The peats of Costa Rica
- Los Alamos National Lab., NM (USA)
- RECOPE, San Jose (Costa Rica)
The authors compare the competitive position of peat for energy with coal, oil, and cogenerative systems in gasifiers and solid-fuel boilers. They also explore the possibility for peat use in industry. To identify the major factors, they analyze costs using a Los Alamos levelized cost code, and they study parametric costs, comparing peat production in constant dollars with interest rates and return on investment. They consider costs of processing plant construction, sizes and kinds of boilers, retrofitting, peat drying, and mining methods. They examine mining requirements for Moin, Changuinola, and El Cairo and review wet mining and dewatering methods. Peat can, indeed, be competitive with other energy sources, but this depends on the ratio of fuel costs to boiler costs. This ratio is nearly constant in comparison with cogeneration in a steam-only production system. For grate boilers using Costa Rican high-ash peat, and for small nonautomatic boilers now used in Costa Rica, the authors recommend combustion tests. An appendix contains a preliminary mining plan and cost estimate for the El Cairo peat deposit. 8 refs., 43 figs., 19 tabs.
- Research Organization:
- Los Alamos National Lab., NM (USA)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- AID; Agency for International Development, Washington, DC (USA)
- DOE Contract Number:
- W-7405-ENG-36
- OSTI ID:
- 6131828
- Report Number(s):
- LA-11889-MS-Vol.3; ON: DE91010550
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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015000* -- Coal
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& Peat-- Economic
Industrial
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ASH CONTENT
BOILERS
CAPITALIZED COST
CENTRAL AMERICA
COAL DEPOSITS
COAL MINING
COAL PREPARATION PLANTS
COGENERATION
COMPETITION
CONSTRUCTION
COST
COST ESTIMATION
COSTA RICA
DEUS
DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
DIAGRAMS
DRYING
ECONOMICS
ENERGY SOURCES
ENERGY SYSTEMS
FLOWSHEETS
FLUIDIZED BED BOILERS
FLUIDS
FOSSIL FUELS
FUEL GAS
FUEL SUBSTITUTION
FUELS
GAS FUELS
GAS GENERATORS
GASES
GEOLOGIC DEPOSITS
HARVESTING
INDUSTRIAL PLANTS
LATIN AMERICA
MAINTENANCE
MINERAL RESOURCES
MINING
NATURAL GAS
ORGANIC MATTER
PARAMETRIC ANALYSIS
PEAT
PETROLEUM
PLANNING
POWER GENERATION
REMOVAL
RESOURCES
RETROFITTING
SIZE
STEAM GENERATION
SURFACE MINING
WATER REMOVAL