Experiences Co-firing Switchgrass at Alabama Power's Plant Gadsden

摘要

Southern Company, Southern Research Institute, Agtech, EPRI, and the US Department of Energy are sponsoring a program to evaluate cost and benefits of co-firing switchgrass with coal in existing coal fired boilers. As part of this multi-phase project, a full-scale demonstration was conducted at Alabama Power Company's Plant Gadsden. The objective of the testing was to determine handling, operating, combustion, and emissions characteristics of the co-firing process. Switchgrass was pneumatically injected into the furnace through specially designed burners. Testing was conducted for several operating conditions to characterize the effect of switchgrass co-firing on boiler efficiency, unit operations, and emissions.