Energy Options » HEATING

COMBUSTIBLE ICE FOR FUEL – BURNING ICE IN CHINA

Editor — Wed, 05 May 2010 00:03:23 +0000

Freshly discovered reserves of combustible ice can power China for 90 years

Eco Factor: Low-emission fuel sources discovered in China.

China has discovered new sources of frozen combustible ice on the tundra of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, which according to researchers can supply China with 90 years worth of energy. The new reserve equals at least 35 billion tons of oil and is one of the newest sources of energy to be discovered.

Combustible ice is a frozen form of natural gas that has been found in high altitude frozen plateaus as well as underwater in marine sediments. The frozen hydrates can be lit on fire, however, researchers expect that the hydrate will have to go through a phase change process where it will be melted into methane and water before it can be combusted efficiently.

One cubic meter of combustible ice contains 164 cubic meters of natural gas and is considered to have few impurities, which means that the fuel can be combusted with lower emissions.

Sourced and published by Henry Sapiecha 5th May 2010

BURN OLD NEWSPRINT TO CREATE POWER

Editor — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 15:16:47 +0000

Biomass to Electricity: The Reliable Renewable

The world produces abundant waste biomass which humans could be using as fuel, instead of coal, oil, and gas. Forward-thinking engineers and entrepreneurs are beginning to act on this promise, without waiting for corrupt bureaucrats and politicians to give them the go-ahead.

Renegy Holdings, Inc. (Renegy) (Nasdaq:RNGY) announced today that it has successfully synchronized its 24 megawatt (MW) biomass power plant located in Snowflake, Arizona, to the electric utility grid. As of April 24, Renegy has been generating electricity from its Snowflake facility and is currently selling test power in advance of commencing full commercial operations.

…The plant is located adjacent to a recycled newsprint mill owned and operated by Catalyst Paper Corp. Fuel for the plant will be derived from wood-waste material from local green waste sites and the surrounding forests and from waste recycled paper fibres generated by the newsprint mill. The current fuel inventory at the plant site includes approximately 200,000 tons of wood waste fuel, approximately equivalent to a two-year supply. The Snowflake plant will sell its entire power output through long-term power purchase agreements in place with Arizona Public Service and Salt River Project, Arizona’s two largest electric utility companies. __Money.CNN

An earlier Al Fin posting recommended Renegy as a stock prospect to watch. Andritz, an Austrian company, is involved in similar biomass to electricity projects in Europe.

Biomass to electricity is a baseload, 24/7 renewable power generation approach, unlike current wind and solar energy schemes. Until battery storage is able to effectively scale up to utility needs, we are likely to see more plants that combine solar thermal with biomass to electricity, to provide 24 hour energy needs. Using biomass in place of coal or gas should provide significant energy savings–once the infrastructure for collecting and processing biomass is more mature.

Previously published in Al Fin EnergyLabels: bioenergy

Sourced and published by Henry Sapiecha 19th Jan 2010

BIO MASS FUEL – RICE HUSKS & WOOD CHIPS & SAWDUST

Editor — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 15:14:14 +0000

Brief introduction to Biomass Pyrolysis-Gasification Electric Power Generation

Power generation by using biomass gas from rice husk, wood chips, saw dust and crop stalks can not only save expenditure in electricity tariff in the production cost of rice mills and timber processing mills, but also can bring about benefits by means of selling surplus electric power to the power grid As the higher conversion efficiency of the equipment, by taking rice husk as an example, every kWh power generation consumes only 1.6~1.8kg of rice husk .If using wood dust or crop stalks as fuel, the unit consumption of the fuel will be still lower .Water used for gas cleaning and cooling can be used in a circulating way after it is treated through water treatment facilities such as a sediment pond without environmental pollution and will need only a small amount of making –up water.

Main component and caloricity of biomass gas are different for difference of characteristic of biomass fuel and gasification method.

Through strict cleaning and thermal cracking, the dust & tar content of biomass gas are very tiny, which can meet the requirement for the internal-combustion engines normal operation.

