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107-503: Drax power station is a large biomass power station in Drax , North Yorkshire , England. It has a 2.6 GW capacity for biomass and had a 1.29 GW capacity for coal that was retired in 2021. Its name comes from the nearby village of Drax . It is situated on the River Ouse between Selby and Goole . Its generating capacity of 3,906  megawatts (MW), which includes the shut down coal units,

214-459: A central space where a large physical facility or physically dispersed service can be monitored and controlled. Central control rooms came into general use in factories during the 1920s. Control rooms for vital facilities are typically tightly secured and inaccessible to the general public. Multiple electronic displays and control panels are usually present, and there may also be a large wall-sized display area visible from all locations within

321-502: A continuous basis. North America was expected to be the source of the vast majority of the biomass, although some would be domestically sourced willow and elephant grass. Drax Group's decision was enabled by a new UK government policy, effective in April 2013, to award 1.0 tradable ROCs (renewable obligation certificates) per megawatt of power generation from coal power plants that are fully converted to burn biomass; CEO Dorothy Thompson stated

428-467: A conveyor system before grinding to dust for use. The Shepherd Building Group was contracted to construct the biomass handling and storage facilities at Drax, with RPS Group as the civil engineer. The design included automated rail to storage handling, screening and storage facilities consisting of four 50 by 63 m (164 by 207 ft) high by wide storage domes with a capacity of 110,000 m (3,900,000 cu ft). The concrete dome technology

535-455: A curve which moves along a time axis), or as a static value ; this shows average emissions calculated over a defined time period. The time-dependent net emission curve will typically show high emissions at the beginning (if the counting starts when the biomass is harvested.) Alternatively, the starting point can be moved back to the planting event; in this case the curve can potentially move below zero (into carbon negative territory) if there

642-445: A dramatic increase in waste utilization to 45 EJ annually in 2050. Raw biomass can be upgraded into better and more practical fuel simply by compacting it (e.g. wood pellets), or by different conversions broadly classified as thermal, chemical, and biochemical. Biomass conversion reduces the transport costs as it is cheaper to transport high density commodities. Thermal upgrading produces solid, liquid or gaseous fuels, with heat as

749-526: A fire can be completely extinguished. Openings in such spaces must therefore be kept to a minimum to prevent the escape of the suppression gas. A mobile control room is designated as particularly in high risk facilities, such as a nuclear power station or a petrochemical facility. It can provided a guaranteed life support for the anticipated safety control. The design of a control room incorporates ergonomic and aesthetic features including optimum traffic flow, acoustics, illumination, and health and safety of

856-556: A fuel that is more practical to store, transport and use, or to exploit some property of the process itself. Many of these processes are based in large part on similar coal-based processes, such as the Fischer-Tropsch synthesis. A chemical conversion process known as transesterification is used for converting vegetable oils , animal fats , and greases into fatty acid methyl esters (FAME), which are used to produce biodiesel. Biochemical processes have developed in nature to break down

963-402: A jetty on the River Ouse , with a loading capacity of 200 tonnes. Historically the jetty was built and used for the construction of the power station in the 1960s/70s – such as the delivery of equipment. In 2015 a planning application was submitted for the improvement of the jetty's load capacity to 500 tonnes by White Rose CCS developer Capture Power Limited (Drax/Alstom/BOC joint venture), for

1070-520: A majority nuclear system. The Board decided in 1977 that construction of the final three units would commence in 1979 with the target of commissioning in 1985/6, as part of meeting load growth with an adjusted mix policy aiming for a balance of coal, nuclear, and oil. However, later that year in July, the Government requested that Drax Completion proceed immediately, ahead of requirements, in order to secure jobs in

1177-602: A mixture of both domestic and international sources, with domestic coal coming from mines in Yorkshire , the Midlands and Scotland, and foreign supplies coming from Australia, Colombia, Poland, Russia and South Africa. As of 2020, all coal was sourced internationally. Fuel and other bulk commodities were supplied via a 6 mile stretch of the old Hull and Barnsley Railway line off the Wakefield and Goole railway line. Rail facilities include

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1284-477: A no–to–low oxygen environment. The heating process removes (via gasification) the parts of the biomass that has the lowest energy content, while the parts with the highest energy content remain. That is, approximately 30% of the biomass is converted to gas during the torrefaction process, while 70% remains, usually in the form of compacted pellets or briquettes . This solid product is water resistant, easy to grind, non-corrosive, and it contains approximately 85% of

1391-574: A pipeline to transport CO 2 40 miles (64 km) to the Yorkshire coast for sequestration. In July 2014 the project was awarded €300 million funding from the European Commission . In September 2015 Drax announced it would not be making any further investments into the CCS scheme after completion of the feasibility study because negative changes to government support for renewable energy had made

1498-494: A planning application for the 300 MW biomass Ouse Renewable Energy Plant next to the power station. Government approval was obtained in mid 2011. In February 2012 the company ceased planning development of the plant, citing logistics costs, and uncertainty concerning government financial support for biomass. In 2006 Drax Power Limited, in response to a government consultation, stated they were sponsoring development studies into carbon capture and storage (CCS), but noted that it

