Power generation wood powered

Biomass is an environmental benign source of energy and a COj-neutral fuel for heat and power generation. Wood can be used either directly from forestry or also as waste product from wood processing industry, e.g. saw dust. The advantage of gasification... 

Electric power generation using biomass as a fuel is economic in situations where the cost of the fuel is competitive with that of fossil fuels. The cost of a commercially available biomass steam—electric power plant is about 1500/kW for a wood-fired facility. If wood can be obtained at a cost of 2.00/GJ ( 2.10 X 10 /Btu), the total cost of power for base-load operation would be about 0.05/kWh. If wood or agricultural wastes are available at... 

Dielectric dryers have not as yet found a wide field of application. Their fundamental characteristic of generating heat within the solid indicates potentialities for diying massive geometrical objects such as wood, sponge-rubber shapes, and ceramics. Power costs may range to 10 times the fuel costs of conventional methods. 

The utilities in our modern society are so much a part of our lives that it is hard to imagine how we survived without them. An electric power plant generates electricity to heat and light our homes in addition to providing power for the television, refrigerator, and electric toothbrush. When our homes were heated with wood fires, home-made candles were used... 

The cognitive approach has had a major influence in recent years on how human error is treated in systems such as chemical process plants and nuclear power generation. In the next section we shall describe some of the key concepts that have emerged from this work, and how they apply to the analysis of error in the CPI. Discussion of the cognitive view of human performance are contained in Reason (1990), Hollnagel (1993), Kantowitz and Fujita (1990), Hollnagel and Woods (1983), and Woods and Roth (1990). 

Woods, D. D. (1982). "Operator Decision Behavior during the Steam Generator Tube Rupture at the Ginna Nuclear Power Station." Research Report 82-1057-CONRM-R2, Westinghouse Research and Development Centre Pittsburgh, PA. 

Thermal power plant is more commonly associated with very large central power stations. The capital cost for thermal power plant, in terms of cost per installed kilowatt of electrical generating capacity, rises sharply for outputs of less than some 15 MW. It is for this reason that thermal power plant is not usually considered for industrial applications unless it is the combined cycle or combined heat and power modes. However, for cases where the fuel is of very low cost (for example, a waste product from a process such as wood waste), then the thermal power plant, depending on output, can offer an excellent choice, as its higher initial capital cost can be offset against lower running costs. This section introduces the thermal power cycle for electrical generation only. 

In early 1900s, biomass gasification processes were also widely used to manufacture synthetic gases for production of fuels, chemicals, and hydrogen. During World War II, over 1 million air-blown gasifiers were built to produce synthetic gas from wood and charcoal to power vehicles and to generate steam and electricity.3... 

The direct combustion of wood and other plant matter has been a primary energy source in the past. Any type of biomass can be burned to produce heat or steam to turn a generator or perform mechanical work. Direct combustion is used in large power plants that produce up to 400 megawatts. Most direct combustion systems can use any type of biomass as long as the moisture content is less than 60%. Wood and wood residues are commonly used along with a number of other agricultural residues. 

Biomass can generate energy in many different forms. Refuse derived fuels (MSW) can produce steam or electric power. They can also be converted to other fuels using chemical or biological processes producing ethanol or methanol. The wood and pulp industries use their wastes to provide a significant part of their heat, steam, and electricity needs. 

Mills that process rice may also generate process heat, that can be used for direct heating, steam generation, mechanical power or electrical power. For every five tons of rice milled, one ton of husks with an energy content equivalent to one ton of wood is left as residue. A rice mill in Louisiana has satisfied all its power needs since 1984 from an on-site rice-husk power plant. The plant sells surplus energy to the local utility. 

Cogeneration systems can also use renewable fuel sources such as wood, waste products, wood gas or methane from sewage and garbage. The Sun-Diamond plant in Stockton, California used waste walnut shells into electricity for the plant and nearby homes. The walnut shells were used as fuel to produce steam to drive a turbine generator. The low-pressure steam output was then used for heat as well as to refrigerate the plant. The Sun-Diamond cogeneration system produced about 32 million KWH of electricity per year. It only used 12 million and sold the surplus power to Pacific Gas and Electric Company. 

Steam turbines are an even older technology, providing power for over 100 years. Most utility power is produced by steam turbines. The steam turbine generator depends on a separate heat source for steam, often some type of boiler, which may run on a variety of fuels, such as coal, natural gas, petroleum, uranium, wood and waste products including wood chips or agricultural by-products. 

In contrast to the operation of vehicles, electricity and heat for stationary applications can be generated by the combustion of solid biomass without upstream biomass conversion to pure hydrogen (or methanol, BTL or DME). The efficiency of the direct use of solid biomass is generally higher. The overall efficiency of a solid-biomass-fuelled heat and power (CHP) plant is typically about 70% to 80% direct combustion of solid biomass (e.g., wood chips, wood pellets) in suitable boilers for heat generation only can reach an efficiency of more than 90%. 

Lora, J.H., M.A.Sc. Thesis, University of Toronto, 1976 Lora, J.H. and Wayman, M., Fast Growing Hybrid Poplar A Renewable Source of Chemicals, Energy and Food, Forest Research Information Paper No. 102, Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, Toronto, 1978 Wayman, M. and Lora, J.H., Wood-fired Electricity Generation in Eastern Ontario, Royal Commission on Electric Power Planning, Toronto, Ontario, 1978 (including references to many recent symposia and studies). 

Cresols have been identified as components of automobile exhaust (Hampton et al. 1982 Johnson et al. 1989 Seizinger and Dimitriades 1972), and may volatilize from gasoline and diesel fuels used to power motor vehicles. Vehicular traffic in urban and suburban settings provides a constant source of cresols to the atmosphere. Hence, urban and suburban populations may be constantly exposed to atmospheric cresols. Cresols are also emitted to ambient air during the combustion of coal (Junk and Ford 1980), wood (Hawthorne et al. 1988, 1989), municipal solid waste (James et al. 1984 Junk and Ford 1980), and cigarettes (Arrendale et al. 1982 Novotny et al. 1982). Therefore, residents near coal- and petroleum-fueled electricity- generating facilities, municipal solid waste incinerators, and industries with conventional furnace operations or large-scale incinerators may be exposed to cresols in air. People in residential areas where homes are heated with coal, oil, or wood may also be exposed to cresols in air. 

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