Sourced and published by Henry Sapiecha 19th July 2009

RECOVER CARBON DIOXIDE FROM FLUE GASES

Editor — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 03:28:12 +0000

Mitsubishi Heavy to Test CO2

Recovery from Coal-fired Flue Gas

Printer-Friendly

digg This!

del.icio.us

Absorbing solution “KS-1.” It is an amine-based material having an absorbing performance higher than that of monoethanolamine (MEA), which has been used thus far. The KS-1 helps reduce the amount of absorbing solution used in the entire plant.

A conceptual image of the demonstration plant with a recovery capacity of 3,000t per day

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd (MHI) and Southern Company, a major US power company, will jointly launch a field test in 2011 to recover high-purity carbon dioxide (CO₂) from coal-fired flue gas.

The two companies will set up a CO₂ recovery demonstration plant, which is designed to be built at a medium-scale thermal power station in Alabama, the US. Based on the results of this demonstration plant, they will aim to commercialize the recovery plant in the future.

The field test will be subsidized by the US government. The demonstration plant will be constructed in Plant Barry, a coal-fired power station owned by Southern’s subsidiary Alabama Power. Recovered CO₂ will be compressed and stored in an aquifer deep underground.

The demonstration plant is composed of various facilities such as those for pre-processing, CO₂ absorption/reclamation (absorption and reclamation towers) and CO₂ injection. The plant will recover 500t of CO₂ per day (equivalent to that produced when 25,000kW electricity is generated). The recovery rate is 90% or higher. The purity of recovered CO₂ is expected to be 99.9%.

The recovery process is as follows. Coal-fired flue gas contains not only CO₂ but also ‘impurities’ such as SOx, NOx, heavy metals and halogen compounds. These impurities are removed as much as possible in the pre-processing facilities, and the flue gas is cooled to near room temperature.

Flue gas with most impurities removed is taken into the absorption tower. Inside the tower, the gas is brought into contact with an absorbing solution so that only CO₂ is absorbed into the solution. The solvent, “KS-1,” is an amine-based material co-developed by MHI and Kansai Electric Power Co Inc.

Next, the solution containing CO₂ is sent to the reclamation tower, where CO₂ and the solution are separated from each other by heating. Then, CO₂ is recovered, and the solution is recycled.

MHI has already commercialized a system to recover CO₂ from natural gas-fired flue gas. But, in order to apply this system to coal-fired flue gas, an additional process is required to remove heavy metals and halogen compounds because the impurities contained in natural gas-fired flue gas are only SOx and NOx.

Electric Power Development Co Ltd is also testing a CO₂ recovery plant for coal-fired flue gas at its Matsushima Thermal Power Plant. However, the amount of CO₂ recovered at the plant is only 10t per day. Therefore, a field test needs to be carried out using a larger scale plant for commercialization.

In addition to the field test announced this time, MHI is planning to construct a demonstration plant with a recovery capacity of 3,000t per day in the UK and intends to start trial operations in 2015.

Sourced and published by Henry Sapiecha 1st July 2009

FUNDING FOR SOLAR PANELS UNDER WAY

Editor — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 13:45:36 +0000

USA State rep Strama proposes loan program for solar panels

State Rep. Mark Strama, D-Austin, told a House Energy Resources subcommittee that a solar power measure would create a loan system to help homeowners like him pay for pricey rooftop solar panels.

If the proposal becomes law, Strama said, it would “overcome the two biggest barriers for my wife and me from putting solar on our roof,” which are capital costs and willingness to invest in a long-term efficiency improvement.

“First, it’s a $25,000 up-front investment. You got to have $25,000 laying around. And the second is, we probably ? especially after redistricting in two years ? won’t stay in our house long enough” to recover the cost in utility savings from putting up solar panels.

The proposal, which Strama said is “absolutely my favorite bill,” would give cities and counties the power to create “emissions management districts” with bonding authority that could offer loans to homeowners for energy-efficiency projects, such as solar panels, solar water heaters or small wind turbines.

Homeowners who get a loan would pay it back annually at the same time as their property taxes. The debt would be passed on to the next homeowner (who could also benefit from the energy-efficiency measure) if the house were sold.

California and Colorado have laws on the books that give local governments the authority to loan money for energy-efficiency projects.

Sourced and published by Henry Sapiecha 23rd June 2009