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A novel Swiss-roll micro-combustor with double combustion chambers is proposed to improve flame stability and extend blow-off limits. This study is aimed to numerically investigate the effect of solid material (i.e., SiC, stainless steel and copper) on premixed CH4/air flame blow-off limit and reveal the flame stability mechanism. The simulated results show that this developed novel Swiss-roll micro-combustor not only can significantly anchor the flame owing to the flow recirculation behind the flame holders and the backward-facing steps, but also can further extend CH4 blow-off limits owing to heat recirculation in the long Swiss-roll preheating channels. The three solid material micro-combustors present the relatively slight difference in the recirculation-zone size but the remarkably difference in heat recirculation and heat loss. Good heat recirculation and low heat loss rate are the dominant reason that is responsible for the differences of the blow-off limits in this micro-combustor. The stainless steel micro-combustor achieves the highest blow-off limits while the copper micro-combustor achieves the lowest blow-off limit. These deep insights can give some useful information to design a similar Swiss-roll micro-combustor.

Blending coal combustion technology is commonly used in coal-fired power stations, and the combustion interactions (i.e., the ignition promotion and burnout inhibition) during blended coal combustion affect their combustion characteristics. The combustion interactions under conventional air-fuel condition have been well studied. Oxy-fuel firing considerably differs from air-fuel combustion and the combustion interactions of blended coals in O2/CO2 atmospheres have been investigated in our previous research. However, the H2O concentration in actual oxy-fuel condition is relatively high, which may influence the combustion interactions. This study further investigates the effect of H2O on the combustion characteristics and interactions of blended coals in O2/H2O/CO2 atmospheres. The results show that adding H2O into the oxy-fuel atmosphere remarkably affects the combustion characteristics with the more notable ignition delay, faster burnout and better comprehensive combustion characteristics (CCI). In addition, the presence of H2O strengthens the ignition promotion, the burnout inhibition and the comprehensive interactions, resulting in the more obvious non-additive behaviors of CCI. In O2/H2O/CO2 mixtures, enhancing the H2O/CO2 ratio slightly strengthens the ignition promotion, the burnout inhibition, and the comprehensive interactions, which increases the non-additive behaviors of CCI. Furthermore, both of increasing O2/H2O or O2/CO2 ratios significantly weaken the ignition promotion, strengthen the burnout inhibition and the comprehensive interactions, which increases the non-additive behaviors of CCI. The findings shed light on the interaction effects observed during blended coal combustion in O2/H2O/CO2 mixtures, which can provide useful information to improve the combustion characteristics of the blended coals in the real oxy-fuel atmospheres.

Coal blending is an effective method to reduce the slagging tendency. The mineral transformation within blended coal ashes has an important influence on the slagging behaviors, which have been well studied under conventional air-fuel condition. Oxy-fuel combustion is recognized as one of the most promising CO2 reduction technologies. However, the mineral transformation within blended coal ashes in oxy-fuel condition has yet to be fully understood. This work is aimed to comprehensively study the influence of CO2 atmosphere on Ca-containing mineral transformation behaviors during a Ca dominated coal co-firing with a Si/Al dominated coal in O2/CO2 condition by TG-DSC, XRD and HSC simulation. These results show that the atmosphere significantly affects on the transformation of Ca-containing mineral and the final existing form of Ca in the blended coal ashes. When the high content Ca coal is blended with the high content Al/Si coal in the O2/CO2 atmosphere, the CO2 promotes the transformation of Ca into CaCO3 and Ca under low temperature mainly exists in the form of CaCO3 (little CaSO4) in the blended coal ashes. CaCO3 under high temperature is decomposed to produce highly active CaO, and CaO reacts with Al/Si to form the low melting point minerals, which may aggravate the slagging tendency. The present study can provide useful information to reduce the slagging behavior of the blended coals in the O2/CO2 atmosphere.

