Torrefied Wood Field Tests at a Coal-Fired Power Plant

Torrefied wood (TW) may offer the opportunity to generate relatively large amounts of renewable energy in existing coal-fired units. To test this, several blends of pelletized TW were successfully cofired with coal at percentages up to 100% TW in a 49-MW coal-fired unit at a power plant in the southeastern United States. NO
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and sulfur emissions were significantly reduced with increased TW. Boiler efficiency was reduced slightly due to high TW fuel moisture at testing. Issues with dust suppression and fuel pile self-ignition were successfully addressed. This paper presents the details of the testing and results.