Manure-based biomass (MBB) has the potential to be a source of green energy at
large coal-fired power plants and on smaller-scale combustion systems at or near
confined animal feeding operations. Although MBB is a low quality fuel with an
inferior heat value compared to coal and other fossil fuels, the concentration of it at large
animal feeding operations can make it a viable source of fuel.
Mathematical models were developed to portray the economics of co-firing and
reburning coal with MBB. A base case run of the co-fire model in which a 95:5 blend of
coal to low-ash MBB was burned at an existing 300-MWe coal-fired power plant was
found to have an overall net present cost of $22.6 million. The most significant cost that
hindered the profitability of the co-fire project was the cost of operating gas boilers for
biomass dryers that were required to reduce the MBB's moisture content before
transportation and combustion. However, a higher dollar value on avoided
nonrenewable CO2 emissions could overrule exorbitant costs of drying and transporting
the MBB to power plants. A CO2 value of $17/metric ton was found to be enough for
the MBB co-fire project to reach an economic break-even point.
Reburning coal with MBB to reduce NOx emissions can theoretically be more
profitable than a co-fire project, due to the value of avoided NOx emissions. However,
the issue of finding enough suitable low-ash biomass becomes problematic for reburn systems since the reburn fuel must supply 10 to 25% of the power plant?s heat rate in
order to achieve the desired NOx level. A NOx emission value over $2500/metric ton
would justify installing a MBB reburn system.
A base case run of a mathematical model describing a small-scale, on-the-farm
MBB combustion system that can completely incinerate high-moisture (over 90%)
manure biomass was developed and completed. If all of the energy or steam produced
by the MBB combustion system were to bring revenue to the animal feeding operation
either by avoided fueling costs or by sales, the conceptualized MBB combustion system
has the potential to be a profitable venture.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:tamu.edu/oai:repository.tamu.edu:1969.1/ETD-TAMU-2009-05-759 |
| Date | 2009 May 1900 |
| Creators | Carlin, Nicholas T. |
| Contributors | Annamalai, Kalyan |
| Source Sets | Texas A and M University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Book, Thesis, Electronic Dissertation, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
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