Investigation on self-sustained combustion, NOx emissions, and ash characteristics of coal slime in a lab-scale fluidized bed

Abstract

Incineration of coal slime in the fluidized bed boiler is an efficient means of energy recovery and environmental protection. In this study, combustion behaviors and NOx emissions of coal slime were studied using a lab-scale fluidized bed reactor. Besides, the fundamental characteristics of coal slime and its ash were explored coupled with a particle size analyzer, X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), automatic specific surface, porosity analyzer, etc. It revealed that the range of 350–640 °C was the main mass loss stage with more than 92% of the total loss during combustion through the thermogravimetric analysis, guaranteeing good burnout performance. The challenges of fluidization and burnout of C-type particles accounting for 36.59% of coal slime were solved by mixing the water with coal slime to enhance its agglomeration and thermal explosion. Through the coupling of multiple operating parameters such as primary and secondary air rate, secondary air height, the oxygen content of flue gas, etc., reasonable furnace temperature and reduction zone distribution can be achieved. In addition, it was found that the migrations of most heavy metals are correlated with the proportion of fine particles in coal slime during combustion. The high content of alkaline substances of coal slime leads to a slightly slagging propensity below 900 °C due to the prevention of eutectics formation. Pore analysis implies that bottom ash and fly ash show different trends in the specific surface area and pore volume compared to the coal slime during combustion.