Kraków scientists will study the processes of biomass burning
PAP © 2012 / Jerzy Undro
How to capture carbon dioxide, effectively burn biomass, what to do with the ashes remaining after burning? Thirteen Polish scientists in EDF Group research and development centre in Kraków are working on finding answers to these questions. It is the fifth facility of its kind established by the international energy company.
Kraków Research and Development Centre was established in 2010, but officially inaugurated in April 2012. For now, the team consists of 13 researchers with various specialisations. In the future, the centre will also employ PhD students.
Scientists working at the Centre focus on four major issues: coal and biomass burning, emissions reduction, carbon dioxide capture and storage, and management of combustion by-products such as ash.
Ised as biomass are various types of fast-growing plants such as willow or millet. The combustion of such material produces heat, which can be processed into other forms of energy. Burning biomass is also more environment-friendly than for example, burning coal, because it involves lower emissions of carbon dioxide and harmful elements, especially sulphur.
"You are burning a lot of biomass, which is very interesting for us. We hope that Polish scientists from the universities in Kraków, Wrocław, will help us understand the combustion processes. Our intention is to work with Polish scientists, engineers and graduate students" - said EDF Senior Executive Vice President Bernard Salha.
"Our ambition is that Poland becomes a source of knowledge about biomass" - told the program EDF’s director responsible for the Nuclear and Heat Energy Efficiency Patrick Morilhat.
He explained that the founders of the Centre want the facility to become involved in the implementation of international research and apply for European funds. AGH already examines the impact of EDF power plant on air pollution. This will tell EDF what to upgrade and what to invest in in order to minimize such pollution.
One of the projects already conducted at the Center is "Ecoalboiler", in which researchers are working to improve the operational efficiency of boilers and reducing the cost of maintaining them.
Although specialists at the Centre are working for the EDF in Poland, their results will be used throughout the world. "Together with Polish scientists we create methods that can be used everywhere in the world, in all our centres" - EDF’s Director for Continental Europe Gerard Roth told Polish journalists.
EDF\'s research centres similar to the Centre in Kraków operate still in the four other countries: France, the UK, Germany and China.
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