Arche Energy’s Andrew Murdoch managed a trial of wood chip co-firing in a conventional thermal power plant at Swanbank.
Traditional firing burns coal to heat a boiler. Co-firing is when biomass — like Prickly Acacia or Acacia nilotica — is added to the coal and burnt with it. This can be a less expensive alternative to other forms of renewable generation.
Biomass co-firing can also reduce CO2 and sulphurous emissions as biomass contains significantly less sulphur than coal does.