PRESENTED BY American Coal Council
IN ASSOCIATION WITH HELLERWORX
2008 Fuel Flexibility
Strategies & Tactics for Coal Consumers
July 29 - 30 ~ Baltimore Inner Harbor ~ Sheraton Inner Harbor Hotel
Utility & industrial coal consumers are faced with an overwhelming number of marketplace, public policy & operational/maintenance factors that affect decisions regarding fuel choice & procurement, technology & equipment choices, & business operations.
The Fuel Flexibility Conference is designed for fuel procurement managers, as well as power plant generators & industrial plant operations & maintenance personnel. The program provides information & resources to help coal consumers make informed decisions regarding their coal source options.-
The new era of global coal convergence has increased demand for U.S. coal in international markets. The resulting pressure on U.S. supply has encouraged generators to look at switching their traditional coal sources. How does a plant determine the viability and economics of using PRB, UT-CO, ILB, NAPP and/or CAPP coals?
-
A power plant that has installed a new scrubber learns that its least cost coal supply is a deep Illinois Basin underground coal source which has a chlorine content that is greater than what the generating unit had specified. Can it burn the coal anyway, blend it, or make plant modifications that allow it to burn the cheaper coal? How does it determine what the cost is of burning the high chlorine coal in terms of plant O&M?
-
A scrubbed unit can burn a higher sulfur coal at a lower delivered fuel cost, but with higher scrubber reagent costs, more ash disposal costs, & perhaps more frequent outages. How does the plant determine the optimal blend of coals to minimize not just delivered fuel costs, but total generation costs?
- A company that is deciding what type of scrubber to install on an existing unit must decide on the range of fuels the scrubbed unit will be designed to burn. To burn high chlorine, high ash, low Btu coals will increase the capital costs associated with the unit, scrubber & SCR. What is the optimal tradeoff between minimizing capital costs while allowing the unit to receive a low cost & reliable blend of coals?