1605-463: A private equity backed bid from Constellation Energy were rejected for undervaluing the company. The company's valuation subsequently increased to 2005 as a result of rising electricity prices, and on 15 December 2005 Drax Group plc floated its shares on the London Stock Exchange , issuing £400 million worth of shares, on a valuation of £2.6 billion. In 2009, Drax Group submitted

1712-478: A project to convert half of the units at its existing plant to biomass firing. In September 2012 Drax Group announced the conversion to full firing with biomass of three of its six units. The first unit was scheduled to be online by June 2013, the second unit in 2014, and the third by 2017; initially a biomass supply had been secured for the first unit. The cost was estimated at £700 million ($ 1.13 billion), including modifications to fuel mills and boilers and

1819-592: A range of fuel substitution efficiencies for different biomass-combustion pathways. Different supply chains emit different amounts of carbon per supplied energy unit, and different combustion facilities convert the chemical energy stored in different fuels to heat or electrical energy with different efficiencies. The researcher has to know about this and choose a realistic efficiency range for the different biomass-combustion paths under consideration. The chosen efficiencies are used to calculate so-called "displacement factors" – single numbers that shows how efficient fossil carbon

1926-514: A specific time period. The specific time period can be the expected lifetime of the infrastructure involved (typical for life cycle assessments; LCA's), policy relevant time horizons inspired by the Paris agreement (for instance remaining time until 2030, 2050 or 2100), time spans based on different global warming potentials (GWP; typically 20 or 100 years), or other time spans. In the EU, a time span of 20 years

2033-406: A target was set for 12.5% of the station's energy to be sourced from biomass, and the shift to biomass was intended to contribute to the aim of cutting CO 2 emissions by 15%. The station burns a large range of biomass, mostly wood pellets , sunflower pellets , olive , peanut shell husk and rape meal . The majority comes from overseas. A 100,000 tonne pa capacity straw pelletization facility

2140-517: A west-facing junction on the Goole line, gross-weight and tare-weight weighbridges, limestone and gypsum handling facilities, including a handling building and control room for the FGD plant, FGD Sidings G and H, biomass offload (Track A), coal offload (Tracks A, B and C), bypass line (Track D), oil siding (Track E) and ash loading (Track F) and an unloading building and control room. When the station opened, most of

2247-520: Is a perennial crop , while corn and rapeseed are annual crops. Sugar- and starch-producing crops are used to make bioethanol , and oil-producing crops are used to make biodiesel . The United States is the largest producer of bioethanol, while the European Union is the largest producer of biodiesel. The global production of bioethanol and biodiesel provides 2.2 and 1.5 EJ of energy per year, respectively. Biofuel made from food crops harvested for energy

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2354-498: Is also known as "first-generation" or "traditional" biofuel and has relatively low emission savings. The IPCC estimates that between 0.32 and 1.4 billion hectares of marginal land are suitable for bioenergy worldwide. Residues and waste are by-products from biological material harvested mainly for non-energy purposes. The most important by-products are wood residues, agricultural residues and municipal/industrial waste: Wood residues are by-products from forestry operations or from

2461-647: Is approximately 2 EJ. However, agricultural residues has a large untapped potential. The energy content in the global production of agricultural residues has been estimated to 78 EJ annually, with the largest share from straw (51 EJ). Others have estimated between 18 and 82 EJ. The use of agricultural residues and waste that is both sustainable and economically feasible is expected to increase to between 37 and 66 EJ in 2030. Municipal waste produced 1.4 EJ and industrial waste 1.1 EJ. Wood waste from cities and industry also produced 1.1 EJ. The sustainable potential for wood waste has been estimated to 2–10 EJ. IEA recommends

2568-443: Is categorized either as biomass harvested directly for energy (primary biomass), or as residues and waste: (secondary biomass). The main biomass types harvested directly for energy is wood , some food crops and all perennial energy crops . One third of the global forest area of 4 billion hectares is used for wood production or other commercial purposes, and forests provide 85% of all biomass used for energy globally. In

2675-426: Is common to include alternative scenarios (also called "reference scenarios" or "counterfactuals") for comparison. The alternative scenarios range from scenarios with only modest changes compared to the existing project, all the way to radically different ones (i.e. forest protection or "no-bioenergy" counterfactuals.) Generally, the difference between scenarios is seen as the actual carbon mitigation potential of

2782-405: Is defined as sustainable, for instance wind, solar, biomass from wood residues and tree thinnings that would otherwise be burnt or decompose relatively fast, and biomass from short rotation coppicing (SRC). The IPCC states: "While individual stands in a forest may be either sources or sinks, the forest carbon balance is determined by the sum of the net balance of all stands." IPCC also state that

2889-554: Is known as Bio Energy with Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS). The main buildings are of steel frame and metal clad construction. The main features are a turbine hall , a boiler house , a chimney and 12 cooling towers. The boiler house is 76 m (249 ft) high, and the turbine hall is 400 m (1,300 ft) long. The chimney stands 259.3 m (851 ft) tall, with an overall diameter of 26 m (85 ft), and weighs 44,000 tonnes. It consists of three elliptical flues of reinforced concrete , each serving two of

