The work of three researchers from Clemson University’s Department of Industrial Engineering was featured in the September issue of ISE Magazine and published in the October issue of IIE Transactions.
Clemson Industrial Engineering faculty members Drs. Sandra Eksioglu and Burak Eksioglu and PhD student Hadi Karimi examine biomass co-firing as an option to support the Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Power Plan. This plan was drafted in 2015 with the goal of reducing carbon dioxide emissions from coal burning power plants. Biomass co-firing is a well-proven technology used in various countries throughout the world, but not common in the US. The process of biomass co-firing essentially burns coal along with biomass, organic matter derived from living or recently living organisms, to create a renewable energy source.
Clemson’s research team investigates what would be necessary to enable US coal burning power plants with biomass co-firing capabilities. The team has developed a nonlinear optimization model to determine what incentives are suggested for US coal burning plants to incorporate the process of biomass co-firing. Their research concludes that substantial tax incentives would be necessary to cover the costs of retrofitting power plants for biomass co-firing and to address the efficiency reductions the changes would induce. View Full Article >>
