Case Study Applications of Venture Analysis: Fluidized Bed. Final Report

摘要

In order to appraise the case for government intervention in the case of atmospheric fluid-bed combustion, Energy Resources Company and Rotan Mosle have developed a methodology containing four key elements. The first is an economic and environmental characterization of the new technology; the second, a survey of its prospective users and vendors; the third, a cost-benefit analysis of its prospective social benefits; and the fourth, an analytical model of its market penetration and the effects thereon of a basket of government incentives. Three major technical obstacles exist to continued AFBC development: feeding coal and limestone reliably to the boiler, tube erosion and corrosion, and developing boiler turndown capability. The review of the economic, environmental and technical attributes of the new technology has suggested that the preliminary venture can be selected with confidence as a commercial prospect capable of detailed evaluation from both private and public perspectives. The venture choice can therefore be considered firm: it will be the equipment required for the combustion of coal in atmospheric fluid beds as applied to industrial process steam in boilers of at least 83 Kpph capacity. The most effective demonstration of the potential of AFBC in the eyes of prospective industrial users is that provided by a project conducted by the private sector with minimal government direction. Unlike the ''experimental'' style of existing mixed public-private demonstration projects, the pressure to achieve reliability in more commercial applications would serve rapidly to reveal more clearly the potential of AFBC. The marketplace can be allowed to decide its fate thereafter. Once AFBC has been successfully demonstrated, the relative merits of AFBC and coal-FGD are best left to prospective users to evaluate. (ERA citation 04:000162)