coal plants to burn biomass or are in the process of doing so. Some details on the FirstEnergy plant: "When the retrofit is completed, the Burger Plant initially will use wood wastes and other biomass to fuel the facility. FirstEnergy s goal, however, is to operate the plant as a closed loop biomass plant, which means it will use fuel derived from trees grown to serve as feedstock for the biomass fuel, said company spokeswoman Ellen Raines. As a closed-loop biomass plant, the project would be carbon-neutral. The energy crop trees would act as a carbon sink, storing carbon in the trees tissues and roots.… [cont.]
Asked by Dana1981 - Mon Apr 13 12:43:39 2009 - - 10 Answers - 0 Comments

A. Converting coal burning plants to biomass is a very good idea. There are three problems, however that were mentioned by prior posts. The energy that can be extracted from biomass depends on the moisture content. The combustion step should be preceded by drying, preferably using "free energy" from the wind and sun. Secondly, emissions are an issue if the combustion temperature is too low or if the fuel density is too low. There are also problems with ash forming a slag if the temperature is too high. As Jim said, it might be better to design the furnace from scratch optimized for biomass combustion. My company developed, and is now marketing a biomass fuel derived from agricultural waste that is denser than coal (which limits fly ash) [cont.]
Answered by d/dx+d/dy+d/dz - Mon Apr 13 20:03:32 2009