AEG CoalSwitch announces results of test burn

AEG CoalSwitch, the renewable energy division of Active Energy Group Plc, the AIM-listed supplier of timberland management and development services, industrial wood fiber and biomass coal replacement fuels, recently announced it has received the results from the burn testing of its CoalSwitch fuel at the University of Utah.

The university has reported that CoalSwitch's technical and commercial viability for use a standalone fuel—or co-fired in high concentrations with coal in traditional coal-fired power plants—provides significant environmental and commercial advantages to industrial power generators.

The burn testing, conducted at the university's Clean and Secure Energy Institute, evaluated the performance of AEG CoalSwitch fuel in its 100 kW pulverized coal combustor, which closely replicates the full-scale facilities utilized in industrial coal-fired power plants around the world.

The testing process compared CoalSwitch burn test performance to that of Illinois Number 6 coal (a typical feedstock used for industrial power generation in the United States), and a CoalSwitch/Illinois coal mix under the same test conditions.

Key findings include:

-  CoalSwitch fuel burned at near-identical temperatures to coal

-  CoalSwitch fuel burned more efficiently than coal, and produced far less ash

- CoalSwitch fuel burned cleaner than coal, and when co-fired with coal generated less sulphur dioxide (SO₂) than the coal alone

- Along with reducing the amount of ultrafine particles in the blended fuel, the mineral matter (ash) particle size distribution of CoalSwitch fuel was nearly the same as that for coal

- CoalSwitch fuel was essentially free of both potassium (K) and sodium (Na), so combustion did not cause the fouling issues (deposits) that are commonly a barrier to the use of biomass fuels in coal-fired power plants

- The CoalSwitch/coal blend had a lower loss on ignition than the pure coal, leaving far less unburned carbon in the ash, demonstrating far better combustion of coal when CoalSwitch is present

Richard Spinks, CEO of Active Energy Group, commented, "The results of the CoalSwitch testing prove that the group's faith in the technology and our investment in it over the past twelve months were fully justified; and demonstrate that, for the first time to our knowledge, the glass wall between coal and Biomass usage within existing power generation plants has been shattered."

"They confirm that CoalSwitch fuel represents a game-changer for the power generation industry, and delivers significant financial and environmental benefits over current biomass fuel solutions."

 "We are currently preparing a more detailed RNS reach announcement, which is expected to be available later today."