POWER June 2021 - 6

Coal Substitutes Touted as Way
to Keep Coal-Fired Power Plants
Open
The move away from coal-fired power
generation has supported the growth of
other technologies to produce electricity.
Discussions often revolve around renewable
resources such as solar and wind, or
the increased use of natural gas. Another
technology also is looking for a growth
curve. The use of coal substitutes, fuels
specifically designed to mimic coal but
with lesser environmental impact, is being
studied as a way to keep coal-fired
power plants operating even as the use
of coal is phased out.
A UK-based company, Active Energy
Group (AEG), has planned a demonstration
project at a Utah power plant to study
the feasibility of its CoalSwitch product.
AEG's technology converts waste biomass
into CoalSwitch, pellets that the
company said perform the same as coal,
but with a lower level of emissions, particulate
matter, and fly ash. The drop-in
pellets can be used to blend or replace
coal, and can be " co-fired at high percentages
with coal " in power plants, or used
to " replace white pellet and biomass in
biomass-fired power plants, without requiring
any furnace logistics, handling or
storage modifications, " according to AEG.
AEG this June is planning to deliver a
test quantity of 900 tons of its product to
PacifiCorp's Hunter Power Plant in Castle
Dale, Utah (Figure 1), where it has burn
dates set for later in the month. The company
said that at the scale it envisions,
the technology could be used to reduce
the emissions of existing coal plants as
the transition to cleaner energy sources
continues-and it also could minimize the
economic impact of plant retirements.
" The fact of the matter is, we crossed
the watershed with PacifiCorp, " said Michael
Rowan, CEO of AEG, in an interview
with POWER. Rowan's group is a
London-based international biomass and
forestry management business. Its key
focus is the commercialization of CoalSwitch,
which it calls " a unique, highly disruptive
renewable biomass technology
with proven scalability and high margins
that can provide a solution to resolve real
commercial and environmental issues. "
AEG is supporting CoalSwitch and securing
feedstock through its own forestry
management business, with agreements
to harvest what it called " significant areas
of mature forestry. " Rowan said the goal
is to " take advantage of the robust market
dynamics to become a leading renewable
international energy business. " He
said the planned demonstration in Utah
already " has triggered additional interest
from other coal-fired power plants, " adding
that, " along the East Coast, there's
the opportunity for a co-firing mix, with
10% to 15% burn with CoalSwitch, and
that other 85% to 90% with coal. "
Other companies also have been
working on coal substitutes, which they
say have different properties than biomass.
Another London-based company,
Helvellyn
Group, manufactures SERF,
what it calls a low environmental impact,
direct coal replacement fuel for industrial
and power generation applications.
Helvellyn's fuel is specifically designed
to mimic the characteristics of coal, allowing
for use of the same fuel delivery,
preparation and combustion infrastructure,
without modification and resulting
in the same combustion characteristics,
but with a substantial carbon dioxide
(CO2
) emissions reduction, according to
1. Active Energy Group (AEG) plans to test
its coal substitute product at PacifiCorp's
Hunter Power Plant in Castle Dale, Utah, a
three-unit, 1,455-MW coal-fired facility. Courtesy:
Creative Commons / Tricia Simpson
6
the company. Frank Harris, Helvellyn's
CEO, recently told POWER his company
is working to complete financial due
diligence, and technical design works, to
allow for the rapid rollout of significant
production capacity across the UK.
Rowan said the Utah test provides
AEG an opportunity to show the worth
of CoalSwitch, particularly when compared
to pellet alternatives. " I think it will
be very attractive to power utilities, " he
said. Rowan said his group has " had no
pushback to date " from the coal industry.
" We've just reached the milestone,
the milestone of actually being able to
www.powermag.com
2. AEG's production plant for its CoalSwitch
coal substitute is shown here under construction
in Lumberton, North Carolina. Courtesy:
AEG
produce the fuel, " he said. " The lumber
industry is unquestionably very excited
about it ... it's all about collaboration,
[and] acknowledging the industry dynamics
that are there now. "
Rowan said that when he founded
AEG in 2015, " the business was somewhat
different ... I liked the opportunity
to get into the lumber and forest industry,
learned there was this industry with
incredible amounts of waste. That's what
attracted me to look for ways to help. We
looked at many things that came about
through original connections. " He said
that while his company's forestry and
production unit is based in Lumberton,
North Carolina (Figure 2), work in Utah
led to the PacifiCorp plant. " We did a test
run of the plant in the spring of 2018, and
there were members of Berkshire Hathaway
[PacifiCorp's parent] and PacifiCorp
there, and we're now ready to deliver the
fuel in the quantities they need. "
PacifiCorp's Hunter Power Plant is a
three-unit, 1,455-MW coal-fired
plant.
Units 1 and 2 each have 480 MW of
generation capacity; Unit 3 can produce
495 MW. The start of this month's test of
CoalSwitch at the facility follows an earlier
burn test conducted by Dr. Andrew
Fry at the University of Utah's Industrial
Combustion and Gasification Research
Facility. That burn test, according to AEG,
confirmed that the fuel " burned at nearidentical
temperatures to coal, burned
more efficiently than coal, and produced
far less ash. " The test showed CoalSwitch
" burned cleaner than coal, and when cofired
with coal generated less sulfur dioxide
(SO2
) than coal alone. " The group also
said that because the fuel is " essentially
free of both potassium and sodium, " its
combustion " will not cause fouling. "
Testing also showed the fuel, when
POWER | June 2021
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POWER June 2021

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