Biomass Co-firing : A Viable Solution to Coal Shortage and Stubble Burning : Daily Current Affairs

Relevance: GS-3: Economic Development, Biodiversity and Environment.

Key Phrases: Cofiring, biomass, coal boilers, non-torrefied biomass, SAMARTH, National Power Training Institute.

The unavailability of biomass pellets of agricultural residues is emerging as a dampener in implementing the Union Power Ministry’s direction to co-fire biomass with coal in thermal power plants.

China is the largest coal-producing country in the world.
The 5 biggest exporters of coal are Australia, Indonesia, Russia, United States and South Africa.
India is the second largest producer of coal in the world.

Biomass is the fuel developed from organic matter waste of living organisms like plant waste, animal waste, forest waste, and municipal wastes.

Torrefaction is a thermal conversion method of biomass used to produce a high-quality solid biofuel that can be used for combustion, gasification, and additional non–energy-related applications.

Co-firing is a low-cost option for efficiently and cleanly converting biomass to electricity by adding biomass as a partial substitute fuel in high-efficiency coal boilers.
Reduces emissions of carbon dioxide:
- Co-firing biomass with coal offers several environmental benefits.
- Co-firing reduces emissions of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas which can contribute to the global warming effect.
Reduce emissions of sulfurous gases:
- Biomass contains significantly less sulfur than most coal.
- This means that co-firing will reduce emissions of sulfurous gases such as sulfur dioxide that will then reduce acid rain.
Cut emissions from the thermal power:
- The biomass co-firing can help cut emissions from the thermal power sector by 90-180 million tonnes by 2030, replacing 50-100 million tonnes of coal.

Around 95,000-96,000 tonnes of biomass pellets are required per day for co-firing, according to the ‘National Mission on use of biomass for coal thermal power plants’ set up by the Union Power Ministry.
India’s pellet manufacturing capacity is 7,000 tonnes per day at present despite a surplus 228 million tonnes of agricultural residue available in the country.
Biomass demand of industries escalated since the Commission for Air Quality Management in National Capital Region and Adjoining Areas directed industries in Delhi-National Capital Region to switch to cleaner fuels by end of September 2022.
To date, 36 Gigawatts of coal-based thermal power capacity in the country have successfully co-fired biomass. But several of these plants have only carried out trial-runs and are in the process of required modifications and upgrades in the plant to accommodate biomass co-firing at 5-10 per cent.
Several coal-based power generators such as Jindal India Thermal Power Ltd, Nabha Power Ltd, Hiranmaye Energy, Gujarat State electricity Corporation Ltd (GSECL) etc., have issued tenders for supply of biomass offering, a seven-year contract to successful bidders to ensure a long-term continuous supply of biomass.

In order to reduce stubble burning and to reduce carbon footprint of thermal power plants while increasing the income of farmers, the government has established the National Mission on Use of Biomass in Thermal Power Plants.
For overall monitoring of the Mission and to facilitate the Mission on inter-ministerial issues/constraints, a Steering Committee under the chairmanship of Secretary, Ministry of Power (MoP) has been constituted.
Under this mission, advertisement, awareness campaign and training activities are actively being pursued.
With this mission, agro-residue/ biomass, earlier considered as a waste product, has now begun to produce zero-carbon electricity for the citizens of the country.
In turn farmers are getting additional income by selling the stubble/ biomass for conversion into torrefied/ non-torrefied biomass pellets.

Lack of robust Infrastructure:
- Substituting 5-7 per cent of coal with biomass in coal-based power plants can save 38 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions, however, the existing infrastructure is not robust enough to turn this into reality.
Huge Demand supply Gap:
- Pellet suppliers favour selling their product to industries such as textile, food processing, metal based or in open market at Rs 12-13 per kilogram (even higher in some places in Punjab), instead of supplying it to coal thermal power plants at the offered price of Rs 8-9 per kg.
- This huge gap is also due to the seasonal availability and unreliable supply of biomass pellets to the utility.
- Nearly 0.25-0.3 million tonnes of biomass pellets are required to generate 1 GW of electricity at 7 per cent co-firing, according to the power ministry’s policy on biomass utilisation.
Lack of continuous and reliable supply:
- A survey of the power plants in Delhi-NCR revealed that there are apprehensions among power plant operators about the continuous and reliable supply of biomass.
Storage challenge:
- It is challenging to store biomass pellets for long durations at the plant sites since they absorb moisture from air quickly, rendering them useless for co-firing.
- Typically, only pellets with up to 14 per cent of moisture can be used for combustion along with coal.

The ‘National Mission on use of Biomass in coal-based thermal power plants’, also called SAMARTH - Sustainable Agrarian Mission on use of Agro-residue in Thermal Power Plants - has shared a list of 70-80 pellet manufacturers with the power plants.
The government has stressed on increasing the capacity of pellet manufacturers and in this regard, several trainings for pellet manufacturers have been conducted by the National Power Training Institute all over the country.
In order to further strengthen and regulate the supply chain, the manufacturers were also asked to be registered under SAMARTH.
To enhance co-firing, process changes such as creation of separate bunkers for feeding biomass into the mill for crushing is being promoted.

Biomass co-firing is an effective way to curb emissions from open burning of crop residue; it also decarbonises the process of electricity generation using coal.
Mapping of existing manufacturers and incentivising entrepreneurs to set up more pellet manufacturing plants need to be explored by SAMARTH.
The mission also needs to ensure the price of biomass pellets is capped and protected from fluctuations in market demand.
Finally, and perhaps most importantly, platforms need to be established to ensure farmers have an intrinsic role in this business model of pellet manufacturing and co-firing in power plants.

Mains Question:

Q. What is biomass co-firing? Can it offer a viable solution to coal shortage and stubble burning in India? Discuss (250 words).