2996-403: Is no carbon debt from land use change to pay back, and in addition more and more carbon is absorbed by the planted trees. The emission curve then spikes upward at harvest. The harvested carbon is then being distributed into other carbon pools, and the curve moves in tandem with the amount of carbon that is moved into these new pools (Y axis), and the time it takes for the carbon to move out of

3103-520: Is now more common to consider biofuel to be a liquid or gaseous fuel used for transportation, as defined by government authorities in the US and EU. From that perspective, biofuel is a subset of biomass. The European Union's Joint Research Centre defines solid biofuel as raw or processed organic matter of biological origin used for energy, such as firewood, wood chips, and wood pellets . Different types of biomass are used for different purposes: Biomass

3210-494: Is substituted by biogenic carbon. If for instance 10 tonnes of carbon are combusted with an efficiency half that of a modern coal plant, only 5 tonnes of coal would actually be counted as displaced (displacement factor 0.5). Generally, fuel burned in inefficient (old or small) combustion facilities gets assigned lower displacement factors than fuel burned in efficient (new or large) facilities, since more fuel has to be burned (and therefore more CO 2 released) in order to produce

3317-727: Is the highest of any power station in the United Kingdom, providing about 6% of the United Kingdom's electricity supply. Opened in 1974 and extended in the 1980s, the station was initially operated by the Central Electricity Generating Board . Since privatisation in 1990 ownership has changed several times, and it is operated by the Drax Group . Completed in 1986, it was the newest coal-fired power station in England until it closed in 2021. Flue gas desulphurisation equipment

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3424-405: Is the most carbon-efficient coal-fired power plant in the United Kingdom. The design life was set out in terms of number of start-ups and operating "cycles", but with the presumption that the station would operate as a standard 2nd-tier (nuclear stations being 1st-tier) baseload generator in the pattern well established under the centralised state-owned electricity system, it was summarised as "in

3531-426: Is used for bioenergy production. There are variations in how such biomass for energy is defined, e.g. only from plants, or from plants and algae, or from plants and animals. The vast majority of biomass used for bioenergy does come from plants. Bioenergy is a type of renewable energy with potential to assist with climate change mitigation . Some people use the terms biomass and biofuel interchangeably, but it

3638-510: Is used when quantifying the net carbon effects of a land use change. Generally in legislation, the static number approach is preferred over the dynamic, time-dependent curve approach. The number is expressed as a so-called "emission factor" (net emission per produced energy unit, for instance kg CO 2 e per GJ), or even simpler as an average greenhouse gas savings percentage for specific bioenergy pathways. The EU's published greenhouse gas savings percentages for specific bioenergy pathways used in

3745-399: Is useful to ensure the use of "T-rated" firestops that are massive and thick enough to resist heat transmission to the inside of the control room. It is also common to place control rooms under positive pressure ventilation to prevent smoke or toxic gases from entering. If used, gaseous fire suppressants must occupy the space that is to be protected for a minimum period of time to be sure

3852-579: The AES Corporation in November 1999 for £1.87 billion (US$ 3 billion). AES relinquished ownership in August 2003, after falling into £1.3 billion of debt. Independent directors continued the operation to ensure security of supply. In December 2005, after refinancing, ownership passed to the Drax Group . Separate acquisition offers from International Power , private equity group Texas Pacific , and

3959-549: The Department of Energy and Climate Change in July 2009 for review; if permission was granted, construction was scheduled begin in late 2010 and to take up to three and a half years. Two other 300 MW biomass plants were planned by Drax at the ports of Hull and Immingham. In 2012 Drax group abandoned plans for the discrete biomass plant development, due to changes in government subsidies for biomass energy production favouring plant conversions over newly built plants. It switched to

4066-492: The Port of Liverpool , estimated cost £100 million. The rail connected facility was to include 100,000 tonnes storage, and be constructed by Graham Construction. In September 2015 Drax Group and Infinis began a legal action against the UK government due to claimed insufficient notice being given about the withdrawal of a climate related tax exemption (see Climate Change Levy ) – Drax claimed

4173-650: The Selby Coalfield discovery in 1967 the Board would build three large power stations to use its coal. These were an expansion of the station at Ferrybridge , a new station at Eggborough , and Drax, which would be the largest. Authority to carry out preparatory works was granted in December 1964, leading to full permission in March 1966, on the basis that the station would be designed to accommodate six 660 MW units, but that only

4280-445: The chimney ; Bierrum & Partners built the cooling towers ; N.G. Bailey installed cabling; Reyrolle , English Electric and South Wales Switchgear produced and installed the switchgear ; English Electric manufactured the generator cooling water pumps; T.W. Broadbent maintained the temporary electrical supplies; and Sulzer Brothers manufactured the boiler feed pumps . In both phases the boilers were made by Babcock Power Ltd and

4387-405: The foundations and cable tunnels; Sir Robert McAlpine Ltd. laid the roads and built the ancillary buildings; Mowlem laid the deep foundations ; Alfred McAlpine built the administration and control buildings; Balfour Beatty undertook general building works; and James Scott installed cabling . Tarmac Construction undertook the civil engineering works; Holst Civil Engineers built

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4494-477: The generators by C. A. Parsons and Company . The second phase was completed in 1986. Construction of the power station entailed the demolition of a farm known as Wood House. Mitsui Babcock fitted flue-gas desulphurisation (FGD) equipment between 1988 and 1995. On privatisation of the CEGB in 1990, the station was transferred from the CEGB to the privatised generating company National Power , which sold it to

