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Torrefied wood originating from beetle-killed trees is an abundant biomass fuel that can be co-fired with coal for power generation. In this work, pulverized torrefied wood, a bituminous coal (Sufco coal) and their blended fuel with a mixing ratio of 50/50 wt.%, are burned in a 100-kW rated laboratory combustor under similar conditions. Ash aerosols in the flue gas and ash deposits on a temperature-controlled surface are sampled during combustion of the three fuels. Results show that ash formation and deposition for wood combustion are notably different from those for coal combustion, revealing different mechanisms. Compared to the coal, the low-ash torrefied wood produces low concentrations of fly ash in the flue gas but significantly increased yields (per input ash) of ash that has been vaporized. All the mineral elements including the semi- or non-volatile metals in the wood are found to be more readily partitioned into the PM 10 ash than those in the coal. The inside layer deposits sticking to the surface and the loosely bound outside deposits exposed to the gas both show a linear growth in weight during torrefied wood test. Unlike coal combustion, in which the concentration of (vaporized) ash PM 1 controls the inside deposition rate, wood combustion shows that the formation of porous bulky deposits by the condensed residual ash dominates the inside deposition process. Co-firing removes these differences between the wood and coal, making the blended fuel to have more similar fly ash characteristics and ash deposition behavior to those of the bituminous coal. In addition, results also show some beneficial effects of co-firing coal with torrefied wood, including reduction of the total deposition rate and the minimization of corrosive alkali species produced by wood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A combustion model, originally developed to simulate the destruction of chemical warfare agents, was modified to include C1-C3 fluorinated organic reactions and kinetics compiled by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). A simplified plug flow reactor version of this model was used to predict the destruction efficiency (DE) and formation of products of incomplete combustion (PICs) for three C1 and C2 per- and poly-fluorinated alkyl substances (PFAS) (CF4, CHF3, and C2F6) and compare predicted values to Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy (FTIR)-based measurements made from a pilot-scale EPA research combustor (40–64 kW, natural gas-fired, 20% excess air). PFAS were introduced through the flame, and at post-flame locations along a time-temperature profile allowing for simulation of direct flame and non-flame injection, and examination of the sensitivity of PFAS destruction on temperature and free radical flame chemistry. Results indicate that CF4 is particularly difficult to destroy with DEs ranging from ~60 to 95% when introduced through the flame at increasing furnace loads. Due to the presence of lower energy C-H and C-C bonds to initiate molecular dissociation reactions, CHF3 and C2F6 were easier to destroy, exhibiting DEs >99% even when introduced post-flame. However, these lower bond energies may also lead to the formation of CF2 and CF3 radicals at thermal conditions unable to fully de-fluorinate these species and formation of fluorinated PICs. DEs determined by the model agreed well with the measurements for CHF3 and C2F6 but overpredicted DEs at high temperatures and underpredicted DEs at low temperatures for CF4. However, high DEs do not necessarily mean absence of PICs, with both model predictions and limited FTIR measurements indicating the presence of similar fluorinated PICs in the combustion emissions. The FTIR was able to provide real-time emission measurements and additional model development may improve prediction of PFAS destruction and PIC formation. Implications: The widespread use of PFAS for over 70 years has led to their presence in multiple environmental matrixes including human tissues. While the chemical and thermal stability of PFAS are related to their desirable properties, this stability means that PFAS are very slow to degrade naturally and potentially difficult to destroy completely through thermal treatment processes often used for organic waste destruction. In this applied combustion study, model PFAS compounds were introduced to a pilot-scale EPA research furnace. Real-time FTIR measurements were performed of the injected compound and trace products of incomplete combustion (PICs) at operationally relevant conditions, and the results were successfully compared to kinetic model predictions of those same PFAS destruction efficiencies and trace gas-phase PIC constituents. This study represents a significant potential enhancement in available tools to support effective management of PFAS-containing wastes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The focus of this paper is on effects of chlorine and sulfur on coal ash deposition rates, under practically relevant but systematically controlled combustion conditions. This problem is important, not so much for coal, but to understand and predict deposition rates for biomass combustion where chlorine contents can be high. To this end, ash deposition rates on a controlled temperature surface were measured for controlled amounts of chlorine and sulfur added to a pulverized coal, doped with potassium and burned in a 100 kW rated combustion rig. Previous work with 35 tests on 11 coal, biomass and petroleum coke fuels burned under a range of operating conditions had strongly suggested that the deposition rate of the tightly bound inside deposits was independent of the ash aerosol composition, and depended only on PM 1 in the flue gas. The loosely bound outside deposition rate was dependent primarily on the total alkali content in the flue gas. The new results using chlorine added to the fuel (in the form of ammonium chloride) required these previous conclusions to be drastically revised. They showed that chlorine, not alkali alone, had large effects on the deposition rate of the inside deposits, which now were orders of magnitude higher than without chlorine addition, and did not fit previous (multi-fuel) correlations with PM 1. Sulfur addition, together with chlorine, did not affect deposition rates much, although it did lower the chlorine content of the deposit. These results are interpreted in terms of the ash aerosol size segregated composition, which was also measured, and potential sulfation reactions within the deposit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the urgent needs to reduce anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions there is an increasing interest in the use of alternative fuels. For this reason, there is a need for new