Engineered Fuel (Briquettes)
Project Opportunity
The briquette technology/IP belongs to ICAST. We are looking for a management team
who can come up with a business plan, bring in the necessary investment with our help, and manage
the business. ICAST would be open to discussing any form of payment for its IP with the
management team.
Objective:
Develop a business plan for a growth-oriented new venture that utilizes process waste from a coalfired power plant and woody biomass waste to create an engineered fuel.
Description:
Aquila Networks is the second largest investor-owned utility company in Colorado. They operate a
coal-fired power plant in Canon City that generates flyash as a waste product that they currently
discard in the local landfill. Aquila pays disposal fees to get rid of this waste stream. In addition, the
supply of coal currently burned at the plant contains a high level of coal dust, which burns very
inefficiently in the plant boilers and exists the system as carbon dust mixed with the flyash (the
carbon content of the flyash at Aquila is typically over 40%). The coal dust is inherent in the “run
of mine” coal delivered to the plant and would require considerable expense and an amendment to
the plant’s air permit to separate and collect. Analysis conducted by Aquila indicates it is more cost
effective to recapture the energy in the coal dust after all the coal has been put through the boiler,
i.e. from the flyash, than to try and separate it upfront.
The area around Canon City has large tracts of forest that are overstocked and in danger of burning
and being infested with beetle. This includes Federal (US Forest Service & Bureau of Land
Management), Fremont County and Canon City Parks plus private landowners. Local forest
managers and land owners would like to remove the unhealthy and new growth trees and slash
(branches, leaves, shrubs etc.) to reduce the danger of catastrophic fires and beetle infestation.
Currently, this waste stream is either burned in a controlled manner or sent to the local landfill.
Burning this woody biomass waste has its disadvantages: it creates pollution and sometimes can go
out of control. In addition to the above-mentioned sources of woody biomass waste, the local
sawmills generate tons of process waste (chips, bark and sawdust) that they send to the landfill. All
of this woody biomass waste could be put to some beneficial use.
Combining the power plant waste (flyash and coal dust) with the woody biomass waste (slash, chips,
bark and sawdust) can result in an energy source (Engineered Fuel). Briquettes made from this
combination could be burned in the power plant, thus eliminating waste streams from the power
plant, forests, parks, private land and sawmills, while improving the power plant efficiency.
Aquila and Canon City officials have been working with the International Center for Appropriate &
Sustainable Technology (ICAST) to develop this idea into a reality (for additional details on ICAST,
go to www.ic-ast.org). We teamed up with engineering students from local universities to evaluate
the viability of this idea. Utilizing flyash, coal dust and sawdust, our engineering team has already
produced briquettes in a laboratory setting. We also used cornstarch and plastics as binders.
Cornstarch is expensive but does the job consistently. Plastics (from recycled bottles) also worked
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and actually increase the energy content of the briquettes, but needs higher temperatures in the
briquetting process (which in turn requires additional energy). The drawback to using a binder is
that Aquila will need a new air permit to burn any new substance, besides coal or wood. Aquila’s
current air permit from the EPA allows them to burn up to 5% wood by weight. Aquila’s
preference would be a briquette with no binder material because a new air permit from EPA costs
time (as much as two years) and money.
A preliminary search has not yielded any references to the commercial production of briquettes
utilizing flyash, coal dust and sawdust. So the engineering team is currently engaged in:
1. Evaluating the technical viability of producing briquettes in large quantities consistently, from
flyash, coal dust and sawdust.
2. Conducting a preliminary economic analysis of a production facility manufacturing such
briquettes.
3. Determining the amount of pollution prevention such an operation can achieve.
4. Evaluating any other benefits of such an undertaking.
The business school team is expected to develop a comprehensive business plan to evaluate the
viability of an enterprise that can produce the necessary briquettes. Aquila is willing to provide the
space/location for this enterprise but may not wish to fund the venture. Aquila is not keen on
managing a briquette facility and the sawmill owners are not in a position to either fund or manage
such a venture. ICAST has teamed up with the local economic development organizations (they can
offer enterprise credits and other incentives to the enterprise), to help identify potential local
investors.