A novel combustion system, consisting of moving fuel-lean nozzles from the arches to the front/rear walls, rearranging staged air, and introducing separated over-fire air (SOFA), has been proposed and successfully applied in a 600 MWe Foster Wheeler down-fired boilers to reduce high NOx emissions while limiting the carbon content in the fly ash. This study comprehensively evaluates the effect of SOFA angles on flow, combustion characteristics and NOx emissions for the novel combustion system by numerical simulation and in-situ experiment. The numerical simulation shows in acceptable consistence with the in-situ experiment. The simulated results show that significant NOx reduction is obtained for all five SOFA angles compared to the original combustion system. O2 and CO concentrations at the furnace outlet, as well as the carbon content in the fly ash decrease significantly with increasing SOFA angle from 0° to 40°. NOx emissions increase slightly and the average temperature at the re-heater entrance changes slightly with the increase of SOFA angle from 0° to 30°. However, with further increasing SOFA angle from 30° to 40°, NOx emissions increase substantially due to the smaller reducing region below the SOFA and the average temperature at the re-heater entrance falls significantly. Taking combustion, NOx and steam parameters into account, a SOFA angle of 30° is advisable. The actual industrial measurements also show that the steam can achieve the designed values when the SOFA angle is set at 30° instead of 40°. Significant NOx reduction (over 50 %) and good performance are attained after adopting the novel combustion technology of 30 °SOFA angle.

The combination of oxy-fuel and blended-coal combustion may be one of these effective methods to both reduce CO2 emissions and improve energy utilization efficiency in coal-fired power stations. The aim of this study is to investigate oxy-fuel combustion interactions of blended coals under different conditions using a thermo-gravimetric analyzer. The results show that compared with those in an O2/N2 mixture, the promotive and inhibitive effect and the comprehensive interactions are considerably weaker in an O2/CO2 mixture. In the O2/CO2 mixture, both increasing the O2 concentration and decreasing the particle size result in decreasing the promotive effect but increasing the inhibitive effect and the comprehensive interactions, which increase the non-additive combustion characteristics. Enhancement of the heating rate increases the promotive effect but decreases the inhibitive effect and the comprehensive interactions, which weaken the non-additive combustion characteristics. Of these factors, the effects of the oxygen concentration and heating rate on comprehensive interactions are greater than that of particle size. This study provides useful information for the design and optimization of thermo-chemical conversion systems of coal blends in the O2/CO2 atmosphere.

Interactions, known as the ignition promotion and burnout inhibition, exist during the combustion of blended coals in the air. The oxy-fuel conditions influence these interactions due to the change of the gas physical properties and the gasification reaction. However, little research has focused on the oxy-fuel combustion interactions of blended coals. To investigate the combustion interactions of blended coals in an O2/CO2 atmosphere, experimental and numerical studies of the mixed combustion of less- and more-volatile coals are performed in a drop tube furnace. The results show that the more-volatile coal combustion brings the promotive effect on the devolatilization of the less-volatile coal and the inhibitive effect on the char combustion of the less-volatile coal. Compared with that in the air, the promotive effect is weaker, but the inhibitive effect is stronger in the 21%O2/79%CO2 environment due to the different physical properties of the gases. In the O2/CO2, increasing the oxygen concentration increases the promotive effect but weakens the inhibitive effect owing to the change of the physical properties of gases and the reactivity improvement of the less-volatile coal char. In addition, the promotive and inhibitive effects achieve a level similar to that in the air when the oxygen concentration is increased to approximately 30–35%. Furthermore, the char-CO2 gasification reaction in the O2/CO2 has little impact on the promotive effect but weakens the inhibitive effect. Increasing the reactor wall temperature weakens both the promotive effect and the inhibitive effect.

A novel idea is proposed to improve the SO2 tolerance of low-temperature selective catalytic reduction (SCR) catalysts by using a RHO zeolite membrane to separate NO from SO2 to reduce the contact between SO2 and the SCR catalysts. RHO zeolite membranes were prepared on a macroporous stainless steel tube. The results from XRD and SEM measurements indicated that the crystals on the surface were pure RHO zeolites and a uniform and continuous layer of RHO zeolite membrane covered the surface of the support. Permeation measurements using different feed gases indicated that the prepared RHO zeolite membrane could effectively separate NO from SO2. A maximum NO/SO2 selectivity of 36.14 was obtained when using NO/SO2/N2 mixtures. The SO2 permeation decreased a lot in the present of water. Surface diffusion and activated diffusion were believed to be the main transport mechanisms of the RHO zeolite membrane.

