Project explores using sawdust and coal mining waste to generate power in rural Ky. - Entrepreneur Generations

A new partnership based at the University of Kentucky is trying to turn waste from Eastern Kentucky industry--sawdust and coal fines--into a source of power in rural Perry County. The UK Center for Applied Energy Research received a $1.6 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy's National Energy Technology Laboratory to develop the tech, which could serve as a model for other energy projects in rural Eastern Kentucky that have active lumber and coal industries, Dave Melanson reports for UKNow.

Beijing Baota Sanju Energy Science and Technology Co. Ltd. will collaborate with CAER to create a preliminary design for the 5-megawatt gasifier, which will use sawdust from Gay Brothers Lumber in Hazard and waste coal fines from Blackhawk Mining. The test location will be at the Coal Fields Regional Industrial Park in Hazard.

The project is called Gasification Combined Heat and Power from Coal Fines, and 20 percent of its funding will come from the UK Research Foundation, Arq Coal Technologies LLC, and Beijing Baota Sanju.

Jack Groppo, a faculty member in the UK Department of Mining Engineering and a principal research engineer at CAER who is working on this project told Melanson that he thinks localized power generation would work well in rural Kentucky, and that "We have a tremendous amount of coal fines left over throughout Kentucky coal fields as well as a strong, vibrant lumber industry that has industrial waste as well. This project will allow us to combine those two products to create fuel that will help power rural Kentucky communities for years to come."

from The Rural Blog http://ift.tt/2F1nGhf Project explores using sawdust and coal mining waste to generate power in rural Ky. - Entrepreneur Generations

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