Project Benefits:
1. Waste utilization
2. Low-risk business venture (captive raw material supply and customer)
3. Reduces pollution (since briquettes typically burn cleaner than coal or wood)
4. Renewable Energy – sawdust comes from a renewable source (green power)
5. Reduction in local landfill capacity required
6. Increased efficiency for Aquila (by recycling its energy rich waste stream)
7. Job Creation (facility can employ local residents)
8. Economic Development - Venture will provide benefits to ancillary industries such as loggers
(thinning forest, park and private land trees), increased transportation requirements (bringing the
woody biomass to Aquila), etc.
9. Replicable – other communities and facilities nationwide that use coal as an energy source could
potentially replicate this project to gain similar benefits.
Besides the potential to grow the enterprise to other coal-fired power plants, there is the potential to
grow the enterprise by introducing other waste streams to create additional Engineered Fuel
products and markets for those products. As an example, an Engineered Fuel could be made from
the plastic waste and/or other municipal waste. Other users of coal such as processing plants or
retail barbeque coal markets could be developed for these fuels.
Deliverables:
Using estimates of capital costs, production volumes, operating costs, and product sale price, a
business plan needs to be completed for the financial viability of the enterprise. The business plan
will pull together all of the project information and analysis into a document that contains:
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The Market Opportunity
The Service (Product Description and Operation Details)
Market Description and Marketing Strategy
Management and Personnel
Financial Projections and Risks
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Appendix I
The W. N. Clark Power Plant located in Canon City, Colorado has a maximum capacity is 43
megawatts per hour. The plant burns approx. 400-500 tons of unwashed coal/day and is permitted
to co-fire up to 5% wood by weight (i.e. 20 – 25 tons of wood per day). Coal is delivered by railcars
directly into the facility. The approx. delivered cost is $32.00/ton.
The plant consists of two coal-fired B&W stoker fired boilers and two GE generator/turbine sets.
1. Unit 1: On-line in 1955. Steam flow 150,000#/hr at 975 psi, 915 F. Generator is rated at 16
MW/HR and operated at 17.6 MW/HR. Capacity factor YTD through August is 66.86% based
on 17.6 MW/HR. The coal flow rate is approx. 8 tons/hr.
2. Unit 2: On-line 1959. Steam flow 210,000#/hr at 1,000 psi and 910 F. Generator is rated at 22.5
MW/HR and operated at 24.9 MW/HR. Capacity factor YTD through August is 77.71% based
on 24.9 MW/HR. Coal flow rate is approx. 12 tons/hr.
Coal analysis:
 Calorific value 10,400 to 11,300 BTU/lb.
 Sulfur, Lbs/mmBTU 0.38 to 0.60.
 Ash % 9.20 to 12.00.
 Moisture % 10.20 to 13.50.
The air quality equipment consists of ash return lines to the primary furnace area and filter
baghouses. Continuous Emissions Monitoring Systems (CEMS) are installed on both units; unit 1
for SOx and COx, unit 2 for the same as well as opacity. There are no plans to alter the air quality
equipment nor is a need to do so anticipated within the scope of this project. The plant burns low
sulfur coal < 0.50% S.
Within each boiler, air is forced from under the conveyers to burn the coal. This forced air blows
the flyash along with approx. 40% coal dust into the flue chamber where it can be collected. The
coals after they are burned at the end of the conveyor are collected as bottom ash. Currently the
flyash, coal dust and bottom ash are all placed together in a collection area for transportation to the
landfill. The BTU rich flyash and coal (approx. 6000 BTU/lb) coming out the flue chamber is
separate from the bottom ash (low BTU content) and can be transported to the briquette
production facility to be mixed with the sawdust.
Fly ash is captured in the hoppers below the baghouse cells continuously utilizing a reverse airflow
system. The ash is transported by a dry vacuum system to the ash silo twice/day. Bottom ash
collects in the bottom ash hoppers below the furnace floor continuously and is transported by the
dry vacuum system to the same ash silo as the flyash twice/day. The mixed product is loaded into a
contractor’s truck and disposed of daily. The plant generates approx. 65 tons of ash/day. The
estimated mix is 65% fly ash and 35% bottom ash.
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