Emissions of PM10 from the co-combustion of high-Ca pyrolyzed biochar and high-Si coal under air and oxyfuel atmosphere

Abstract

The single or co-combustion experiments of high-Ca pyrolyzed biochar and high-Si coal were carried out on a drop tube furnace (DTF) at 1300 °C under air and oxyfuel (CO2:O2=50:50, oxy50) conditions. The produced PM10 (of an aerodynamic diameter of 10 µm or less) was analyzed to investigate the interactions during co-combustion. Due to the characteristics of the selected samples (low S and Cl), the PM1 emissions including PM0.1 and PM0.1–1 are very low during single combustion, except for the PM0.1–1 emission during the combustion of biochar under oxy50 condition because of the massive partitioning of Mg, Ca and Fe. The interaction during co-combustion was observed to mainly occur in the generation of PM1–10, and also slightly occur in the formation of PM0.1–1 under oxy50 condition. The capture of Mg, Ca, and Fe from biochar by the Si-containing minerals in coal under the oxy50 condition results in a slight decrease in PM0.1–1 during co-combustion. The higher the proportion of coal blended, the more obvious the reduction of elements. As for the formation of PM1–10 during co-combustion, high-melting minerals of biochar would weaken the coalescence of minerals in coal to cause more PM10, while the large mineral grains of coal would capture the minerals in biochar to generate more PM10+. Under the competition of the above two types of interactions, the experimental value of PM1–10 yields was almost consistent with the theoretically calculated value, except for blended ratio of 80:20 (coal: biochar, air) or 50:50 (oxy50) with prior interaction predominating.