C2B—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, June 13,1981 ~
UNIVERSITY PARK Peat
bogs of the U.S. offer a source of
energy that Europeans find
competitive on a cost basis With
other fossil fuels such as coal and
natural gas.
This “young coal,” as peat is
often called, has been studied as an
alternate to fossil fuels by John W.
White of the Agricultural Ex
periment Station at Penn State. A
plant scientist, he became involved
with energy alternatives while
testing and developing insulating
materials for greenhouses.
“Russia exports oil, gas, and
coal, and has no scarcity of these
resources. At the same tune, the
Russians operate about 76 peat
fired electric power generating
plants,” White said recently.
“We can assume that using peat
in Russian power plants must be
more economical than bringing
coal, oil, or gas into the areas of
peat deposits,” he commented.
Although virtually unexploited
for power in the U.S., peat is the
second largest source of energy in
the nation. White noted. He
claimed peat is used widely to
generate electricity m Finland and
Ireland, as well as Russia.
White has been recognized at
Penn State for his ability to explore
new areas of research. He serves a
dual role as professor of
Floriculture and as associate
director of the Office of Industrial
Research and Innovation.
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Penn State plant scientist looks at peat for fuel '
Peat is found throughout the
U.S., it was noted, but the largest
supplies exist in Alaska (outside of
the- permafrost regions), Min
nesota, Michigan, Florida,
Wisconsin, Louisiana, North
Carolina, Maine, and New York.
“Many of the peat-rich states
have no significant supplies of
other fossil fuels,” White observed,
adding that “countries such as
Finland, Sweden, and Iceland have
no other fossil fuels.”
In its natural state, peat contains
about 90 percent water. The water
content can be reduced to 50
percent or less by drying peat for a
few days. Peat harvested for
power generation in Russia,
Finland, and Iceland is burned at
35 to 55 percent moisture content.
Experiments are underway to
use peat as fuel in the U.S. A study
made for First Colony Farms of
Creswell, North Carolina,
examined large-scale peat har
vesting for power generation. The
results showed that it Is technically
and economically profitable to
produce peat for fuel at 35 to 50
percent moisture with air drying.
White said the peat bogs of the
U.S. contain some S 3 million acres
of this product. World peat
resources are estimated to exceed
the energy equivalent of 1800
billion barrels of oil.
Burning this fuel would not
destroy peat sources used widely
in the U.S. as soil conditioners in
the field of horticulture. Peat is of
three types, it was explained, and
the kind used to improve soil—
fibnc peats formed from spagnum
and other mosses—is not suited for
fuel.
The most burnable type is hemic
peat—formed from reeds, sedges,
swamp plants, and trees. Such
peat has a higher heating value
than fibnc peat. The third type
sapnc peat. Thoroughly
posed, sapric peat burns poorly on
generating power.
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The Penn State scientist cautions
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large-scale use of peat for fuel use of peat can improve produc
should be evaluated first for its tivity of land. Relatively few of the
effect upon the environment, as peatlands in the U.S. are
with development of any alter- productive today except for
native energy source. For removing peat. Harvested -
example, the harvesting plan v peatlands can be used to grow
should include control of surface some crops, Dr. White said, or can
and groundwater flow throughout become wildlife habitats, lakes,
a project area. , pends, and energy farms.
“Peatlands are wetlands. It may In Europe and Canada, har
be desirable to preserve and vested peatlands have been used
protect such wetlands to preserve successfully farming. First
certain unique biological species,” Colony Farms in Creswell, North
he stated, adding that “work must Carolina, mentioned earlier, have
be done to identify such areas.” reclaimed harvested peatlands for
On the other hand, large-scale agricultural uses.
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