Pergamon

Energy frox.

Combusr. SCI Vol. 21, pp. 239-268, 1995 Copyright 0 1995 Elsevier Science Ltd Printed in Great Britain. All rights reserved 0361X1285/95 $29.00

0360-1285(95)00005-4

FLUIDIZED BED COMBUSTION OF ALTERNATIVE SOLID FUELS; STATUS, SUCCESSES AND PROBLEMS OF THE TECHNOLOGY
E. J. Anthony
CANMET, 555 Booth St, Oitawa. Ontario. Canada KIA OGl Received 10 May 1995

Abstract-Fluidized bed combustion can be used for energy production or incineration for almost any material containing carbon, hydrogen and sulphur in a combustible form, whether it be in the form of a solid, liquid, slurry or gas. The technology fuel flexibility arises from the fact that the fuel is present in s the combustor at a low level and is burnt in the mass of a thermally inert bed material (typically this is limestone if sulphur capture is required, otherwise sand). However, fuel flexibility must either be built into the design of the combustor or alternatively the FBC system must be tailored for a specific fuel or combination of fuels. In addition, the designer must consider issues like heat release patterns, ash characteristics (particularly if the ash has any potential for agglomeration or fouling of heat transfer surfaces or blockage of the return valve in the case of a circulating FBC) and any special requirements of the fuel such as the need for sulphur or HCI capture. This paper surveys the literature on some of the more important alternative fuels and also makes specific recommendations about problems or major issues with those fuels. Particular attention is given to the use of FBC for petroleum coke, coal wastes, wood pulp sludges, and biomass residues. These fuels are emphasized because of their current economic importance, particularly in North America.
CONTENTS

Acronyms I. Introduction 2. An Overview of FBC Technology 3. Petroleum Coke 3.1. Fuel origin and characteristics 3.2. Full-scale FBC boilers burning petroleum coke 3.2. I. Foster Wheeler boilers 3.2.2. CPC boiler burning petroleum coke 3.2.3. Pyropower experience 3.2.4. JapaneseFBCpetroleumcokeexperience 3.2.5. Asea Brown Boveri (ABB) 3.2.6. Asea Brown Boveri: The Chatham boiler trials 3.2.7. Asea Brown Boveri: The Scott Paper boiler trials 3.2.8. Asea Brown Boveri: Texas New Mexico CFBC 3.3. Gas emissions from petroleum coke 3.3.1. The SO, capture process 3.3.2. NO, formation 3.4. Nitrous oxide emissions from FBC petroleum coke firing 3.5. Corrosion and materials wastage issue with petroleum coke 3.6. Ash agglomeration and fouling problems when burning petroleum coke 3.7. Ash issues for petroleum coke FBC combustion 3.7.1. CFBC ash disposal 4. Coal Mining/Cleaning Wastes 4.1. Installations and experience by country 4. I. I. Australia 4. I .2. Belgium 4. I .3. Canada 4. I .4. China 4.1.5. France 4.1.6. Germany 4.1.7. India 4. I .8. Japan 4. I .9. South Africa 4.1. IO. United Kingdom 4.1. I I United States of America 4.2. General conclusions on the combustion of coal rejects 5. Peat 6. Pulp and Paper Wastes 6.1. Introduction 6.2. Industrial FBC boiler experience on paper sludges firing 239

240 240 240 242 242 243 243 243 243 244 245 245 245 246 246 246 247 248 249 250 250 250 251 251 251 252 252 253 253 255 255 255 256 256 257 257 257 257 257 258

240 Municipal Solid and Industrial Wastes 7. I. Municipal solid wastes 7.2. Industrial waste fuels 8. Sewage Sludge 9. Waste Tyres 10. Agricultural/Food Processing Wastes IO.1. Agricultural wastes 10.2. Food processing wastes 1I. Discussion 12. Conclusion Acknowledgements References 7.

E. J. Anthony 258 258 259 260 260 261 261 262 262 263 263 263
ACRONYMS

Asea Brown Boveria Anthracite Region Independent Power Producers Association ASME American Society of Mechanical Engineers ASR Autoshredder residue BFBC Bubbling fluidized bed combustion BHEL Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd B&W Babcock &Wilcox CANMET Canada Centre for Mineral and Energy Technology CdF Charbonnage de France CFBC Circulating Fluid&d Bed Combustion CIBO Council of Industrial Boiler Owners CPC Combustion Power Company CRIC Centre de Recherche Industrielle du Quebec CSIR Council for Scientific and Industrial Research CSIRO Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization EC European Community EMR Energy, Mines and Resources EPI JWP-Energy Products of Idaho EPRI Electric Power Research Institute ERL Energy Research Laboratories FBC Fluidized bed combustion FGD Flue gas desulphurization HSE Hitachi Shipbuilding & Engineering Company ABB ARIPPA
1. INTRODUCTION

