Numericalassesment of deosit sintering for coal-biomas co-combustion

Abstract

Biomass as a single fuel is still unable to satisfactorily replace coal as an energy resource in terms of thermal efficiency. Co-firing of biomass in existing coal-fired utility boilers is the immediate solution for reducing CO2emissons. However, ash deposit is a major problem to biomass-fired power generators. In this paper, a numerical slagging index based on ash fusibility, viscosity and chemistry have been employed. The results of predictions correlate with the reported experiment data for Russian coal-biomass blends, while results of predictions using south afrrican coal show significant inconsistencies with the experiment data on most of the tested biomass. The findings of this numerical assessment provide a generic numerical technique of assessing the slagging potential of coal/biomass blends in boilers.