About the Project
The Chariton Valley Biomass Project is a cooperative effort between the Chariton Valley Resource Conservation and Development Inc., Alliant Energy, Prairie Lands Biomass LLC, and the U.S. Department of Energy. Based in Southern Iowa, the Project’s partners are seeking to demonstrate the technical and commercial feasibility of producing power from locally-grown and harvested renewable fuel resources: switchgrass and other native southern Iowa grasses. More:
Test Firing Success
During the Winter of 2003, project partners executed a one-month test burn of switchgrass with coal at Alliant Energy’s Ottumwa Generating Station (OGS) using a temporary switchgrass processing facility. The objectives of the test were to: 1) operate and optimize the prototype switchgrass processing system at full-scale (12.5 tons of switchgrass per hour), 2) collect detailed air emissions data to assist with air permitting, 3) collect and test ash samples from co-combustion of switchgrass with coal, and 4) evaluate other impacts on operations at the power plant. All objectives of the test burn were achieved. More: