Life Cycle Emissions and Cost of Producing Electricity from Coal, Natural Gas, and Wood Pellets in Ontario, Canada
Abstract
The use of coal is responsible for (1)/(5) of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Substitution of coal with biomass fuels is one of a limited set of near-term options to significantly reduce these emissions. We investigate, on a life cycle basis, 100% wood pellet firing and cofiring with coal in two coal generating stations (GS) in Ontario, Canada. GHG and criteria air pollutant emissions are compared with current coal and hypothetical natural gas combined cycle (NGCC) facilities. 100% pellet utilization provides the greatest GHG benefit on a kilowatt-hour basis, reducing emissions by 91% and 78% relative to coal and NGCC systems, respectively. Compared to coal, using 100% pellets reduces NO(x) emissions by 40-47% and SO(x) emissions by 76-81%. At $160/metric ton of pellets and $7/GJ natural gas, either cofiring or NGCC provides the most cost-effective GHG mitigation ($70 and $47/metric ton of CO2 equivalent, respectively). The differences in coal price, electricity generation cost, and emissions at the two GS are responsible for the different options being preferred. A sensitivity analysis on fuel costs reveals considerable overlap in results for all options. A lower pellet price ($100/metric ton) results in a mitigation cost of $34/metric ton of CO2 equivalent for 10% cofiring at one of the GS. The study results suggest that biomass utilization in coal GS should be considered for its potential to cost-effectively mitigate GHGs from coal-based electricity in the near term.
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“This would account for differences in the efficiencies of conversion systems for biomass to energy compared to fossil fuels to energy (Zhang et al., 2010).”
Background
- Authors
- Zhang, Y., McKechnie, J., Cormier, D., Lyng, R., Mabee, W., Ogino, A., & MacLean, H. L.
- Affiliations
- National Agriculture and Food Research Organization (JP)
- Corresponding author
- MacLean, Heather L.
- Venue
- Environmental Science & Technology
- Publisher
- American Chemical Society (ACS)
- Published
- 2009-12-04
- Volume
- 44
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 538-544
- ISSN
- 0013-936X (ISSN-L)
- 1520-5851
- OpenAlex
- W2090189841
- Cited by
- 227
- References
- 17
- Citations by year
- 2026: 9 · 2025: 8 · 2024: 12 · 2023: 7 · 2022: 6 · 2021: 6 · 2020: 7 · 2019: 12 · 2018: 14 · 2017: 25 · 2016: 17 · 2015: 26 · 2014: 20 · 2013: 15 · 2012: 24
- FWCI
- 6.73
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Environmental Science & Technology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Ministry of Natural Resources
- Kementerian Sumber Asli dan Alam Sekitar
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Energy › Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment › Renewable energy and sustainable power systems
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Mechanics of Materials › Forest Biomass Utilization and Management
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Environmental Engineering › Environmental Impact and Sustainability
- Keywords
- wood pellets, coal-fired power plants, natural gas combined cycle, life cycle emissions, greenhouse gas emissions reduction, NOx emissions, SOx emissions, criteria pollutants, electricity generation costs, biomass substitution, Ontario
- MeSH terms
- Coal, Electricity, Fossil Fuels, Ontario, Wood
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