Agri-pellets as alternative fuels for coal-fired power plants in Canada

Purpose Lignite coal-fired power plants are the main electricity generators in the province of Saskatchewan, Canada. Although burning lignite coal to generate power is economical, it produces significant greenhouse gases making it a big challenge to Canada’s international commitment on emission reduction. However, abundant agricultural crops and sawdust produced in Saskatchewan put the province in a good position to produce and use agri-pellets as an alternative fuel to generate electricity. This study aims to conduct an economic and environmental analysis of the replacement of lignite coal by agri-pellets as the fuel for Saskatchewan’s coal-fired power plants. Design/methodology/approach The study estimates the economic and environmental costs and benefits of two alternative fuels for power plants. The economic analysis is based on the pellet production and transportation costs from farms to production sites and from the production sites to power plants. In the production process, biomass precursors are densified with and without additives to produce fuel agri-pellets with appropriate mechanical durability and high heating value per volume unit. The environmental analysis involves estimation of greenhouse gas emissions and their social costs for lignite coal and different types of agri-pellets under different scenarios for pellet production and transportation. Findings The results show that although the total cost of electricity is lower for coal than agri-pellets, the gap shrinks when social costs and specifically a carbon price of $50/tonne are included in the model. The cost of electricity in lignite coal-fired power plants would also be on par with agri-pellets-fired power plants if the carbon price is between U$68 and $78 per tonne depending on the power plant locations. Therefore, a transition from coal to agri-pellet fuels is feasible if a high-enough price is assigned to carbon. The method and the results can be generalized to other places with similar conditions. Research limitations/implications There are a few caveats in this study as follows. First, the fixed costs associated with the transformation of the existing coal-fired power plants to pellet-fired plants are not considered. Second, the technological progress in the transportation sector, which would favor the net benefits of using pellets versus coal, is not included in the analysis. Finally, the study does not address the possible political challenges facing the transition in the context of the Canadian federal system. Practical implications The study results indicate that the current carbon price of $50 per tonne is not sufficient to make the agri-pellets a feasible source of alternative energy in Saskatchewan. However, if carbon pricing continues to rise by $15 annually starting in 2022, as announced, a transition from coal to agri-pellets will be economically feasible. Social implications Canada is committed to reduce its emission according to the Paris agreement, and therefore, needs to have a concrete policy to find alternative energy sources for its coal-fired power plants. This study examines the challenges and benefits of such transition using the existing agri-pellet resources in Saskatchewan, a province with abundant agricultural residues and coal-fired power plants. The findings indicate that a significant emission reduction can be achieved by using agri-pellets instead of coal to produce electricity. The study also implies that the transition to renewable energy is economical when social costs of carbon (carbon tax) is included in the analysis. Originality/value As far as the authors know, this is the first study providing a socio-economic analysis for a possible transition from the coal-fired power plants to a more clean and sustainable renewable energy source in one of the highest carbon dioxide (CO2) producer provinces in Canada: Saskatchewan. The study builds upon the technical production of three agri-pellets (oat hull, canola hull and sawdust) and estimates the economic and environmental costs of alternative fuels under different scenarios.

Chlorine Release from Co-Pyrolysis of Corn Straw and Lignite in Nitrogen and Oxidative Pyrolysis

Elevated emissions of hydrogen chloride (HCl) from the combustion of biomass in utility boilers are a major issue because they can cause corrosion problems and deposit molten alkali chloride salts on boilers’ water tubes, resulting in further corrosion. Pyrolysis is a good pre-treatment for solving this problem. This work conducted pyrolysis and co-pyrolysis of pulverized corn straw and lignite coal in a horizontal muffle furnace, with compositions typical of power plant combustion effluents (5% O2, 15% CO2, 80% N2) at different temperatures. Cl compounds were monitored in fuel, flue gas, and solid production of pyrolysis. The co-pyrolysis significantly affected Cl release from fuel. Cl release from corn straw into fuel gas was reduced during biomass co-pyrolysis with lignite. Co-pyrolysis had little influence on the release of organic Cl and KCl. Furthermore, at moderate-temperature pyrolysis, O2 promoted HCl release, when compared with pyrolysis under a N2 atmosphere.