ICAL IEA JTA KHI LHV MCR MHI MSFB MSW NBEPC NISCO PC PCB PCDD/CDF PERD PFBC RDF SNCR TCDD TCLP TDF TVA UBC WRI

International Combustion Africa IEA Coal Research John Thompson Africa Kawashi Heavy Industries Lower Heating Value Maximum capacity rating Mitsui Shipbuilding & Engineering Company Multi solids fluidized bed Municipal solid wastes New Brunswick Electric Power Commission Nelson Industrial Steam Company Pulverized coal Polychlorinated biphenyls Polychlorodibenzo-p-dioxins and polychloridibenzofurans Program on Energy Research and Development Pressurized fluidized bed combustion Refuse derived fuel Selective Non-Catalytic Reduction Tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxins Toxic Characteristic Leachate Procedure Tyre derived fuel Tennessee Valley Authority University of British Columbia Western Research Institute

2. AN OVERVIEW

OF FBC TECHNOLOGY

Alternative fuels cover a very wide range of materials that can react exothermically with air. They include materials like petroleum coke and tyres which have a calorific value equalling or exceeding good quality coals, and others which in many cases require a supplementary fuel in order to bum well, e.g. materials of high water content, such as pulp sludges, or high ash content, up to 60% or more. In addition, these fuels may contain elevated sulphur levels of 6% or more and elements like chlorine which make them problematic to bum in an environmentally satisfactory way. Fluidized bed combustion very often is the best (and only) available combustion technology for such fuels. The fluidized bed combustion system must, of course, be designed to burn the fuels of interest, or be of such a design as to accept a wide range of fuels. The present survey examines experience in the use of FBC on the more important existing alternative fuels.

Several FBC technologies are currently available or are under development for the combustion of coal and alternative fuels. The two basic types are bubbling bed FBC and circulating bed FBC, hereafter referred to by the acronyms BFBC and CFBC. Hybrid systems are also being developed, e.g. combustors providing BFBC at the bottom and CFBC higher up. Combustion of coal by FBC at elevated pressure, termed PFBC, is under development. However, some of the advantages sought by use of PFBC, such as combined-cycle operation (running a gas turbine with the gaseous products), would be much harder to realize with typically low-quality or highly variable-quality waste coal streams or with a boiler co-fired with alternative fuels. At present, PFBC is not under consideration for these fuels, and there is no prospect of it becoming attractive for such fuels within the foreseeable future; however, the interested reader is referred to a new book on the subject.

Fluidized bed combustion Readers not versed in the fundamentals of atmospheric pressure FBC should look to a number of textbooks and references published either exclusively on or dealing with combustion in FBC systems.2-6 There are also a number of excellent books on fluidization which can compliment texts on FBC.7m9 The literature on R&D is very extensive; the proceedings of the biannual international conferences sponsored by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) are a good starting point, the next of which, the 14th Conference on FBC, will be held in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada in May 1997. In addition, the biannual Circulating Fluidized Bed Conferences are becoming increasingly important and there is also a biannual conference organized by the Institute of Energy (UK) on FBC, which although typically held for only 2 days, covers the complete range of FBC topics from bubbling and circulating to pressurized FBC. Only the briefest introduction can be offered here. In short, in an FBC the combustor contains a charge or bed of solid particles. When sulphur-capture is an issue, the combustor is typically fed with limestone particles which calcine and then fix the SO2 evolved in combustion as CaSO,. The bed in this case consists of sorbent ash made up of limestone particles at various degrees of sulphation and fuel ash including , the mineral debris contained in the fuel along with the combustible matter and the intrinsic ash. In the case of some alternative fuels such as coal-washery rejects, the mineral debris (rock) is a major component of the fuel and can also be a major component of the bed. If the debris is partly limestone or shale, it can also contribute to sulphur capture. On the other hand, when sulphur capture is not an issue, and so limestone is not employed, sand or other inert mineral particles may have to be used in order to maintain a bed (intrinsic ash in particular, i.e. the ash, having its origin in the metallic elements occurring in the coal molecule is usually very fine , and is quickly blown out of the combustor by the gases). Combustion chambers for FBC typically have vertical walls. The floor assembly typically includes a distributor whose function is to introduce primary combustion air more or less uniformly over the base of the combustor. When secondary air is used, it is introduced higher up. When no air is flowing, the particle bed is slumped i.e. at rest on the bottom. , When air is introduced, the bed at first remains static while the pressure drop across it increases with increasing flow rate. When the pressure drop equals the bed weight per unit area, the bed is suspended and further increases in gas flowrate thereafter cease to significantly affect the pressure drop. The bed is then said to be fluidized. The superficial gas velocity at the onset of this state is called the minimum fluidizing velocity. The gas flow in excess of the minimum for fluidization first passes through the bed largely in the form of bubbles or slugs. These