4601-565: The wood processing industry. Had the residues not been collected and used for bioenergy, they would have decayed (and therefore produced emissions) on the forest floor or in landfills, or been burnt (and produced emissions) at the side of the road in forests or outside wood processing facilities. The by-products from forestry operations are called logging residues or forest residues, and consist of tree tops, branches, stumps, damaged or dying or dead trees, irregular or bent stem sections, thinnings (small trees that are cleared away in order to help

4708-544: The EU, forests provide 60% of all biomass used for energy, with wood residues and waste being the largest source. Woody biomass used for energy often consists of trees and bushes harvested for traditional cooking and heating purposes , particularly in developing countries, with 25 EJ per year used globally for these purposes. This practice is highly polluting. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that cooking-related pollution causes 3.8 million annual deaths. The United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 7 aims for

4815-454: The European and North American forest carbon stock is increasing, it simply takes too long for harvested trees to grow back. Bioenergy from sources with high payback and parity times take a long time to have an impact on climate change mitigation. They therefore suggest that the EU should adjust its sustainability criteria so that only renewable energy with carbon payback times of less than 10 years

4922-470: The North East's heavy manufacturing industries. The Board agreed to this subject to being compensated. The architects were Jeff King and Dennis Merritt of Clifford, Tee and Gale. The architectural critic Reyner Banham was scathing of the design: 'less a brick cathedral than a concrete bunker... obsession with ribbed surfaces and forceful projections that have their origins in brutalism'. Costain constructed

5029-579: The Renewable Energy Directive (RED) and other legal documents are based on life cycle assessments (LCA's). The spatial boundaries define "geographical" borders for carbon emission/absorption calculations. The two most common spatial boundaries for CO 2 absorption and emission in forests are 1.) along the edges of a particular forest stand and 2.) along the edges of a whole forest landscape, which include many forest stands of increasing age (the forest stands are harvested and replanted, one after

5136-457: The UK OXY CCS project) was shortlisted for the UK government's CCS scheme and in late 2013 was awarded a two-year FEED contract (Front End Engineering Design) for the CCS project. As of June 2014, Drax is engaged in a joint venture with Alstom and BOC to build a 626 MW oxygen-fuelled combustion power station adjacent to the existing Drax site. National Grid would simultaneously construct

5243-476: The US in 2014 (60% overall of all US wood pellet export), a large factor in a 40% yearly increase in biomass export from that country; US sourced imports represented 58% of Drax's biomass use in 2014, with 22% from Canada. A port facility in Baton Rouge, Louisiana was completed by April 2015. In mid-2015 Drax reached an agreement with Peel Ports to construct a 3 million ton per year biomass importation facility at

5350-410: The additional CO 2 from biomass "[...] is irrelevant if the biomass is derived from sustainably managed forests." Control room A control room or operations room is a central space where a large physical facility or physically dispersed service can be monitored and controlled. It is often part of a larger command center . A control room's purpose is production control , and serves as

5457-421: The air as they grow. However, the establishment and cultivation of bioenergy crops can displace natural ecosystems , degrade soils , and consume water resources and synthetic fertilisers. Approximately one-third of all wood used for traditional heating and cooking in tropical areas is harvested unsustainably. Bioenergy feedstocks typically require significant amounts of energy to harvest, dry, and transport;

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5564-405: The bigger trees grow large), and trees removed to reduce wildfire risk. The extraction level of logging residues differ from region to region, but there is an increasing interest in using this feedstock, since the sustainable potential is large (15 EJ annually). 68% of the total forest biomass in the EU consists of wood stems, and 32% consists of stumps, branches and tops. The by-products from

5671-596: The biomass burners as opposed to the coal burners. Drax will invest £400,000 into the project. The company, C-Capture, is a side company of the Department of Chemistry established at the University of Leeds . This would yield about 1-tonne (1.1-ton) of CO 2 stored per day from the process, which could be sold on for use in the drinks industry. The pilot scheme was launched in February 2019. The capture of carbon from biomas burners

5778-441: The calculation, for instance carbon absorption going on in the forest before the initial harvest. Sometimes "late" events are included as well, for instance emissions caused by end-of-life activities for the infrastructure involved, e.g. demolition of factories. Since the emission and absorption of carbon related to a project or scenario changes with time, the net carbon emission can either be presented as time-dependent (for instance

5885-444: The calculation, if any. Changed market conditions can lead to small or large changes in carbon emissions and absorptions from supply chains and forests, for instance changes in forest area as a response to changes in demand. Macroeconomic events/policy changes can have impacts on forest carbon stock. Like with indirect land use changes, economic changes can be difficult to quantify however, so some researchers prefer to leave them out of

5992-470: The calculation. The chosen system boundaries are very important for the calculated results. Shorter payback/parity times are calculated when fossil carbon intensity, forest growth rate and biomass conversion efficiency increases , or when the initial forest carbon stock and/or harvest level decreases . Shorter payback/parity times are also calculated when the researcher choose landscape level over stand level carbon accounting (if carbon accounting starts at