Study of making coal water slurry with lignite Pendopo coal

The Coal Water Slurry (CWS) technology increases the calorific value and changes the phase of coal from solid to liquid. The CWS Plant with a coal capacity of 1.4 t/hour located at Karawang, West Java converts lignite coal to CWS. Coal undergoes pulverizing, upgrading, and slurry-making processes to become CWS. Pulverization is the process of refining coal size into 200 mesh. The upgrading process is through reducing the moisture content in heat exchangers (HE). It occurs in HE where the coal is pressurized to 15 MPa and the temperature is maintained at 330 0C for 30 minutes. The research objective was to determine the CWS characteristics of the South Sumatra Pendopo lignite coal. The method used is through testing where the Pendopo coal is converted into CWS at the CWS Plant. The result shows that Pendopo coal which has a heating value of High Heating Value (HHV) 2,725.00 kCal/kg As Received (AR) has an increase in HHV heating value of 3,218.00 kcal/kg AR when it becomes CWS. The total moisture content of Pendopo coal has decreased from 49.36% to 44.58% when it becomes CWS. The fixed carbon content of Pendopo coal increased from 19.78% AR to 24.01% AR.

Differences in petrophysical and mechanical properties between low- and middle-rank coal subjected to liquid nitrogen cooling in coalbed methane mining

Exploring the damage differences between different coal rank coal reservoirs subjected to liquid nitrogen (LN2) cooling is of great significance to the rational development and efficient utilization of coalbed methane. For this purpose, the mechanical properties, acoustic emission (AE) characteristics and energy evolution law of lignite and bituminous coal subjected to LN2 cooling were investigated based on the Brazilian splitting tests. Then, pore structure changes were analyzed to reveal the difference in the microscopic damage between lignite and bituminous coal after LN2 cooling. The results showed that compared with bituminous coal, the pore structure of lignite coal changed more obviously, which was manifested as follows: significant increases in porosity, pore diameters, and pore area; a larger transformation from micropores and transition pores to mesopores and macropores. After LN2 cooling, the thermal damage inside lignite and bituminous coal was 0.412 and 0.069, respectively. The thermal damage reduced the cohesive force between mineral particles, leading to the deterioration of the macroscopic physical and mechanical properties. Simultaneously, denser AE ringing counts and larger accumulated ringing counts were observed after LN2 cooling. Moreover, the random distribution of thermal damage enhanced the randomness of the macrocrack propagation direction, resulting in an increase in the crack path tortuosity. With more initial defects inside coal, a more obvious thermal damage degree and wider damage distribution will be induced by LN2 cooling, leading to more complicated crack formation paths and a higher fragmentation degree, such as that of lignite coal.

Syngas Underground Coal Gasification (UCG) Testing of In-Situ Type Lignite Coal and Fracture Type Coal

The advancement and utilization of technology require energy, namely electricity and fuel energy. The increasing cost of fossil energy, the scarcity of non-renewable energy sources and the increasing energy demand requires diversification of energy resources. One of the new renewable energy sources currently being developed in Indonesia is Underground Coal Gasification (UCG). UCG is a new technology that utilizes unmined coal. In the UCG process, coal is burned underground and the syngas produced is collected through bore wells for processing or direct use. The resulting syngas is analyzed to see the effect of in-situ type of lignite coal and fractured type of coal on syngas production using the UCG method. Tests carried out on fracture-type lignite coal for 120 minutes with a sample weight of 1.3 kg obtained a CH4 gas concentration of 0.24%, which is relatively low compared to the in-situ type lignite coal sample CH4 gas concentration of 1.13%. The CO2 concentration was 54.46% in the fracture sample, and the In-Situ type sample was 52.19%. The O2 content with a value of 19.43% for the Fracture Type sample and 4.94% for the In-Situ type sample. Fracture Type and In-situ Lignite Coal produced fewer syngas products due to UCG testing than high-rank coals such as sub-bituminous and bituminous coal.

Syngas Characteristics from UCG Gasification Process with Lignite and Subbituminous Coal Types

Underground Coal Gasification (UCG) is the process of converting the materials used to make synthetic gas in a feasible and economically attractive manner as a method for harnessing energy from underground coal sources. Coal gasification will produce a gas producer in the form of synthetic gas (syngas) with the main components consisting of carbon monoxide (CO), hydrogen (H2), carbon dioxide (CO2) and nitrogen (N2) and low pollutants. The highest temperature produced with MT 47 lignite coal using an oxygen velocity of 5 liters/minute was 2400 C at the 35th minute, while the lowest temperature was 950 C at the 95th minute. For Subbituminous AL 51 coal using an oxygen velocity of 5 liters/minute, the highest temperature is 3540 C at 75 minutes, while the lowest temperature is 1060 C at 130 minutes. At an oxygen velocity of 5 liters/minute the flash point / burn test is on the MT 47 lignite coal type in the 10th minute and at a temperature of 1700 C. Meanwhile, the AL 51 subbituminous coal type is in the 30th minute and at a temperature of 3130 C. Based on the discussion and analysis of data from the gasification test of lignite and subbituminous coal with variations in oxygen velocity of 5 liters/minute, the results obtained are that lignite coal burns faster (burn test) in the 10th minute at a temperature of 1700 C, in the subbituminous type it has higher temperature 3130 C and longer burn test at 30 minutes.