Biodiversity & Environment
Biomass Co-Firing
- 14 Jun 2022
- 6 min read
For Prelims: Biomass and its Benefits, Decarbonization, Green House Gas
For Mains: Biomass Co-Firing, Significance and Challenges
Why in News?
Unavailability of Biomass Pellets of agricultural residues is slowing down the implementation of the Ministry of Powers' direction to Co-Fire biomass with coal in thermal power plants.
- The Union Ministry of Power, while presenting the Union Budget in February 2022, mandated 5-10 % co-firing at every thermal power plant in the country.
- Biomass Pellets are a popular type of biomass fuel, generally made from wood wastes, agricultural biomass, commercial grasses and forestry residues.
What is Biomass?
- About:
- Biomass is plant or animal material used as fuel to produce electricity or heat. Examples are wood, energy crops and waste from forests, yards, or farms.
- Biomass has always been an important energy source for the country considering the benefits it offers.
- Benefits:
- It is renewable, widely available, carbon-neutral and has the potential to provide significant employment in the rural areas.
- It is also capable of providing firm energy. About 32% of the total primary energy use in the country is still derived from biomass and more than 70% of the country’s population depends upon it for its energy needs.
- Biomass power & cogeneration programme:
- About:
- Initiated by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy.
- For efficient utilization of biomass, bagasse based cogeneration in sugar mills and biomass power generation have been taken up under the programme.
- Biomass materials used for power generation include Rice husk, straw, cotton stalk, coconut shells, soya husk, de-oiled cakes, coffee waste, jute wastes, groundnut shells, saw dust etc.
- Objective:
- Promoting technologies for optimum use of the country's biomass resources for grid power generation.
- About:
What is Biomass Co-firing?
- About:
- Biomass co-firing is the practice of substituting a part of the fuel with biomass at coal thermal plants.
- Biomass co-firing stands for adding biomass as a partial substitute fuel in high efficiency coal boilers.
- Coal and biomass are combusted together in boilers that have been designed to burn coal. For this purpose, the existing coal power plant has to be partly reconstructed and retrofitted.
- Co-firing is an option to convert biomass to electricity, in an efficient and clean way, and to reduce GHG (Green house Gases) emissions of the power plant.
- Biomass co-firing is a globally accepted cost-effective method for decarbonising a coal fleet.
- India is a country where biomass is usually burnt on the field which reflects apathy towards resolving the problem of clean coal using a very simple solution that is readily available.
- Significance:
- Biomass co-firing is an effective way to curb emissions from open burning of crop residue, it also decarbonises the process of electricity generation using coal.
- Substituting 5-7 % of coal with biomass in coal-based power plants can save 38 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions.
- It can help cut emissions from combustion of fossil fuels, address India’s burgeoning problem of farm stubble burning to some extent, reduce waste burden while also creating jobs in rural areas.
- India has large biomass availability as well as rapid growth in coal-fired capacity.
- Biomass co-firing is an effective way to curb emissions from open burning of crop residue, it also decarbonises the process of electricity generation using coal.
- Challenges:
- Substituting 5-7% of coal with biomass in coal-based power plants can save 38 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions, but the existing infrastructure is not robust enough to turn this into reality.
- Around 95,000-96,000 tonnes of biomass pellets are required per day for co-firing, But India’s pellet manufacturing capacity is 7,000 tonnes per day at present despite a surplus 228 million tonnes of agricultural residue available in the country.
- This huge gap is due to the seasonal availability and unreliable supply of biomass pellets to the utility.
- It is challenging to store biomass pellets for long durations at the plant sites since they absorb moisture from air quickly, rendering them useless for co-firing.
- Only pellets with up to 14% of moisture can be used for combustion along with coal.
What are the other Related Intiatives?
Way Forward
- Platforms need to be established to ensure farmers have an intrinsic role in this business model of pellet manufacturing and co-firing in power plants.
- To exploit co-firing potential without adverse environmental impact, emerging economies need technology and policy preparation.
- Sustainability indicators for bioenergy, including protection of soil and water resources, biodiversity, land allocation and tenure, and food prices, need to be integrated into policy measures.