knowledge on how to design and adapt existing heat and power plants to biogenic and waste-derived fuels. This work relates to co-firing of biomass and coal and the sulfation of alkali chlorides in coal-fired flames doped with chemical additives. We aim to examine the global time scales of alkali sulfation and chlorination based on combustion experiments that were conducted in a 30-kW coal flame. Temperature, gas and particle composition measurements were conducted. Both experiments and modelling support that the apparent alkali sulfation kinetics are fast in a coal-fired flame and that it is dominated entirely by the presence of SO 2. The availability of oxygen and carbon monoxide, or hydrocarbons, is also critical to sustain the sulfation reaction cycle; low concentrations are sufficient. For industrial boilers this implies that sulfur addition, in combination with reburning, should constitute an efficient strategy to mitigate alkali-chlorination and the related high temperature corrosion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is concerned with the effect of pressure on the particle size distribution and the size-segregated composition of the sub-micron ash aerosol created during oxy-coal combustion under near practical self-sustaining combustion conditions. The problem is important because pressurized oxy-coal combustion has been proposed as one promising technology to minimize CO 2 emissions. Sub-micron ash plays a major role in ash deposition mechanisms, which, in turn, can control boiler performance. In this work, the same bituminous coal was burned at pressures of 1, 8 and 15 bar in O 2 /CO 2 environments. Tests employed a 100 kW (rated) oxy-fuel combustor (OFC) operated at atmospheric pressure (1 bar) and a 300 kW (rated) entrained-flow pressurized reactor (EFPR) at elevated pressures (8 and 15 bar). Although these tests were conducted under near practical combustion conditions, confounding effects of peak flame temperature variations were minimized for the 1 bar and 15 bar tests, allowing the role of elevated pressure to be isolated. For the EFPR tests, a specially designed sampling system was used to sample sub-micron ash aerosols from the pressurized combustor and is described in detail. Results showed that at the same peak temperature but higher pressure, the fractions of ash aerosol partitioned into the PM 0.6 and PM 1 size fractions were greatly diminished. Moreover, elevated pressures caused significant changes in the composition of the (size-segregated) sub-micron aerosol, especially in its alkali content, which increased significantly. Examination of fractions of each element that ended up in the sub-micron fume suggested that, at constant temperature, the effect of pressure on vaporization of semi-volatile metals was very different from that on the release into the gas phase of non-volatile metals and could not be explained by equilibrium. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The future use of coal as a fuel for power generation in the US depends on the availability of financially viable technologies for capture and storage of CO 2 emissions from power plants. Key second-generation candidates for CO 2 capture include high temperature and pressurized oxy-firing of coal, which has the potential to increase efficiency, lower capital costs, avoid air ingress and reduce oxygen requirements. However, unquantified challenges, such as flame behavior, heat transfer, ash transformation, ash deposition and char oxidation, still exist for those technologies. This study specifically focuses on the formation of submicron particles and initial layer ash deposition during high temperature oxy-coal combustion. Previous work has shown that the initial layer deposits are mainly formed of submicron size ash aerosols transported by thermophoresis. Unfortunately, the importance of submicron particle deposition has not received much attention, probably due to the insignificant deposit mass and difficulty in prediction of the submicron particles formation. In this work, models including mineral matter vaporization model, scavenging model and deposition model are developed and applied into a three-dimensional CFD framework to predict the submicron particles formation and subsequent initial layer deposits formation. The model results are comparable to experimental data. The merits of this work are that it has led to the development of a novel approach to predict both submicron particle formation and initial layer ash deposition during oxy-coal combustion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Biomass and waste derived fuels contain large amounts of sodium, potassium, and chlorine that form NaCl and KCl, that is, compounds that cause operational problems, such as slagging, fouling, and high-temperature corrosion. Therefore, alkali chlorides are the main reasons that explain why steam parameters are less advanced and efficient in biomass and waste-based power generation when compared to coal. These problems can be mitigated by introducing sulphur into the system to form alkali sulphates that are not as problematic on steel surfaces as alkali chlorides. However, the alkali sulphation process in realistic combustion environments needs further exploration. Thus, new diagnostic methods for in-situ monitoring of alkali sulphation kinetics in combustion systems are required. In this work, the simultaneous monitoring of KCl and KOH concentrations in a pilot-scale combustor using Collinear Photofragmentation and Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy (CPFAAS) during stationary and transient operation of the combustor, is introduced. The CPFAAS information is complemented by monitoring SO 2 and HCl concentrations using Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The temporal performance of the system is demonstrated by measuring the temporal combustor response curves for KCl sulphation for different Cl/K ratios during rapid changes in gaseous SO 2 concentrations. The temporal concentration curves obtained imply that the Cl/K ratio has a significant impact on the temporal alkali sulphation behaviour. The measurement system described enables further exploration of K–Cl–S chemistry in realistic large-scale power plant environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several experiments to study selective-ion electrode (SIE) determination of hydrogen cyanide under methane-fueled conditions were carried out. Designed to look into the formation of hydrogen cyanide in combustion processes, the experiments involved interference measurements concerning disturbances to the SIE caused by acetylene, ethylene, ethane and methane. The results, which show the interference as a function of acetylene levels in the gas phase, suggests the formation of silver acetylide as the culprit behind the SIE interference.