Gas temperature deviation is a common problem for tangentially fired boilers, affecting the boiler operation safety and the boiler generation efficiency. The gas temperature deviation in the tangentially fired π-type boilers has been well studied. However, the gas temperature deviation in the tangentially fired tower-type boilers has yet to be fully understood. This paper develops insights into the causes and controlling strategies of gas temperature deviation in a 660 MW tangentially fired tower-type boiler with obvious steam temperature deviation by experiment and simulation. Firstly, four upper furnace structures are established to fully reveal the causes of gas temperature deviation. The gas temperature deviation is mainly caused by the flue gas rotation, the heating tubes division, and the suction effect of the induced draft fan. More evident recirculation is observed near the right side than the left side in the platen heater region, resulting in that the flue gas deflects to the left side, and the left side region presents higher temperature. Furthermore, the controlling strategies of gas temperature deviation are studied comprehensively by adjusting SOFA (Separated Over-fire Air) horizontal angle and setting SOFA left–right-side velocity offset. Properly SOFA horizontal angle or enhancing the left-side SOFA velocity may effectively reduce the gas temperature deviation. 34–45° for the SOFA horizontal angle and 1.2 for the SOFA left–right-side velocity ratio are recommended. In the actual operation, offsetting the SOFA left–right-side velocity (i. e. SOFA air damper opening degree: left side—80% and right side—50%) is successfully applied to reduce the re-heated steam temperature deviation from 18 K to 1 K without bringing adverse effects under the low load. These deep insights may provide useful information to control the steam temperature deviation in the platen heater zone.

As a highly toxic element of coal, arsenic (As) is mainly converted into As2O3 vapor during coal combustion. Mineral oxides are effective and abundant sorbents to control As2O3 emissions. In this paper, the characteristics of As2O3 adsorption by mineral oxides were studied in a two-stage reactor, and the density of states, adsorption sites, and adsorption energies for the adsorption reaction were investigated using molecular simulation. The results demonstrate that CaO is an excellent As2O3 sorbent. The As2O3 adsorption effect of CaO, MgO, and Al2O3 was found to become better with increasing temperature within the range of 300–900 °C. The order of As2O3 adsorption at 300–700 °C follows CaO > Fe2O3 > Na2O > MgO > Al2O3 > SiO2, and SiO2 hardly adsorbs any As2O3. At 900 °C, the melting of Na2O and Fe2O3 greatly reduces their As2O3 adsorption capacity. The O atoms in Na2O/CaO/MgO/Al2O3/SiO2 and the Fe atoms in Fe2O3 are the adsorption active sites for As2O3. The order of the calculated adsorption energy follows Fe2O3 > Na2O > CaO > Al2O3 > MgO > SiO2, and the As2O3 adsorption involves chemical adsorption. The adsorption products are Ca3(AsO4)2, FeAsO4, AlAsO4, etc., for which As exists in the form of As3+ and As5+, with As3+ transformed into As5+ with increasing adsorption temperature.

The burner tilt angle has a significant influence on the combustion characteristics of a furnace, but few studies have focused on this topic. In this study, a numerical model was developed and validated to investigate the effect of the burner tilt angle on the combustion and NOX emission characteristics of a 700 MWe pulverized-coal-fired boiler with deep-air-staging technology. The turbulence, heat transfer and chemical reactions in the furnace were reproduced in detail by the model. Deep insight into the effects of burner tilt angle on combustion and NOX emission characteristics was acquired. The results show that the turbulence intensity in the burnout zone of furnace increases as the burner tilt angle increases, leading to a significant increase in the reaction rate of CO combustion. Hence, the level of CO emission is continuously reduced. The char burnout rate changes little with increasing burner tilt angle since the kinetic reaction rate and oxygen diffusion rate increase while the particle residence time decreases. The NOX emission increases as the burner is tilted farther upward because of an enhancement in fuel NO formation and a decrease in NO reburning. This study provides useful guidelines for improving the performance of deep-air-staged tangentially coal-fired boilers.

