New research by the Cooperative Research Centre for Coal in Sustainable Development (CRC CSD) has found considerable potential for coal-biomass co-firing of Australia’s power stations.

Advantages of co-firing include reductions in greenhouse emissions and air pollution – SOx, NOx, particulates and CO2 - said researcher Dr Behdad Mogtaderi of Newcastle University. It also opens the way for carbon tax and emissions trading benefits.

“We found that most power stations can co-fire up to 10% with biomass, without any change in their existing fuel handling infrastructure,” Mogtaderi said.

“You can co-fire at up to 50% or more, but that would involve major capital investment.”

Use of biomass involves a slight (1-2%) decrease in thermal efficiency, but Dr Mogtaderi believes this is outweighed by the advantages. Studies show that to be economical the biomass fuel must be drawn from within a 120-150km radius of the power station.