Peter C. Flynn

Biomass power cost and optimum plant size in western Canada

Abstract The power cost and optimum plant size for power plants using three biomass fuels in western Canada were determined. The three fuels are biomass from agricultural residues (grain straw), whole boreal forest, and forest harvest residues from existing lumber and pulp operations (limbs and tops). Forest harvest residues have the smallest economic size, 137 MW, and the highest power cost,

The Sintering of Supported Metal Catalysts

63.00 MWh −1 (Year 2000 US

The relative cost of biomass energy transport.

). The optimum size for agricultural residues is 450 MW (the largest single biomass unit judged feasible in this study), and the power cost is

A model of supported metal catalyst sintering: I. Development of model

50.30 MWh −1 . If a larger biomass boiler could be built, the optimum project size for straw would be 628 MW . Whole forest harvesting has an optimum size of 900 MW (two maximum sized units), and a power cost of

Rail vs truck transport of biomass

47.16 MWh −1 without nutrient replacement. However, power cost versus size from whole forest is essentially flat from 450 MW (

A model of supported metal catalyst sintering: II. Application of model

47.76 MWh −1 ) to 3150 MW (

Experimental studies of sintering of supported platinum catalysts

48.86 MWh −1 ) , so the optimum size is better thought of as a wide range. None of these projects are economic today, but could become so with a greenhouse gas credit. All biomass cases show some flatness in the profile of power cost vs. plant capacity. This occurs because the reduction in capital cost per unit capacity with increasing capacity is offset by increasing biomass transportation cost as the area from which biomass is drawn increases. This in turn means that smaller than optimum plants can be built with only a minor cost penalty. Both the yield of biomass per unit area and the location of the biomass have an impact on power cost and optimum size. Agricultural and forest harvest residues are transported over existing road networks, whereas the whole forest harvest requires new roads and has a location remote from existing transmission lines. Nutrient replacement in the whole forest case would make power from the forest comparable in cost to power from straw.

The limitation of the transmission electron microscope for characterization of supported metal catalysts

Abstract Metal catalysts are commonly employed in the form of metal dispersed as small crystallites on high surface area supports. The use of these supported metal catalysts increases the utilization of the metal as a catalyst since a large fraction of the metal atoms are at the surface of the small metal crystallites. Another important function of the support is to physically separate the small metal crystallites and thereby hinder the agglomeration of the small metal crystallites into larger crystallites. This agglomeration would decrease the number of surface metal atoms per unit mass of metal, and thereby decrease the utilization of the metal and the activity of the catalyst.

Commercializing an alternate vehicle fuel: lessons learned from natural gas for vehicles

Logistics cost, the cost of moving feedstock or products, is a key component of the overall cost of recovering energy from biomass. In this study, we calculate for small- and large-project sizes, the relative cost of transportation by truck, rail, ship, and pipeline for three biomass feedstocks, by truck and pipeline for ethanol, and by transmission line for electrical power. Distance fixed costs (loading and unloading) and distance variable costs (transport, including power losses during transmission), are calculated for each biomass type and mode of transportation. Costs are normalized to a common basis of a giga Joules of biomass. The relative cost of moving products vs feedstock is an approximate measure of the incentive for location of biomass processing at the source of biomass, rather than at the point of ultimate consumption of produced energy. In general, the cost of transporting biomass is more than the cost of transporting its energy products. The gap in cost for transporting biomass vs power is significantly higher than the incremental cost of building and operating a power plant remote from a transmission grid. The cost of power transmission and ethanol transport by pipeline is highly dependent on scale of project. Transport of ethanol by truck has a lower cost than by pipeline up to capacities of 1800 t/d. The high cost of transshipment to a ship precludes shipping from being an economical mode of transport for distances less than 800 km (woodchips) and 1500 km (baled agricultural residues).

Development of a Multicriteria Assessment Model for Ranking Biomass Feedstock Collection and Transportation Systems

Abstract An interparticle transport model for the sintering of supported metal catalysts is developed. The model postulates escape of atoms from crystallites to the support surface, rapid migration of these atoms along the surface, and their recapture by crystallites upon collision. A reduction in surface energy provides the driving force for transfer of metal from small to large particles. The model can account for redispersion, for an effect of gas atmosphere on sintering behavior, and for considerable variation in order for a power law fit of sintering. It predicts that the character of the particle size distribution affects the rate of sintering.