The Melut Basin is an important petroliferous rift basin in Africa, and a large number of structural hydrocarbon accumulations of the Paleogene Yabus and Samma Formations have been discovered in it. However, there are few published research results and exploration discoveries on stratigraphic hydrocarbon accumulations in the Melut Basin. Based on information from the evaluation of the lithology assemblage, oil-source, migration pathway, preservation condition and the detailed analysis of typical exploration cases, the favorable exploratory interval, formation conditions and accumulation characteristics of the stratigraphic hydrocarbon accumulations have been studied in the northern Melut sub-basin. The sedimentary facies study indicated that the Upper Yabus Formation developed widespread delta front deposits with the lithology assemblage of “sand wrapped by mud”, which was conducive to forming depositional stratigraphic traps dominated by facies change or depositional pinchout. The Adar Formation is a set of mudstone deposition with a thickness of 200–600 m above the Yabus Formation and well sealed the Yabus and Samma hydrocarbon accumulations as the regional top seal. The parameters of organic matter, and the thickness and distribution of source rocks showed that the Al Renk Formation has good source rock quality with an average TOC value of 2.08% wt. and type II kerogen prone to oil generation. The thermal modelling revealed that the Al Renk source rocks continuously generated and expelled hydrocarbon since the Late Cretaceous to the present and provided sufficient oil source for the Upper Yabus stratigraphic traps. The tectonic evolution research showed that the multi-stage rifting cycles made the Melut Basin develop numerous normal faults, which provided essential vertical migration pathways for the hydrocarbon charging of the Paleogene stratigraphic traps. Among these faults, the basinal border faults and the intra-basinal late-rifting faults are the primary hydrocarbon conduit faults. The details of exploration cases showed that the hydrocarbon conduit faults are the key controlling factors for the formation of the Upper Yabus stratigraphic hydrocarbon accumulations, and the stratigraphic traps jointly dominated by lithology change (depositional pinchout) and hydrocarbon conduit faults have low hydrocarbon filling risk. The sandstones of the Upper Yabus Formation are shallow (700–2500 m) and have high porosity with a value of greater than 20% and high oil production of a few hundred to more than 1000 barrels per day. Therefore, the Upper Yabus Formation develops favorable petroleum geology conditions for the formation of stratigraphic hydrocarbon accumulations, and exploring such stratigraphic traps is of great significance to the increasing exploration in the mature northern Melut sub-basin.

Mineral oxides are effective in-furnace sorbents used to control lead (Pb) emissions in flue gas at high temperatures. In this paper, the PbO/PbCl2 adsorption characteristics of sorbents were investigated via experimental and density functional theory (DFT) methods. The results show that Si/Al-based compounds can chemically adsorb Pb, and the adsorption is related to the Si-O and Al-O bonds in the sorbents. Exposed Si and O atoms on SiO2 surfaces and exposed Al and O atoms on Al2O3 surfaces are the active sites for Pb adsorption, and PbO is easier to remove than PbCl2. Pb adsorption is promoted in a mixture of SiO2 and Al2O3. Doping Si atoms into Al2O3(100) promotes PbO adsorption, and doped three-coordinate Si atoms have a more obvious promotion effect than doped two-coordinate Si atoms. Doping Al atoms into SiO2(001) has no obvious effect on PbO adsorption. The effect of temperature on Pb adsorption was studied by thermodynamic analysis. The Gibbs free energy difference for PbO adsorption on SiO2(001) increases from −373.04–32.42 kJ/mol as the temperature increases from 300 to 1800 K. High-temperature calcination changes the bond length and bond angle of the system, affecting the stabilities of atomic configurations and decreasing the Pb adsorption capacity.

