Cofiring Cattle Biomass & Agricultural Biomass Fuels In Low NOx Burners

2009 DOT-RITA Seed Award

 

PI: Dr. Kalyan Annamalai (Texas A&M University, Texas Engineering Experiment Station)
Co-PI: Dr. John M. Sweeten (Texas AgriLife Research-Amarillo, Texas A&M University Agriculture Research & Extension Center)

Funded: $70,000

Start Date: 7/1/2009

End Date: 12/31/2012

 

Expected Outcomes

Low NOx burners (LNB)  with  more air flow controls are currently widely used in modern  boilers  to reduce NOx  and do not have market vulnerability, as they are interchangeable with existing conventional burners, and are rugged and durable with less maintenance cost. Further they can accommodate high N fuel.

 

Previous work has demonstrated that cofiring coal and cattle biomass (CB) in a conventional burner reduces NOx emission. However there are no previous studies on co-firing CB and coal in Low NOx burners (LNBs) and their effects on NOx and Hg emissions.

 

Moreover, it is hypothesized that co-firing  of CB  in a LNB may provide  NOx reductions  even below levels that can be obtained by firing coal alone but with the added benefits of Hg and non-renewable CO2 reductions.

 

Once the proposed technology has been demonstrated with CB, there is the possibility that extension of results to chicken litter or litter biomass (LB); hence there could be significant emissions reductions from stored manure and the generation of additional revenue to both farmers and power companies.

 

Moreover, there is the prospect of improving the environment in terms of improved air quality and the sustainability of clean streams and watersheds in rural America. Manure-based biomass including all forms manure can add a significant portion to the list of new, renewable fuels available to the country’s power production facilities from a growing, industrialized agricultural sector.

 

If the genetically engineered forage sorghum reduces NOx when cofired with coal, then it alleviates the problem of limited supply of CB for reduction of NOx and leads to a continuous supply of renewable biomass fuels for emission reduction.