Biomass Co-firing with Coal and Natural Gas

• Author / Creator

  Agbor, Ezinwa U

• Biomass fuels have long been accepted as useful renewable energy sources, especially in mitigating greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions. Fossil fuel-based power plants make up over 30% of the GHG emissions in Alberta, Canada. Displacement of fossil fuel-based power through biomass co-firing has been proposed as a near-term option to reduce these emissions. In this research, co-firing of three biomass feedstocks (i.e., whole forest, agricultural residues and forest residues) at varying proportions with coal as well as with natural gas in existing plants was studied to investigate different co-firing technologies. Whole forest biomass refers to live or dead trees (spruce and mixed hardwood) not considered merchantable for pulp and timber production; agricultural residues are straws obtained as the by-product of threshing crops such as wheat, barley, and flax; and forest residues refer to the limbs and tops of the trees left on the roadside to rot after logging operations by pulp and timber companies. Data-intensive models were developed to carry out detailed techno-economic and environmental assessments to comparatively evaluate sixty co-firing scenarios involving different levels of the biomass feedstock co-fired with coal in existing 500 MW subcritical pulverized coal (PC) plants and with natural gas in existing 500 MW natural gas combined cycle (NGCC) plants. Minimum electricity production costs were determined for the co-fired plants for the same three biomass feedstocks and base fuels. Environmental assessments, from the point of harvesting to delivering electricity to the customers, was evaluated and compared to the various co-fired configurations to determine the most economically viable and environmental friendly options of biomass co-firing configuration for western Canada.
  The results obtained from these analyses shows that the fully paid-off coal-fired power plant co-fired with forest residues is the most attractive option and has levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) ranging from $53.12 to $54.50/MWh; and CO2 abatement costs ranging from $27.41 to $31.15/tCO2. Similarly, the LCOE and CO2 abatement costs for whole forest chips range from $54.68 to $56.41/MWh and $35.60 to $41.78/tCO2 respectively. When straw is co-fired with coal in a fully paid-off plant, the LCOE and CO2 abatement costs range from $54.62 to $57.35/MWh and $35.07 to $38.48/tCO2 respectively. This is of high interest considering the likely increase of the carbon levy to about $30/tCO2 in the Province of Alberta by 2017.

• Subjects / Keywords

  • Power generation
  • Natural gas
  • Greenhouse hases (GHG) emissions
  • Biomass
  • Renewable energy systems
  • Coal
  • Biomass co-firing

• Graduation date

  Fall 2015

• Type of Item

  Thesis

• Degree

  Master of Science

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/R3DJ58T7F

• License

  This thesis is made available by the University of Alberta Libraries with permission of the copyright owner solely for non-commercial purposes. This thesis, or any portion thereof, may not otherwise be copied or reproduced without the written consent of the copyright owner, except to the extent permitted by Canadian copyright law.