Understanding particle adhesion of sewage sludge incineration ash at high temperatures: Effect of physical characteristics

Abstract

Ash particle adhesion at high temperatures in thermochemical processes is a serious problem, and adhered ashes cause operational problems for processing plants, resulting in inefficient and unstable operation. A major mechanism of adhesion is the formation of a liquid phase due to melting of the ash components with low melting points, which results in a liquid bridge force, which is an attractive force. Therefore, the chemical characteristics of the ashes have been carefully studied to understand the adhesion phenomenon. However, each ash is also characterized by its physical properties such as particle size and packing ability. In this study, we focused on the physical characteristics of sewage sludge incinerated ashes collected from commercial incineration plants and carefully examined their relationship to adhesion. We found good correlations between particle size or porosity of the powder bed and adhesiveness at both ambient temperature and 800 °C. Understanding particle adhesion based on physical characteristics is simpler than considering complicated chemical characteristics and is useful for predicting particle adhesion at high temperatures.