Development and testing of a commercial-scale coal-fired combustion system: Phase 3, Quarterly progress report No. 9, October 1, 1992--December 31, 1992

Abstract

In the commercial sector, oil and natural gas are the predominant fuels used to meet space-heating needs of schools, office buildings, apartment complexes, etc. These buildings generally require firing rates of 1 to 10 million Btu/hr. Objective of this program is to demonstrate the technical and economic viability of a coal-fired combustion system for this sector. The commercial-scale coal-water slurry (CWS)-fired space heating system is a scale-up of a CWS-fired residential warm-air heating system developed by Tecogen Inc. This system included a patented nonslagging combustor known as IRIS (Inertial Reactor with Internal Separation). The combustor concept employs centrifugal forces combined with a staged combustion process to achieve high carbon conversion efficiencies and low N oxides generation. Along with the necessary fuel storage and delivery, heat recovery, and control equipment, the system includes pollution control devices to meet targeted values of SO{sub 2} and particulate emissions. In general, the system is designed to match the reliability, safety, turndown, and ignition performance of gas or oil-fired systems. During the 8th quarter of this program, a demonstration plan was developed for installation and operation of the space heating system at an actual installation. Also, equipment upgrades were implemented and laboratory testing performed to evaluate the performance of the system with these changes.