6099-450: The calculation. Most researchers include emissions from direct land use change, for instance the emissions caused by cutting down a forest in order to start some agricultural project there instead. The inclusion of indirect land use change effects is more controversial, as they are difficult to quantify accurately. Other choices involve defining the likely spatial boundaries of forests in the future. The efficiency-related boundaries define

6206-656: The change would reduce its earnings by £30 million. The claim was rejected by the High Court in February 2016. In December 2016 the European Competition Commission approved UK government subsidies for the conversion of the third unit to biomass burning. Biomass (energy) The climate impact of bioenergy varies considerably depending on where biomass feedstocks come from and how they are grown. For example, burning wood for energy releases carbon dioxide. Those emissions can be significantly offset if

6313-401: The coal burned was from local collieries in Yorkshire, including Kellingley Colliery , Prince of Wales, Ackton Hall , Sharlston Colliery , Fryston Colliery , Askern Colliery and Bentley Colliery . Following the miners' strike in the mid-1980s, by 2006, all but Kellingley had closed. (Kellingley closed at the end of 2015.) UK Coal had a five-year contract to supply coal, which ended at

6420-691: The company intended to become a predominately biomass-fuelled energy producer. By April 2013 financing for the scheme include £190 million through sale of shares, £100 million from Prudential / M&G UK Companies Financing Fund, £50 million from the UK Green Investment Bank , and £75 million Friends Life (underwritten by HM Treasury ), as well as a £400 million credit facility. As of 2013 there were plans to install 1 million tonne per year wood pellets pelletizing plants at Morehouse Parish , Louisiana , and Gloster, Mississippi , which would be shipped by road and rail to

6527-404: The construction of storage structures and conveyors for the wood pellet fuel. Each unit will consume about 2.3 million tonnes of biomass yearly, requiring an estimated annual total of 7.5 million tonnes in 2017. This is equivalent to two-thirds of Europe's entire energy biomass consumption in 2010, and requires 1,200,000 ha (4,600 sq mi; 12,000 km) of forest to supply on

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6634-504: The construction of the CCS project. The main transport route to the power station for fuel (originally coal) is train via a 4.5-mile (7.2 km)-long freight-only section of the former Hull and Barnsley Railway , from the Pontefract Line at Hensall Junction. A balloon loop rail layout is used so that wagons of coal do not need to be shunted after being unloaded. Merry-go-round trains are used, so that wagons can be unloaded without

6741-419: The control equipment is intended to control other items in the surrounding facility, these often fire-resistance rated service rooms require many penetrations for cables. Due to routine equipment updates, these penetrations are subject to frequent changes, requiring maintenance programs to include vigilant firestop management for code compliance. Due to the sensitive equipment in control room cabinets, it

6848-494: The displacement factor will start to rise. On the other hand, if or when new baseload energy sources with lower emissions than fossil fuels start to come online, the displacement factor will start to drop. Whether a displacement factor change is included in the calculation or not, depends on whether or not it is expected to take place within the time period covered by the relevant scenario's temporal system boundaries. The economic boundaries define which market effects to include in

6955-455: The dominant conversion driver. The basic alternatives are torrefaction , pyrolysis , and gasification , these are separated principally by how far the chemical reactions involved are allowed to proceed. The advancement of the chemical reactions is mainly controlled by how much oxygen is available, and the conversion temperature. Torrefaction is a mild form of pyrolysis where organic materials are heated to 400–600 °F (200–300 °C) in

7062-483: The drier coal, which means that the amount of CO 2 emitted per unit of produced heat will be higher. Many biomass-only combustion facilities are relatively small and inefficient, compared to the typically much larger coal plants. Further, raw biomass (for instance wood chips) can have higher moisture content than coal (especially if the coal has been dried). When this is the case, more of the wood's inherent energy must be spent solely on evaporating moisture, compared to

7169-421: The drier coal, which means that the amount of CO 2 emitted per unit produced heat will be higher. This moisture problem can be mitigated by modern combustion facilities. Forest biomass on average produces 10-16% more CO 2 than coal. However, focusing on gross emissions misses the point, what counts is the net climate effect from emissions and absorption, taken together. IEA Bioenergy concludes that

7276-529: The end of 2009, from Kellingley, Maltby and, until its closure in 2007, Rossington . Coal was also brought from Harworth Colliery until it was mothballed, and was supplied by Daw Mill in Warwickshire . The foreign coal was brought via various ports by rail. In c.2007 GB Railfreight won a contract to move coal brought from the Port of Tyne , celebrated by the company naming one of their locomotives Drax Power Station in 2007. DB Cargo UK haul coal from

7383-581: The energy usage for these processes may emit greenhouse gases. In some cases, the impacts of land-use change , cultivation, and processing can result in higher overall carbon emissions for bioenergy compared to using fossil fuels. Regarding the issue of climate consequences for modern bioenergy, IPCC states: "Life-cycle GHG emissions of modern bioenergy alternatives are usually lower than those for fossil fuels ." Consequently, most of IPCC's GHG mitigation pathways include substantial deployment of bioenergy technologies. Some research groups state that even if

