Abstract
The influences of biomass constituents, such as lignocellulosic components and minerals, on the combustion of coal/biomass blends are of significant importance in co-firing due to its potential impacts on ignition, flame stability and burnout. In this research, combustion characteristics of pure lignocellulosic elements, Rosewood, Mengxi coal and their blends were studied in detail. The effect of minerals in Rosewood on combustion of biomass/Mengxi coal blends was investigated which revealed reductions in the ignition (≤20 °C), peak (≤12 °C) and burnout temperatures (≤6 °C). The results also demonstrate the existence of interactions between lignocellulosic constituents in the model biomass, which is dominated by the interactions of cellulose-derived products with xylan and lignin respectively which led to ∼8% reduction in char oxidation temperature. The minerals in biomass showed different impacts at different stages of the combustion process, such as inhibition effect during the devolatilization stage, and promotive synergy (mainly due to calcium) on ignition and char oxidation.
Highlights
Biomass is a promising alternative for reducing fossil fuel consumption globally
The higher peak temperatures of model RW (mRW) specify a longer time for complete combustion[40]. These results suggest that cellulose is the main reactive constituent during the devolatilization stage which has a significant influence on ignition and fuel reactivity, whereas burnout temperature is dependent on the decomposition of lignin
It was found that the synergistic effects between xylan-cellulose and cellulose-lignin led to up to 5% non-additive reduction in peak and burnout temperatures
Summary
Biomass is a promising alternative for reducing fossil fuel consumption globally. This is mainly attributed to its renewability a potential to meet a significant portion of global primary energy demand in diverse forms, i.e. a solid, liquid or gaseous fuel [1]. Numerous studies have been conducted to understand the co-combustion of biomass/coal blends [1, 3,4,5,6,7]. The volatility and thermal behaviour of alkali metals are highly temperature-dependent as some portion of alkali metals in biomass have been observed to be released at temperatures as low as 180 °C [26, 27] This is more significant for sodium, the release of which is around 10% during the torrefaction process at 200-300°C[28]. A simple approach was adopted to understand the influence of biomass organic contents and ash on co-firing. The differences between high-temperature and low-temperature ash samples of biomass and how they affect the behaviour of the fuel blends were investigated
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