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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.

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.

Coal blends are commonly used in thermal power plants and oxy-fuel combustion also attracts great concerns recently. However, little has been done on oxy-fuel combustion of coal blends. In this paper, combustion tests are performed in a drop tube furnace for various coal blends under O2/CO2 mixtures, which are also reproduced numerically. Strong combustion interactions between the parent coals in a blend are observed. The ignition of the low-volatile coal is promoted due to the rapid combustion of the volatiles from the high-volatile coal. However, the char burnout of the low-volatile coal is compromised due to the rapid O2 consumption by the large amount of volatiles. The interactions under oxy-fuel conditions are more sensitive to the excess O2, inlet oxidizer temperature and coal particle size. 1) The increase in the excess O2 tends to weaken the combustion interactions, in which both the ignition promotion and burnout inhibition effects on the low-volatile coal become less apparent. 2) The increase in the inlet oxidizer temperature further promotes the ignition of the low-volatile coal whereas weakens the burnout inhibition of the low-volatile coal. 3) The effects of reducing particle size on the combustion interactions are similar to those of increasing inlet oxidizer temperature. Since biomass often contains a high volatile content, the findings may shed light on the synergistic effects in oxy-fuel co-combustion of biomass and coal.

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.

Down-fired boilers are commonly used to burn low-rank coals for power generation. However, they often have operational problems such as low char burnout and high NOx emissions. This paper comprehensively investigates how to mitigate such problems in a 300 MWe down-fired utility boiler burning a low-volatile coal by optimizing the staged-air windbox structure. First, experiments and simulations are conducted on a 1:1-scaled model of the staged-air windbox to study the cold air flow in the original and two new windbox structures for understanding the effect of different staged-air windbox structures. Then, combustion simulations are performed for the utility boiler to further study the influence of the newly designed staged-air windboxes on the boiler performance, based on which the optimization scheme of the staged-air windbox in the boiler is more reliably concluded. Finally, the utility boiler is retrofitted by using a newly designed staged-air windbox. Performance tests are made for the boiler before and after the retrofit. The new staged-air windbox is confirmed to greatly improve the performance of the utility boiler, e.g., NOx reduction by 20.7% and thermal efficiency increase by nearly 2 percentage points (from 88.76% to 90.48%) at full load. The idea of the new staged-air windbox design can be readily implemented into down-fired boilers of this kind for more efficient and environmentally friendly firing of low-rank coal for heat and power generation.

To assure stable ignition and combustion of low-volatile coals in conventionally configured boilers, storage systems are commonly used to separate the ground coal from the air or gas and evaporated moisture prior to the combustion process, and the stored ground coal is then transported by hot air to the combustion process. This study is to develop a novel combustion system, in order to facilitate the firing of different types of coals in existing conventional corner-fired boilers originally configured for low-volatile semianthracite-firing and to improve the boiler performance. Numerical simulation, boiler retrofit and full-scale performance test are conducted. After successful demonstration in a 330 MWe semianthracite corner-fired utility boiler, the novel combustion scheme is implemented in retrofit of two other similar boilers. The simulation and full-scale performance test on all the three boilers show that the use of the new combustion system achieves a significant reduction in NOx emissions and a remarkable increase in boiler efficiency whereas induces no side effect in operation. After retrofit, these boilers can also readily accommodate low-volatile semianthracite (the design coal) and high-volatile bituminous coal (the retrofit coal), largely improving the coal flexibility.

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.

Co-combustion of sludge with coal is a promising sludge disposal approach. In this study, three different combustion models, including different turbulent gas-phase combustion and char surface combustion sub-models, were employed to simulate the combustion and emission characteristics of co-combusting sludge with coal in a 100 MW tangentially coal-fired utility boiler. By comparison of the numerical results from different combustion models to a set of full-scale coal–sludge co-combustion field experiments, a precise and suitable computational fluid dynamic (CFD) model was finally developed. The comparison result demonstrated that the finite-rate/eddy-dissipation model together with the multiple-surface-reaction model, which have carefully considered the effect of high moisture content on the fuel ignition and char combustion processes, were competent in modeling the characteristics of coal–sludge co-combustion. On the basis of the developed numerical model, the ignition, char burnout, and NOx emission cha...

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.

Maintaining stable combustion is one of the major challenges for microscale combustors. In this study, a novel premixed CH4/air flame micro-combustor combining a flame holder, backward-facing step and preheating channel is developed to enhance the flame anchorage and extend the blow-off limits. The effects of flame holder shape (triangle and rectangle) and height (H = 0.0, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5 and 2.0 mm) on the combustion stability are studied numerically by FLUENT 16.0. The results show that this micro-combustor not only can considerably anchor the flame root owing to flow recirculation but also can further improve CH4 flammability owing to heat recirculation. Compared with the rectangle flame holder, the triangle flame holder achieves the higher blow-off limits owning to the larger recirculation zone and better preheating effect. As the flame holder height increases, (i) the recirculation zone sizes near the flame root decrease, weakening the flame-root anchorage ability, and (ii) the heat recirculation effect becomes stronger, improving CH4 flammability. Under the combined effects of flow recirculation and heat recirculation, the highest flame blow-off limits are attained when H = 0.5 mm. The flame holder with triangle shape and H = 0.5 mm attains the highest flame blow-off limits (10.3 m/s and 6.2 m/s at Φ = 0.7 and 0.5).