Effects of Bed Material Type and Fuel Ash Composition on Layer Formation and Bed Agglomeration in Thermo-chemical Conversion of Biomass and Waste Streams in Fluidized Beds

The role of fluidized beds is increasingly important for challenging and ash-rich fuels, such as fast-growing biomass and waste streams. From a biomass perspective, the relatively homogeneous woody-type fuels are most commonly used in fluidized beds today whereas the fuel feedstock for waste streams is more heterogeneous. A key issue in enabling a broader fuel feedstock for existing and planned fluidized beds is how the fuel ash interacts with bed materials of different types during combustion or gasification. The resulting bed particle coating, layers, and cracks formed in bed grains are responsible for bed agglomeration and bed material deposition mechanisms, but studies have suggested that there is a possibility to affect melting temperatures of bed ash and reduce interaction between fuel ash and bed material through additives or by fuel blend design. Furthermore, it is of interest to extend the life-time of bed materials in the reactor to reduce the amount of material that is generated as waste streams, as well as increase the timespan between bed replacements.The aim of this review is therefore to summarize some of our previous research in this topic, to discuss current knowledge concerning layer formation and bed agglomeration mechanisms, address the benefit for different bed materials, and discuss how fuel ash composition can be used to reduce bed agglomeration issues. This is achieved by comparing studies from different combustion and gasification facilities using different biomasses as well as agricultural residues and waste streams. In particular, the possibility of using fuel blend design to reduce interaction of fuel ash with bed material will be highlighted. Using such approaches, coupled with a fundamental understanding of how differences between bed materials affect layer formation mechanisms, has the potential to reduce operational issues caused by interactions between fuel ash and bed materials as well as increase the potential fuel feedstock.