Abstract
The cocombustion of coal and pinus sawdust waste is an economically viable and sustainable option for increasing the share of biomass in energy production. This technology also has the potential to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases from existing coal fired power plants. The thermal synergistic effects of cocombusting Hwange bituminous coal (HC) with Pinus sawdust (PS) were thus investigated using thermogravimetric analysis. Fuel blending mass ratios of 100HC, 90HC10PS, 80HC20PS, 70HC30PS, and 100PS under an oxidative atmosphere at three different heating rates of 5, 12.5, and 20 °C/min were used for the experimental setup. Zero to negative synergy was generally observed for the mass loss curves (TG) at different blending ratios. Generally positive synergy was observed with relation to rate of mass loss curves (DTG) for the 80HC20PS and 70HC30PS fuel blends only. The ignition index increased with blending ratio by an average of 42.86%, whilst the burnout index showed a maximum increase of 14.6% at 20 °C/min. However, the combustion index representative of stability showed a decreasing trend generally for all the heating rates. No combustion index produced a linear variation with temperature, though upon evaluation, an optimum mass ratio of 20% pinus sawdust was suggested. The chosen optimum blending ratio demonstrated increased ignition and burnout indexes whilst maintaining the stability of combustion at a reasonable range.
Highlights
The timber industry in Zimbabwe is reported to be generating over 750 kilotons of sawmill waste each year, which possesses an energy potential of around 232 kilotons of oil equivalent [1]
Conclusions is directly proportional to DTGmean, which generally increased with blending and inBlending of Hwange bituminous coal and which
The effect of volatile cloud formation vs. char reaction seemed to sway in the favor of char reaction mainly because the effect of temperature on diffusivity
Summary
The timber industry in Zimbabwe is reported to be generating over 750 kilotons of sawmill waste each year, which possesses an energy potential of around 232 kilotons of oil equivalent [1]. Surveys showed how large timber mills only utilize 10% of the sawdust for their process boilers and lumber drying kilns, leaving the remainder to be stockpiled [3,5]. These sawdust waste stockpiles end up decomposing or in most cases succumbing to spontaneous combustion, which are generally considered as extreme forms of environmental pollution or hazards [3]
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