BioMatNet Item: FP6 - 20007 - NETBIOCOF - Integrated European Network for Biomass Co-firing

FP6 - 20007
NETBIOCOF - Integrated European Network for Biomass Co-firing

Contacts
Website: www.netbiocof.net/
Summary Information

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Solid Biofuels : Sustainable Development and Renewable Energy : Thermochemical Conversion

Contract No:	QLK5-1999-01442
Source:	3rd Project Update - December 2006
Source:	Report of Technical Barriers

Third Project Update Report - December 2006

Download copy of Report (256 Kb PDF)

Introduction

There is now considerable interest in the utilisation of biomass and municipal/industrial wastes within existing coal-fired plant. The use of biomass and wastes in such plant is now perceived by governments and industry as a viable option. The different sources of statistics on biomass/waste reserves illustrate that there is an enormous potential reserve of biomass and wastes that could be utilised for energy production. There has been remarkably rapid progress over the past 5-10 years in the development of the co-utilization of biomass materials in coal-fired boiler plants. The majority are equipped with pulverised coal boilers (tangentially fired, front-wall fired, back-wall fired, dual-wall fired and cyclone). Furthermore, bubbling and circulating fluidised bed boilers, cyclone boilers, and stoker boilers are used. Central and Eastern Europe has a clear fossil fuel power generation infrastructure. An intermediate solution to the fossil fuel dependency is a retrofit biomass co-firing at the existing power units rather than the installation of new renewable energy installations. NETBIOCOF intends to survey the current situation of this option, establish a platform of information about biomass co-firing (articles, events, surveys, statistics, other interested companies/centers, etc.) and suggest co-operation patterns for future research and experiences.

Activities

The report provides an overview of the actions carried out until month 16 of the project. An overall survey of the current situation of the biomass co-firing was performed world-wide, in particular for the European Community and focussed on the new member countries and other CEECs. In order to complete this survey the following tasks were carried out: State-of-the-Art review; Identification of successful experiences in Europe and Best Practices.

The project also reviewed current research activities in Europe and identified professional groups related to the field as well as barriers for coordination and scientific and technological needs. The achievement of this objective enables the development of recommendations for future research and strategies of implementation.

In order to obtain a general view of the current legal situation and the barriers that hinder a further implementation of the biomass co-firing, three tasks were initiated: Legal framework survey; Identification of technical barriers and Identification of non technical barriers. A database platform online structure has been established in the Netbiocof web-page. The database represents a strong tool for sharing relevant results achieved and developed under the framework of the project for its participants and external interested experts of the field.

Some of the objectives of the project are to co-ordinate current research throughout Europe and encourage a permanent communication links between research centres, businesses and other stakeholders. Several tasks have being designed and performed to date to achieve this purpose by means of seminars, publications and conferences.

Report of Technical Barriers

Download copy of Report (106 Kb PDF)

Summary The aim of this report is to identify the different technical barriers belonging to all steps of biomass co-firing practices (from preparation to ash utilisation), and to some extend also identify possible technical solutions for these constraints. It covers the most prevailing technical constraints that are thought of being major hinderances to the implementation of biomass co-firing with coal, and some technical barriers discussed within the consortium, are presented and further analysed. Some solutions to these technical problems are also mentioned, as an effort to identify the seriousness of each barrier. In the preliminary report of technical barriers produced for NETBIOCOF (D10), the identified technical barriers were categorised in relation to the step of the process-chain constraints occurring, as a means to avoid classifying these technical barriers based on the different cofiring methods/products used. The different categories of technical barriers mentioned in the preliminary report were related to problems occurring during fuel preparation and preprocessing, combustion system and operation, flue gas clean-up system, and finally related with the sustainable use of the by-products at a later stage. In the following report, the categorisation will in large stay the same, except the addition of a category named 'Barriers related to insufficient infrastructure for biomass for energy'. Furthermore, additional efforts will be put to analyse and describe the technical problems and the possible solutions and measures that could be adapted to tackle a barrier.