University of Minnesota-Duluth’s Natural Resources Research Institute produce coal replacement

In Minnesota, after 10 years of research, the University of Minnesota-Duluth’s Natural Resources Research Institute delivered solid results this fall. As in solid biofuels. By the ton.

Starting at the bench scale in 2003 and fiddling with mixture after mixture, NRRI is now able to produce solid biofuels that perform at comparable energy values to coal in fossil coal-burning facilities. The biofuel emissions have no heavy metal pollutants and greatly reduced sulfur levels. As an added benefit, the biomass feedstock can be invasive plants, woody and agricultural waste, secondary wood species, and beetle-killed wood resources.

NRRI envisions this to be a supplement to fossil coal that helps reduce harmful coal emissions to meet state and federal mandates while minimizing new capital requirements at existing power and industrial plants.