7490-418: The first three be proceeded with for the time being. Ground work for these three units, known at the time as 'Drax First Half', started in 1967. Two units were synchronised to the grid in 1973, and the third in 1974. Although authorised, the second half of the project – known as 'Drax Completion' – was deferred, because during the project's gestation the Board's energy mix policy shifted to working towards

7597-483: The governing party's 2015 election manifesto . As a result, Leigh Hackett, CEO of Capture Power stated that "[I]t is difficult to imagine its continuation in the absence of crucial government support". In May 2018, Drax announced a new carbon capture and storage pilot scheme that it would undertake in conjunction with the Leeds-based firm, C-Capture. The focus of this pilot will be on capturing carbon post combustion from

7704-473: The harvest rather than at the planting event.) Conversely, longer payback/parity times are calculated when carbon intensity, growth rate and conversion efficiency decreases , or when the initial carbon stock and/or harvest level increases , or the researcher choose stand level over landscape level carbon accounting. Critics argue that unrealistic system boundary choices are made, or that narrow system boundaries lead to misleading conclusions. Others argue that

7811-944: The long term, and compare investments in new bioenergy technologies with investments in other renewable energy technologies that only provide emission reductions after 2030, for instance the scaling-up of battery manufacturing or the development of rail infrastructure. Forest carbon emission avoidance strategies give a short-term mitigation benefit, but the long-term benefits from sustainable forestry activities provide ongoing forest product and energy resources. Most of IPCC's GHG mitigation pathways include substantial deployment of bioenergy technologies. Limited or no bioenergy pathways leads to increased climate change or shifting bioenergy's mitigation load to other sectors. In addition, mitigation cost increases. Carbon positive scenarios are likely to be net emitters of CO 2 , carbon negative projects are net absorbers of CO 2 , while carbon neutral projects balance emissions and absorption equally. It

7918-662: The molecules of which biomass is composed, and many of these can be harnessed. In most cases, microorganisms are used to perform the conversion. The processes are called anaerobic digestion , fermentation , and composting . Fermentation converts biomass into bioethanol, and anaerobic digestion converts biomass into renewable natural gas ( biogas ). Bioethanol is used as a vehicle fuel. Renewable natural gas—also called biogas or biomethane—is produced in anaerobic digesters at sewage treatment plants and at dairy and livestock operations. It also forms in and may be captured from solid waste landfills. Properly treated renewable natural gas has

8025-504: The near complete absence of oxygen. Biomass pyrolysis produces fuels such as bio-oil, charcoal, methane, and hydrogen. Hydrotreating is used to process bio-oil (produced by fast pyrolysis) with hydrogen under elevated temperatures and pressures in the presence of a catalyst to produce renewable diesel, renewable gasoline, and renewable jet fuel. Gasification entails heating organic materials to 1,400–1700 °F (800–900 °C) with injections of controlled amounts of oxygen and/or steam into

8132-438: The nearby ports of Hull and Immingham , and from Hunterston Terminal on the west coast of Scotland . In 2021, all coal supplies to Drax Power Station and commercial electricity generation from coal ended in accordance with the plan to end coal fired generation announced in 2020 which will see Drax transition to biomass ahead of the deadline to phase out coal from the UK energy system. The station tested co-firing biomass in

8239-681: The north and south of the station. They are made of reinforced concrete, in the typical hyperboloid design, and each have a base diameter of 92 m (302 ft). The station was the third-largest coal-fired power station in Europe , after Bełchatów Power Station in Poland, and Neurath Power Station in Germany. It produces around 24 terawatt hours (TWh) (86.4 petajoules ) of electricity annually. Although it generates around 1,500,000 tonnes of ash and 22,800,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide each year, it

8346-458: The only universally applicable approach to carbon accounting is the one that accounts for both carbon emissions and carbon removals (absorption) for managed lands (e.g. forest landscapes.) When the total is calculated, natural disturbances like fires and insect infestations are subtracted, and what remains is the human influence. IEA Bioenergy state that an exclusive focus on the short-term make it harder to achieve efficient carbon mitigation in

8453-459: The order of 40 years". The minimum requirement was for providing 'full load for weekdays, over a spell of 3 months' with an availability over 85%. Weekend operations were expected to be between 50–100% of full power. Despite this intent for baseload operation, it was designed with a reasonable ability for load-following , being able to ramp up or down by 5% of full power per minute within the range of 50–100% of full power. The power station also has

8560-740: The original biomass energy. Basically the mass part has shrunk more than the energy part, and the consequence is that the calorific value of torrefied biomass increases significantly, to the extent that it can compete with coals used for electricity generation (steam/thermal coals). The energy density of the most common steam coals today is 22–26 GJ/t. There are other less common, more experimental or proprietary thermal processes that may offer benefits, such as hydrothermal upgrading (sometimes called "wet" torrefaction.) The hydrothermal upgrade path can be used for both low and high moisture content biomass, e.g. aqueous slurries. Pyrolysis entails heating organic materials to 800–900 °F (400–500 °C) in

8667-438: The other, over as many years as there are stands.) A third option is the so-called increasing stand level carbon accounting method. The researcher has to decide whether to focus on the individual stand, an increasing number of stands, or the whole forest landscape. The IPCC recommends landscape-level carbon accounting. Further, the researcher has to decide whether emissions from direct/indirect land use change should be included in

