The Chariton Valley Biomass Project, which is managed by Chariton Valley
Resource Conservation & Development (RC&D) Inc. and co-funded by the U.S.
Department of Energy, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Alliant Energy,
and other project partners, just ended a three-month test burn of
switchgrass with coal at the Ottumwa Generating Station in Chillicothe,
Iowa.
By the end of the test burn on May 12, 2006, the Chariton Valley Biomass
Project team, led by Chariton Valley RC&D Inc., Alliant Energy (and its
subsidiary, Interstate Power and Light Company) and assisted by numerous
Iowa-based team members and others spanning from Portland, Oregon to
Denmark, said they accomplished the following during the three-month test
burn:
-- Delivered, processed, and burned 31,568 bales of locally grown
switchgrass totaling 15,647 tons as renewable fuel for generating
electricity at Ottumwa Generating Station (OGS).
-- Generated 19,607,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity from the renewable
switchgrass fuel. That is enough electricity to provide 100% of the
electricity needs for an entire year for more than 1,874 average Iowa
homes. This is a world record for electricity generation from switchgrass.
-- Processed and burned switchgrass as fuel at OGS for more than 1,675
hours since mid-February 2006. Processing hours per day have improved
significantly since the beginning of the test burn, with the facility
operating without downtime nearly continuously throughout the past month
of the test burn.
-- Reduced emissions of sulfur dioxide (SO2) from OGS by about 62 tons due
to the extremely low sulfur content in switchgrass. The coal used as fuel
at OGS is low-sulfur coal, but not as low in sulfur as the switchgrass,
which contains only about 0.1% sulfur (by weight).
-- Reduced emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2), the primary greenhouse gas,
by a total estimated amount over 50,800 tons through reductions at the
power plant, and because the switchgrass absorbs carbon dioxide from the
air during its growth cycle and stores a portion of the absorbed carbon in
its deep root system -- this also improves the soil conditions on the
fields where the switchgrass is grown.
-- Generated about 626 tons of fly ash, which has been approved for sale
from the power plant for use in concrete and other valuable byproducts.
The ash is what is left over from the switchgrass after it is burned in
the boiler. This ash is collected at the power plant along with ash
produced from the coal.
-- Demonstrated that the processing system designed, installed and
operated by the project team throughout the test burn can be operated
reliably at and above its designed process rate of 12.5 tons per hour,
especially if the switchgrass delivered to the facility contains moisture
contents of 12% and under. The average moisture content of switchgrass
burned throughout the test burn has been about 13%.
-- Replaced about 12,060 tons of coal purchased from Wyoming with
renewable switchgrass that was planted, grown, harvested, stored,
delivered and processed by local Iowa farmers.
-- Generated an estimated 19,600 Renewable Energy Credits (RECs) that have
received independent third-party certification under Environmental
Resource Trust's EcoPower program. This program certifies the amount of
power generated during the test burn that resulted from a renewable energy
source, and allows the project team to market the RECs to companies,
government organizations, and/or residential consumers who are willing to
pay a small premium to ensure that a portion of their energy purchases go
to a renewable power generator. Purchasing these RECs can help companies
and government organizations meet their environmental goals.
The project team believes the processing system demonstrated for this
project would also be well suited for application in facilities that would
create ethanol and/or other co-products from switchgrass.
