AN INCONTROVERTIBLE TRUTH
How advanced black pellets slash carbon emissions by 98.7 percent.
Steam treated advanced black pellets are the most viable replacement for coal in a future global energy mix.
Their durability, bulk density and water-resistance ensure they behave like coal.
Storable outdoors, they can be burned in coal-fired generating stations with minimal minor modifications.
While bituminous coal releases 28 MJ of energy per kilo burned in plant furnaces, by using steam explosion, CoAlternative Energy manufactures black pellets with up to 23 MJ of energy per kilo and at least 21.
Advanced black pellets have an energy value that compares to the fossil fuel. But at this point the similarities end as the impact that each fuel has on the environment couldn’t be more different.
Steam treated advanced black pellets look, act and burn like coal but without the catastrophic carbon footprint.
They reduce the volume of carbon dioxide injected into earth’s atmosphere by almost 99 percent – when burned in place of coal – as this article will show.
A single 50 MW generating station can prevent 284.5 kilotons of CO₂ from entering earth’s atmosphere every year, when it switches from coal to advanced black pellets.
Examine both fuels’ lifecycle as a five phase value chain – from extracted raw material through product process to furnace fire – and these extraordinary reductions in deadly greenhouse gases are clear.
A Model for Carbon Comparison
A 50 MW generating station can be fuelled for 8000 hours per year using either black pellets or coal.
It will burn either 51.4 kilotons of coal or 68.6 kilotons of advanced black pellets, using our lower 21 MJ energy value, to do so.
The journey that each fuel takes to the point of incineration is different.
Coal is mined and excavated from the earth before it is processed and transferred to a generating station. Advanced pellets are made from forest fire dead wood, harvested to undergo hydrolysis, cellular explosion and pelleting before being incinerated.
And it takes 1.7 tons of organic feedstock to make a ton of advanced pellets. So, 116.6 kilotons or 225,000m³ of predominantly aspen waste wood is collected as feedstock for our production process.
The Catastrophe of Coal Extraction
Coal mining is heavy, carbon-intensive industry. It releases vast amounts of methane and carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, to the extent that extracting the fossil fuel produces more CO₂ emissions than burning it.
According to SINTEF data – Europe’s largest independent research organisation – mining 51.4 kilotons of coal releases 160.1 kilotons of carbon dioxide.
But CoAlternative Energy’s foresters clear, cut and grind fire-damaged wood at source with diesel-powered chainsaws and auxiliary machinery. Their work’s only attributable emissions come from the 450,000 litres of diesel they use annually for harvesting.
As diesel releases 2.65kg of CO₂ per litre burned, sourcing a year of biomass for a 50 MW generating station, releases less than 1.2 kilotons of carbon dioxide.
Moving Raw Material the Minimum Distance
CoAlternative Energy then moves its biomass in bulk, from forest floor to pellet plant 70km away. Articulated ‘walking floor’ trucks take 36 ton batches of wildfire wood on the return legs of 140km trips.
And as big rigs transfer all 116.6 kt to pressurized steam reactors in northern Alberta, they clock up 453,460 km on 3,239 trips while consuming 181,378 litres of diesel. They generate 0.48 kilotons of CO₂ each year.
Over the same distance coal’s higher energy index shows its value. Coal trucks carry 32 ton batches but need just 1,602 trips to haul their entire consignment.
They drink 89,712 litres of diesel to cover 224,280 km each year and generate just 0.24 kilotons, half of the carbon dioxide.
A Processing Plus for Black Pellets
All 51.4 kilotons of coal will be crushed, sized, washed and dried at preparation plants – causing the release of more methane.
Thermal drum dryers and plant pump systems are energy-intensive. It takes 39kWh of electricity to process one ton of coal; and 2GWh of energy to process 51.4 kt.
According to IEA calculations, this generates 0.9 kilotons of CO₂ with a further 0.1 kt released as methane.
But producing 68.6 kilotons of advanced black pellets is a wholly net-zero event.
Wildfires strip dead wood of their outer shells, leaving no need for debarking, before CoAlternative Energy fuels reactors with waste wood burned in their integrated combined heat and power units.
Shipping Fuel to Market
Advanced black pellets look, act and burn like coal, so they ship like coal too. Rail networks, freight companies and ports handle the biofuel as they do the fossil fuel.
Ultramax bulk carriers cross 7600 km of ocean from Vancouver to Tokyo swiftly, although the heavier weight of black pellets creates a 27% greater carbon footprint.
Our 68.6 kilotons of durable, energy-rich pellets still ship easily thanks to their enhanced bulk density, all-weather resistance and homogenous form.
Each dry cargo ship emits 3.94 grams of carbon dioxide per kilometre, multiplied by its consignment weight.
So, dockside to dockside across northern Pacific waves, our 68.6 kilotons of pellets spawn 2.05 kilotons of carbon dioxide each year while 51.4 kilotons of coal generates 1.5 kt.
Counting the Cost of Combustion
The key carbon benefits of burning black pellets come at the point of combustion.
Coal releases carbon from stores that have been underground for millennia. Every ton burned injects 2,325 new kilos of CO₂ into the air, while 51.4 kilotons infuses our atmosphere with 125,400,000kg – according to US EIA data.
Coal’s 125.4 kilotons of carbon emissions look lethal beside black pellets which are deemed net-zero at the point of combustion.
CoAlternative Energy reforests the areas it clears of deadwood with native seedlings and saplings.
And the dead wildfire wood it uses for pellets simply returns CO₂ to a natural cycle, having drawn it down in the last century – giving steam treated advanced black pellets a net-zero carbon footprint.
The total amount of carbon dioxide prevented from entering earth’s atmosphere each year, by switching from coal to CoAlternative’s black pellets, can be seen in the table below.
These calculations, using a low energy value (21MJ/kg), reveal the beneficial impact that burning advanced black pellets has on our environment, over burning coal.
When energy companies fuel power plants with them, in place of coal, they can reduce the generating station’s carbon footprint by 98.7 percent.
CoAlternative often uses a figure of 94 percent to be conservative and certain in its claims, but reductions in CO₂ are closer to 100 percent – and they’re the reason why advanced black pellets have a huge role to play in a greener energy future.
To learn more about CoAlternative Energy’s advanced black pellets, and why they are a viable replacement for coal, please use the contact details available on this website.
