05-11-2019, 06:50 AM
Oil usually contains sulfur which contributes to acid rain. Most plants are mandated to burn low sulfur oil. There are also fuel additives that are basic and neutralize the acid. The chief emissions are CO and NOx. CO is high during start-up and when running at part load. It can be mitigated with catalytic converters. NOx is generated at high temperatures. I am not sure how this is managed in a wood-fired steam boiler. In oil fueled turbines it is managed through water injection or with a catalyst and ammonia.
Wood burning stoves are notorious for producing tiny particulates but those can be greatly reduced by tightly managing fuel and air inputs. The average homeowner fills up the stove in the evening and turns down the air so the fire will burn, or rather smoulder, all night. This produces terrible smoke and particulates. An automated boiler like Hu Honua would have had a Continuous Emissions Monitoring System and carefully controlled fuel and air inputs so it would have been pretty clean and it would have had to meet emissions limits dictated by the EPA. I heard once but don't recall what specific emissions would be monitored but I am certain CO would be one of them and opacity (smoke) would be another.
My point is that there will always be some emissions, just like when we drive to the store or wherever but that those emissions would be limited and monitored and Hu Honua would be accountable to the DOH and ultimately to the EPA. It is true that it would be better to leave the trees alive and even plant more as long as we had some other source of power but the only alternative is oil. Solar PV is also an option but I don't know how nasty it is to manufacture solar panels. Do we care if that happens in China? We should.
I get kind of triggered by vague references to scrubbers without knowing what is to be scrubbed out. If we could scrub the CO2 out that would be game changing. I honestly don't know how cleanly wood chips can be burned but again the DOH and EPA will be involved. It's not like there can be a Mr Burns like character who gazes lovingly at the black smoke belching from the stack.
And we all drive and use electricity.
Wood burning stoves are notorious for producing tiny particulates but those can be greatly reduced by tightly managing fuel and air inputs. The average homeowner fills up the stove in the evening and turns down the air so the fire will burn, or rather smoulder, all night. This produces terrible smoke and particulates. An automated boiler like Hu Honua would have had a Continuous Emissions Monitoring System and carefully controlled fuel and air inputs so it would have been pretty clean and it would have had to meet emissions limits dictated by the EPA. I heard once but don't recall what specific emissions would be monitored but I am certain CO would be one of them and opacity (smoke) would be another.
My point is that there will always be some emissions, just like when we drive to the store or wherever but that those emissions would be limited and monitored and Hu Honua would be accountable to the DOH and ultimately to the EPA. It is true that it would be better to leave the trees alive and even plant more as long as we had some other source of power but the only alternative is oil. Solar PV is also an option but I don't know how nasty it is to manufacture solar panels. Do we care if that happens in China? We should.
I get kind of triggered by vague references to scrubbers without knowing what is to be scrubbed out. If we could scrub the CO2 out that would be game changing. I honestly don't know how cleanly wood chips can be burned but again the DOH and EPA will be involved. It's not like there can be a Mr Burns like character who gazes lovingly at the black smoke belching from the stack.
And we all drive and use electricity.