241

typically provide intense agitation and mixing of the bed, one of the useful characteristics of bubbling bed fluidization. The agitation also causes the ejection of bursts and clouds of particles upward out of the bed. The larger particles will drop back. However, if there are fines in the bed, as is always the case in FBC, some of these will stay in suspension and be elutriated (swept out of the combustor). A cyclone separator is usually used to capture the bulk of the elutriated particles. If the elutriation is heavy, a part of the catch may be recycled to improve combustion efficiency and/or help maintain the bed. In a typical BFBC operation, the bed occupies the lower part of the combustor, and the space above it, called the freeboard, is tall, providing ample room for fallout of particles with terminal settling velocity less than the superficial gas velocity. When the gas flow rate is increased still further, the elutriation becomes increasingly heavy and at the same time the bubbling action blurs and gives way to a more chaotic agitation. At some point the distinction between bed and freeboard dissolves and the whole combustor is filled with a strongly agitated, highly dispersed, suspended, elutriating particle bed. Under these conditions, a significant particle charge can be maintained only by very heavy recirculation of cyclone catch. This normally requires a large cyclone which, in FBC, must be hot when operated, thus refractory lined, to help maintain the bed temperature. This mode of operation in FBC, with an elutriating bed that fills the combustor and is maintained only by heavy recirculation, is known as circulating fluidized bed combustion or CFBC. FBC combustors are, for various reasons, operated at bed temperatures well below the adiabatic combustion temperature of the fuel, typically in the range 800-900 C. Some of these reasons include the temperature limits of combustor walls and exposed components, ash softening and optimum sulphur capture by limestone. One practical benefit of this is that virtually no thermal NO, is produced. To keep the bed temperature so far below the adiabatic combustion level, heat on the order of one-half the combustion heat release must be extracted. In BFBC, this is done with in-bed heat exchange tubes and/or water-cooled walls. In CFBC, obstructions inside the combustor are not acceptable, so water-cooled combustor walls and heat exchangers outside the combustor in the recycle loop with the cyclone are employed. In steady operation of an FBC combustor, fuel, and limestone or inert bed makeup material are fed continuously. The fuel burns as fast as it is bed and the combustible-content of the bed (mainly char) is typically very low, in the order of 1%. Ash is continuously withdrawn. FBC combustors are typically round, square or rectangular in cross-section. In characterizing this geometry hereinafter, a designation such as 85 mm an dia. combustor implies a round cross-section, 100

242

E. J. Anthony

Furnace

Fig. 1. Delayed coking process.

mm sq. combustor implies a square cross-section, and 150 mm x 250 mm combustor suggests a rectangular cross-section.

3. PETROLEUM

COKE

3.1. Fuel Origin and Characteristics Petroleum coke is a byproduct from the upgrading of heavy oil fractions to produce lighter hydrocarbons, i.e. gasoline, diesel and middle oil ranges, e.g. lubricating oil. 3*10 While the coking process has many variants, all of them involve thermal cracking of the feed. There are two major types of petroleum coke: delayed coke, and fluid or flexicoke. Delayed coke is produced at about 415-45O (780-840F) while C fluid coking occurs at about 480-565 C (9001050 F). Both methods produce a coke residue composed of solid hydrocarbon polymer containing primarily semi-graphitic or amorphous carbon. Since fluid coke results from a higher temperature process it contains significantly less volatiles than delayed coke. The fluidization process by which it is made also ensures that it is significantly finer. Most refineries produce delayed coke. In Canada, only Syncrude Canada Ltd and Imperial Oil Ltd use the fluid coking process (Figs 1 and 2). The term delayed coke has been coined to describe the long residence time in the coke drum. This is preceded by a short thermal cracking cycle in a fired heater. The reactions associated with the cracking process continue in the insulated coke drum. The coke is deposited on the wall of the vessel until eventually it is full, whereupon the coke is removed in a batch process. Depending on its appearance, delayed coke may also have other names, e.g. shot

