Power station ‘hell fuel’ fury (From York Press)

Power station ‘hell fuel’ fury

11:37am Saturday 25th November 2006 in News By Gerran Grimshaw

COUNCILLORS have slammed plans to continue burning a "fuel from hell" at Drax Power Station, saying there is no longer an economic case for it.

The Environment Agency has approved plans to extend an 18-month trial burning of petcoke by a further six months, to June, 2007.

Selby District Council's environment board met representatives from Drax and the Environment Agency on Thursday to discuss the trials.

They were commissioned last June to look at the environmental effects of burning petroleum coke - a by-product of the American petrochemical industry.

Green campaigners have dubbed petcoke the "fuel from hell" due to its high sulphur content, which causes acid rain. It also contains the heavy metal nickel, which is carcinogenic, and the irritant vanadium.

Coun Chris Metcalfe, Selby's environment chief, said: "We don't think there is an economic argument for burning petcoke anymore.

"We think Drax and the Environment Agency should shelve their plans. When the trials were first agreed a couple of years ago, Drax said they needed to be able to burn petcoke to be economically viable.

"They had invested a lot of capital in flue gas deionisation equipment and said this made them cleaner than other power stations, so they should be allowed to burn petcoke, which is cheaper than coal.

"But now more power stations have this equipment fitted and the energy markets are very different.

"Drax is in better financial shape now, so it doesn't need to burn petcoke.

"As far as we're concerned, it is a dirty fuel with some nasty components in it. And we don't know what the long-term health effects of burning it may be for residents."

Ian Foster, the Environment Agency's industry regulator, said there was no evidence from the trials to show there was an increased risk to human health or to the environment.

But he said more data was required before they could make a final decision about the trial's impact.

"We have analysed a considerable amount of data and it shows that while some emissions such as Nitrogen Oxide has risen, other emission levels have fallen," he said.

"What is not clear though is whether this is linked to burning petcoke.

"We agreed for the trial to be extended so that we can see whether the changes are due to the effect of petcoke, or as a result of different types of coal being burnt with the petcoke, or as a result of the combustion process itself."

A Drax spokeswoman said: "The thing to remember is that we operate in a highly competitive market, subject to large fluctuations commodity prices.

"It's a good market place to be in at the moment, but it goes in cycles and we have to plan ahead for the bad times.

"Now is the time to invest in new fuel trials and equipment. We need to protect ourselves against the peaks and the troughs by giving ourselves a range of materials to use to optimise performance.

"As for the long-term health effects, the trials have actually shown a reduction in sulphur dioxide emissions."