Advanced Biomass Reburning for High Efficiency NOx Control

A environmental problem faced by the power generation industry involves controlling flue gas emissions from coal fired boilers. Specifically, the 1990 Clean Air Amendments mandate a 2,000,000 ton per year decrease in nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions. Reburning is a mature fuel staging NOx control technology which has been successfully demonstrated at full scale by Energy and Environmental Research Corporation (EER) and others on numerous occasions. By utilizing biomass pyrolysis products as a means of NOx control, the proposed technology would both enhance agriculture's role as a reliable supplier of renewable materials to industry and provide a cost-effective solution to the environmental problem of NOx emissions. Furthermore, the net cost of biomass is relatively low and biomass already includes chemical substances which are necessary for promoting the reburning process. Therefore, such a technology would have great economic benefits with NOx control efficiency on the level of 90-95%. Based on chemical kinetic modeling and experimental studies, EER has recently developed novel concepts to improve the conventional reburning process to about 95% NOx control. The integration of these Advanced Reburning technologies with biomass will offer utilities a low cost option for effective control of NOx emissions.