8774-408: The pools and return to the forest via the atmosphere (X axis). As described above, the carbon payback time is the time it takes for the harvested carbon to be returned to the forest, and the carbon parity time is the time it takes for the carbon stored in two competing scenarios to reach the same level. The static carbon emission value is produced by calculating the average annual net emission for

8881-555: The port of Baton Rouge , Louisiana then shipped in 50,000-tonne cargo ships to UK. In the financial report for 2013, Drax announced that an additional 2 million tons pelletisation capacity was being considered, likely to be built in the US. In 2013 the company signed an agreement with Associated British Ports to develop handling facilities at the Hull , Immingham and Grimsby ; construction of automated facilities began in 2013, creating capacities of 3 and 1 million tonnes per year at

8988-402: The ports of Immingham and Hull respectively, adding to the 1.4 million tonne per year Port of Tyne biomass facility built in 2009. In the same year a new design covered rail wagon with high volumetric capacity for transporting the low density biomass pellets was unveiled for use by Drax in the UK; 200 wagons of the type were ordered. At Drax pellets would be stored in domes, and transferred by

9095-618: The project is concluded. Control rooms are typically found in installations such as: Control rooms are usually equipped with elaborate fire suppression and security systems to safeguard their contents and occupants, and to ensure continued operation in emergencies. In hazardous environments, they may also be areas of refuge for personnel trapped on-site. They are typically crowded with equipment, mounted in multi-function rack mount cabinets to allow updating. The concentration of equipment often requires special electrical uninterruptible power supply (UPS) feeds and air conditioning . Since

9202-478: The project too financially risky, plus drops in the company's share price due to the same uncertainty had reduced Drax's ability to raise funds. Front End Engineering Design was expected to continue under Alstom and BOC with the project still being hosted at Drax. In late 2015 the UK Government withdrew its potential financial support for CCS projects – up to £1 billion of funding, reversing support promised in

9309-463: The same amount of energy. The displacement factor varies with the carbon intensity of both the biomass fuel and the displaced fossil fuel. If or when bioenergy can achieve negative emissions (e.g. from afforestation, energy grass plantations and/or bioenergy with carbon capture and storage ( BECCS ), or if fossil fuel energy sources with higher emissions in the supply chain start to come online (e.g. because of fracking, or increased use of shale gas),

9416-409: The same uses as fossil fuel natural gas. The climate impact of bioenergy varies considerably depending on where biomass feedstocks come from and how they are grown. For example, burning wood for energy releases carbon dioxide; those emissions can be significantly offset if the trees that were harvested are replaced by new trees in a well-managed forest, as the new trees will absorb carbon dioxide from

9523-600: The scenarios. In addition to the choice of alternative scenario, other choices has to be made as well. The so-called "system boundaries" determine which carbon emissions/absorptions that will be included in the actual calculation, and which that will be excluded. System boundaries include temporal, spatial, efficiency-related and economic boundaries. For example, the actual carbon intensity of bioenergy varies with biomass production techniques and transportation lengths. The temporal boundaries define when to start and end carbon counting. Sometimes "early" events are included in

9630-453: The six boilers, set within a cylindrical 'wind shield', also of reinforced concrete. The topmost elements, the three cap rings of the flues which extend above the wind shield, are of cast iron. When finished, the chimney was the largest industrial chimney in the world, and is still the tallest in the United Kingdom. The chimney's dimensions, including the height, were dictated by a design total capacity of 5,100 m/s of gases at 26 m/s. As

9737-508: The space. Some control rooms are themselves under continuous video surveillance and recording, for security and personnel accountability purposes. Many control rooms are occupied on a " 24/7/365 " basis, and may have multiple people on duty at all times (such as implementation of a " two-man rule "), to ensure continuous vigilance. Other special-purpose control room spaces may be temporarily set up for special projects (such as an oceanographic exploration mission), and closed or dismantled once

9844-478: The station was designed and constructed prior to the CEGB's commitment to Flue Gas Desulphurisation, extensive measures were made to limit acid attack from 'sulphurous condensate' , namely the lining of the flues with a fluoroelastomer , and coating of the upper 29 m (95 ft) of the external surfaces with a mix of acid-resisting tiles and said fluoroelastomer. The twelve 114 m (374 ft) tall natural draft cooling towers stand in two groups of six to

9951-437: The summer of 2004, and in doing so was the first power station in the UK to be fuelled by wood. The initial trial of 14,100 tonnes of willow was locally sourced from nearby Eggborough. Since the trial, the station's use of biomass has continued. It uses direct injection for firing the biomass, whereby it bypasses the pulverising mills and is either injected directly into the boiler or the fuel line, for greater throughput. In 2009

10058-473: The sustainability debate should be made explicit by researchers, rather than hidden away. GHG emissions per produced energy unit at the point of combustion depend on moisture content in the fuel, chemical differences between fuels and conversion efficiencies. For example, raw biomass can have higher moisture content compared to some common coal types. When this is the case, more of the wood's inherent energy must be spent solely on evaporating moisture, compared to

