NextGen, ISU test biomass in coal boilers

Biomass Magazine
July 2010
By Lisa Gibson
Posted June 24, 2010, at 3:29 p.m. CST

NextGen Biofuels Inc. and Iowa State University will conduct cofiring trials with coal, wood chips and wood pellets at ISU’s coal-fired combined-heat-and-power (CHP) plant, as the school contemplates switching to a biomass-coal blend.

Instead of spending millions on retrofitting, the project is designed to evaluate the efficiency of burning biomass in an existing coal boiler. “We’re trying to demonstrate that you can run wood biomass through a currently operating coal plant,” said Bob Ravlin, president of NextGen. The fuel does, however, need to be tailored to the boiler type, he added. NextGen procured pine wood pellets and wood chips from Rocky Mountain Pellet Company in Colorado for the 3½-month tests, which were supposed to start June 21, but have been postponed because of wet weather and will begin June 28, Ravlin said.

Read more