Coal combustion is one of the major pathways by which arsenic enters the ecological environment. An effective method to control arsenic emissions in-furnace is to transform the arsenic from a vapour to fly ash particles using mineral sorbents. However, flue gas components have a significant effect on gas-phase arsenic adsorption, which limits the industrial application of mineral sorbents. In this paper, the effect mechanism of flue gas components (NaCl/HCl/SO2/CO2) on gas-phase arsenic adsorption over different mineral oxide sorbents was investigated. The results demonstrate that the order of arsenic adsorption is CaO > MgO/Fe2O3> NaCl > Al2O3 > SiO2. NaCl promotes the arsenic adsorption of CaO above 800 °C, and the arsenic removal efficiency of CaO with 5 % NaCl is 52.51 % at 900 °C. NaCl inhibits the arsenic adsorption of MgO and Fe2O3, and promotes arsenic adsorption by Al2O3 and SiO2. Acid gases inhibit arsenic adsorption by the sorbents and the order of the inhibition intensity of acid gases at 700 °C is HCl > SO2 > CO2. The active sites (CaO, FeO, or AlO bonds) in the sorbents are the main reaction sites for arsenic adsorption, and captured arsenic is in the form of AsO21- and AsO43-.

Coal combustion is one of the major pathways by which lead (Pb) enters the ecological environment. An effective method to control Pb emissions in a furnace is to transform the Pb from vapors to particles using Si-Al-based sorbents. However, the high price, poor thermal stability, and difficult molding of sorbents limits their application. Fly ash cenospheres (FACs) prepared from the waste of coal-fired power plants, which are mainly composed of SiO2 and Al2O3, are ideal materials for Pb sorbents because of their high strength, light weight and low price. In this study, the adsorption and reaction mechanisms of FACs and several Si-Al-based sorbents for Pb vapors were investigated in a two-stage fixed-bed reaction system, and the thermal stability and regeneration characteristics of FACs were tested. The results indicate that the adsorption capacity for Pb vapors is FAC > kaolin > SiO2 > γ-Al2O3. The acidic sites, such as Si-O and Al-O bonds in FACs, were the main reaction sites for Pb adsorption and captured Pb in the form of stable Pb compounds (Pb2+). As the temperature increased from 700 to 1200 °C, the Pb adsorbed by FACs increased, and 55.21% of the Pb in the simulated flue gas was removed at 1200 °C. Kaolin is an excellent sorbent for Pb vapors. The adsorption capacity of kaolin for Pb first increases and then decreases with increasing temperature, and the maximum removal rate occurs at 1000 °C, reaching 33.46%. In addition, FACs are thermally stable and reusable. Therefore, the high-temperature application of FACs to remove Pb vapors has good prospects.

A novel combustion system has been applied to a 600 MWe down-fired boiler to reduce NOx emissions without producing an obvious increase in the carbon content of fly ash. The system mainly includes moving fuel-lean nozzles from the arches to the front/rear walls, and re-arranging the staged air, as well as introducing separated-over-fire air (SOFA). This paper evaluates the effects of the SOFA locations (on the arches, on the throat, and on the upper furnace) on the combustion and NOx emissions characteristics using simulations. The numerical results are in good agreement with the measured results. Compared to the original combustion system, significant NOx reduction (approximately 50%) is found for all three SOFA location settings. Taking economic efficiency and NOx emissions into account, the SOFA on the upper furnace is adopted in the actual modification, and no negative effects are observed.

Sodium, calcium, sulfur and chlorine in the flue gas of coal-fired boilers are the main cause of ash deposition/fouling in heat exchangers. However, there are still many debates on the mechanism of ash deposition/fouling due to the lack of direct micro evidence. This paper aims to clarify the initial deposition/fouling characteristics of a high-alkali coal by computer-controlled scanning electron microscopy (CC-SEM). The results demonstrate that temperature has an influence on the deposition/fouling compounds. The crystalline compounds in the samples at 900 °C were mainly CaSO4 and Ca2Al2SiO7, while the compounds in the samples at 500 °C were mainly NaCl. Sulfur had a significant adsorption effect on sodium and calcium at 900 °C, while chlorine had a significant adsorption effect on sodium at 500 °C. A 3-layer microstructure of deposition/fouling was found after the samples were stripped by molecular force. Additionally, deposition/fouling could be divided into three stages: the formation of sodium salt precursors, the growth of loose structural aluminosilicates and the adhesion of particulates on the surface. Sulfates, especially Na2SO4 and CaSO4 formed a precursor for the initial deposition/fouling of high-alkali coal.