Orimulsion conversion boosts prospects of `fourth` fossil fuel

Journal Article · Sat Apr 01 04:00:00 EST 1995 · Power (New York)

OSTI ID:55463

This article describes how, by retrofitting a 100-MW oil-fired and a 215-MW coal-fired unit, one utility turned a plant destined for peaking service into a base-load asset with a predictable fuel bill and manageable emissions-even in environmentally sensitive Atlantic Canada. Six years ago, New Brunswick Power Corp (NB Power) found itself on the horns of a dilemma. For years, the utility had been searching for a powerplant fuel with a more stable price than oil, which at the time was fueling one-third of its generating capacity. Buying and burning more domestic coal-even at twice the price of offshore supplies-was the preferred option, because that would also help keep New Brunswick`s coal mines open. But by 1989, federal and provincial legislation had begun to plan for stringent limits on SO{sub 2} emissions that would take the local-coal card out of NB Power`s hand. Containing up to 8% sulfur, New Brunswick coal would be too dirty to burn by itself; emissions from a 200-MW unit would alone use up nearly half of the utility`s system-wide annual quota for SO{sub 2} emissions schedules for imposition in 1994. Enter Bitor America Corp, the Boca Raton (Fla) marketing subsidiary of the world`s third-largest oil company, Petroleos de Venezuela SA (PdVSA). Looking to further the fortunes of Orimulsion, a liquid emulsion of bitumen and water from the Orinoco region of Venezuela, Bitor funded and provided technical support for the first large-scale test burn of the fuel in the 100-MW Unit 1 of NB Power`s Dalhousie station in northern New Brunswick. After making the required modifications, NB Power burned Orimulsion in Unit 1 for two years. By 1991, the utility had cleanly converted more than a million barrels of the fuel to nearly half a million megawatt-hours of electricity-in the process finding few reasons not to commit to permanently converting Dalhousie`s Unit 1, as well as coal fired 215-MW Unit 2, to burn Orimulsion.

• OSTI ID: 55463
• Journal Information: Power (New York), Journal Name: Power (New York) Journal Issue: 4 Vol. 139; ISSN POWEAD; ISSN 0032-5929
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

20 FOSSIL-FUELED POWER PLANTS
BITUMENS
COAL
DESULFURIZATION
EMULSIONS
FOSSIL-FUEL POWER PLANTS
FUEL SUBSTITUTION