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APS is sponsoring a pyrolysis demonstration project to research the potential for a biodiesel fuel source, a renewable fuel for power plant co-firing and for carbon sequestration with the char used as a fertilizer supplement. The 1/2 ton per day pilot-scale pyrolysis demonstration project is being conducted in partnership with the University of Arizona and Northern Arizona University.
The design basis for the small pyrolysis demonstration unit is three portable skid-mounted systems that can be taken into farm fields and remote forest areas to process biomass waste materials (e.g., forest thinning biomass, crop wastes, manure piles, municipal green wastes, etc.) into products with higher intrinsic value (e.g., bio-oils and a bio-char fertilizer supplement). The University of Arizona hopes to document some of the benefits of using the char, including a reduction in the amount of irrigation water needed per crop cycle, reduced chemical fertilizer usage, and consequently various reductions in nitric oxide air emissions and a reduced potential for nitrate pollution of the aquifers.
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