10165-527: The traditional use of biomass for cooking to be phased out by 2030. Short-rotation coppices and short-rotation forests are also harvested directly for energy, providing 4 EJ of energy, and are considered sustainable. The potential for these crops and perennial energy crops to provide at least 25 EJ annually by 2050 is estimated. Food crops harvested for energy include sugar-producing crops (such as sugarcane ), starch -producing crops (such as maize ), and oil-producing crops (such as rapeseed ). Sugarcane

10272-462: The train stopping as it passes through an unloading house. On average, there are 35 deliveries a day, 6 days a week. The power station also has a jetty (see § Jetty ) – imports via the jetty ended c.1980 – in 2004 the jetty was trialled for the import of Tall Oil by barge. In its original form, the station had a maximum potential consumption of 36,000 tonnes of coal a day. In 2011, it consumed 9.1 million tonnes of coal. This coal came from

10379-452: The trees that were harvested are replaced by new trees in a well-managed forest, as the new trees will remove carbon dioxide from the air as they grow. However, the farming of biomass feedstocks can reduce biodiversity , degrade soils and take land out of food production. It may also consume water for irrigation and fertilisers . Biomass (in the context of energy generation) is matter from recently living (but now dead) organisms which

10486-585: The vessel to produce a carbon monoxide and hydrogen rich gas called synthesis gas or syngas. Syngas can be used as a fuel for diesel engines, for heating, and for generating electricity in gas turbines. It can also be treated to separate the hydrogen from the gas, and the hydrogen can be burned or used in fuel cells. The syngas can be further processed to produce liquid fuels using the Fischer-Tropsch synthesis process. A range of chemical processes may be used to convert biomass into other forms, such as to produce

10593-552: The wide range of results shows that there is too much leeway available and that the calculations therefore are useless for policy development. EU's Join Research Center agrees that different methodologies produce different results, but also argue that this is to be expected, since different researchers consciously or unconsciously choose different alternative scenarios/methodologies as a result of their ethical ideals regarding man's optimal relationship with nature. The ethical core of

10700-473: The wood processing industry are called wood processing residues and consist of cut offs, shavings, sawdust, bark, and black liquor. Wood processing residues have a total energy content of 5.5 EJ annually. Wood pellets are mainly made from wood processing residues, and have a total energy content of 0.7 EJ. Wood chips are made from a combination of feedstocks, and have a total energy content of 0.8 EJ. The energy content in agricultural residues used for energy

10807-436: The workers. Ergonomic considerations determine the placement of humans and equipment to ensure that operators can easily move into, out of, and around the control room, and can interact with each other without any hindrances during emergency situations; and to keep noise and other distractions to a minimum. Control room scenes dealing with crisis situations appear frequently in thriller novels and action films . In addition,

10914-596: Was awarded a renewable contract for difference (CFD) subsidy for biomass based power generation on another converted coal firing unit, but a third unit, which had been previously marked as eligible for CFD funding was excluded; Drax Group then legally challenged the decision, initially obtaining a ruling in its favour, which was overturned in the Court of Appeal . In July 2014 the High Court ruled in Drax's favour. Biomass conversion at Drax led to it requiring 82% of UK biomass imports from

11021-688: Was constructed at Capitol Park, Goole in 2008, opened 2009. Construction of specialised biomass handling facilities began in 2009 at the Port of Tyne and at Drax. In the 2000s Drax Group applied for planning permission to build a new 300 MW power station, fuelled entirely by biomass, to the north of the station; the Ouse Renewable Energy Plant was expected to burn 1,400,000 tonnes of biomass each year, saving 1,850,000 tonnes of CO 2 emissions, and expected to create 850 construction jobs and 150 permanent jobs created once opened, through direct and contract employment. Plans were submitted to

11128-665: Was fitted between 1988 and 1995. The high and low pressure turbines were replaced between 2007 and 2012. By 2010, the station was co-firing biomass. In 2012, the company announced plans to convert three generating units to solely biomass, burning 7.5 million tonnes imported from the United States and Canada. This work was completed in 2016 and a fourth unit was converted in 2018. The company planned to convert its remaining two coal units to Combined Cycle Gas Turbine units and 200 MW battery storage . However, those two coal units were shut in 2021 without converting them to biomass. Drax

11235-399: Was initially conceived by the Central Electricity Generating Board (CEGB) in 1962 as the country's largest power station thus far, at about 3,000 MW. Subsequently, it was decided to use this opportunity as their first station to use the 660 MW turbogenerator sets which were planned to become the new standard, so the planning consents were revised to about 4,000 MW. Following

11342-522: Was not then commercially viable, with costs comparable with nuclear or offshore wind power. On 17 June 2009, Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change Ed Miliband announced plans that would require all UK coal-fired power stations to be fitted with CCS technology by the early 2020s or face closure. In 2012 a CCS project at Drax was shortlisted for government funding. In 2013 the White Rose Carbon Capture and Storage project (formerly

11449-463: Was supplied by E & D Company, PLLC (trading as Engineering System Solutions, ES2) and Dome Technology LLC. By July 2013 one firing unit had been converted, and was reported to be functioning correctly; by 2013 the conversion of the second and third units was scheduled for 2014 and during or before 2016 respectively. The second unit was converted by May 2014, initially co-firing an 85% biomass/coal mix due to limited biomass supply. In April 2014 Drax

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