Challenges in small-scale combustion of agricultural biomass fuels

In the present work, several agricultural biomass fuels, namely straw, Miscanthus,maize whole crop and horse manure mixed with two bedding materials, woodshavings and straw, were reviewed in terms of fuel characteristics. Furthermore,these fuels were tested in several existing boiler technologies and the particulateand gaseous emissions were monitored. The ash was analysed visually in terms ofpresence of sintered material. As expected, all the fuels showed problems withash lumping and slag formation, especially straw and horse manure. Differentboiler technologies showed different operational performance regarding ash andslag management. Miscanthus was the best fuel tested regarding emissions. Maizeand horse manure are problematic fuels regarding NOx and particulate emissions.Due to the big variation of the fuel properties and therefore combustion behaviourof agricultural biomass, further R&D is required to adapt the existing small-scalecombustion systems for these new fuels. Improvements in the combustionchamber design, controlling technology and ash removal systems of small-scalecombustion systems are therefore essential. Godkänd; 2007; Bibliografisk uppgift: CD; 20071204 (joakim)