Coal water fuel test at Maritime Electric Company Limited's Charlottetown plant

Until satisfactory combustion of coal-water fuel has been demonstrated at a large enough scale, utilities and industries which might use coal-water fuel are generally not in a position to switch. Energy, Mines and Resources Canada therefore has undertaken a program with the objective of demonstrating the technology to the point where users can assess with confidence the economics, know-how and equipment for converting to coal-water fuel. The first major demonstration was initiated to demonstrate the preparation and combustion of coal-water fuel in two utility boilers at Chatham which were originally designed to burn coal. Its results have prompted the continuation of the program with the testing of burners and a demonstration in a 20 MWe compact oil-designed utility boiler. There boilers were selected as the most suitable for continuation of the program to demonstrate coal-water fuel in an electric utility boiler designed to burn oil. EPRI has been invited to participate in this project and has agreed to provide a quantity of coal-water fuel from the US for testing and evaluation in the boiler. It is expected that the Charlottetown demonstration will give a much better understanding of the techniques, economics and environmental impact of operating an oil-designed utility boilermore » on coal-water fuel as well as more reliable information on derating and the ability to predict derating on other units. 7 references, 2 figures.« less