coke. (N.B. Shot coke is formed under special circumstances, often in off spec conditions and it may have a higher volatile matter content than typical for petroleum coke.) In fluid coking, the process occurs at higher temperatures and shorter residence times than in delayed coking in order to increase the yield of liquid products. Fluid coking employs two vessels, a reactor and a burner, and coke is circulated between them to transfer heat. A fraction of the coke serves as fuel in the burner. Cokes produced in both processes often have a high sulphur content (up to 8%) and a high nitrogen content (up to 4%). In addition, the cokes can have high vanadium and nickel contents since these are concentrated from the parent feedstock. The ash content is typically less than 1% but can be as high as 5%. The coking process also ensures that volatiles are low, typically about 46% for fluid cokes and 713% for delayed cokes.iO~ If the coke has a low sulphur content it may be used for electrode manufacture by the metallurgical industry for coking or as a chemical feedstock for some other high value purpose. Generally, coke has relatively little value and is used as fuel either in cement kilns or conventional PC boilers, sometimes with no sulphur emissions control. This option is becoming increasingly limited, so petroleum coke firing is likely to require a flue gas desulphurization process (FGD). Alternatively, the coke may simply be landfilled. The amount of coke being generated is steadily increasing as refineries are forced to process more sour and heavy crudes. The types of cokes likely to result from such processing will tend to have higher sulphur contents and will be unsuitable for anode grade material or for use in the chemical industry. As a fuel, coke has an excellent heating value (about 34-35 MJ/kg or 14,000-15,000 Btu/lb) and it can be

Fluidized bed combustion

243

&2ineer GasOil
Recycle

sti k
--_
\/

4
*

Reactor

F---p

Fig. 2. Fluid coking process.

extremely be about pared to while coal

cheap. In the United States the price can 0.19-0.38$t/GJ (0.2-0.4$/MMBtu) com1.9%/GJ (2.00$/MMBtu) for natural gas, can be 2-8 times as expensive. *~

3.2.2.

CPC boiler burning petroleum coke

3.2. Full-scale FBC Boilers Burning Petroleum Coke

3.2.1. Foster Wheeler boilers

Foster Wheeler boilers that are operating or have operated on petroleum coke are listed in Table 1. 5 The most important Foster Wheeler petroleum coke project and certainly their largest is the NISCO cogeneration project. This resulted from a partnership between the Nelson Industrial Steam Company (NISCO), Citco Petroleum Company, Conoco Inc., Vista Chemical Company and Gulf States Utilities formed in January 1990. The contract to build two 100 MWe CFBC reheat steam generators was awarded to Foster Wheeler Energy Corporation. Bechtel Power Corporation engineered the project design. The first of these units came on stream in July and the second in September 1992. The CFBC boilers are located in Westlake, Louisiana. This project has been described in detail in three recent reports **16,17and boiler conditions are given in Table 1. The coke being burned is Conoco delayed coke with a heating value of 31.2 MJ/kg (13,450 Btu/lb) and feed size of 6.4 x 0 mm ($ x 0). Table 2 gives the composition (ultimate analysis) for the fuel.

Combustion Power Company Inc. (CPC) was the first North American company to carry out significant industrial-scale work on petroleum coke firing using FBC technology. It has also built more such facilities than any other vendor although these boilers have been of a smaller size as CPC uses a hybrid bubbling bed design. The boilers operated are fired either entirely with petroleum coke (5 units) or cofired with petroleum coke and coal (2 units) or gas (1 unit) and are listed in Table 3.1*18--21 The design of these units, which are low-profile and modular in construction, permits shop fabrication, facilitates construction and scale-up. Typical construction times for these units were 12-16 months which is competitive with any other FBC technology. These plants are reported to have achieved 106% maximum capacity rating (MCR) and to have high availabilities. The five CPC in the San Francisco Bay units are nominally 19 MWe net each and burn fluid coke. The typical sulphur content of the fluid coke for the five units is 2-3x. The Hanford project is a nominal 22 MWe cogeneration project that supplies steam to an Armstrong tyre plant. 3.2.3. Pyropower experience Pyropower has limited experience with petroleum coke firing from two boilers being operated in Korea.** One of these, commissioned in 1984, was supplied to the Oriental Chemical Co. in Inchon. This unit has been fired with either 100% petroleum coke or 100% high sulphur coal and is used for cogeneration (see Table 4 for steam conditions). Another Korean unit was supplied to the Kukdong Oil Company Ltd. in Seosan in 1988. This boiler is

7 Unless stated otherwise all $ values are pressed in

U.S.S.

244

E. J. Anthony Table 1. Steam characteristics for Foster Wheeler CFBC boilers fired on petroleum coke Capacity (kg/s) 40.3 25.2 103.9/91.6 Pressure (MPa) 10.3 6.7 11.213.2 Temperature (C) 510 485 541/541 Start-up date 2/1988* 411991 811992and 911992

Customer Fort Howard Paper Company, Rincon, GA City of Manitowoc, WI NISCO Cogen, Westlake, LA: 2 at 110 MWe RH UNITS

* Here the first number refers to the month and the second four digits refer to the year, i.e. 2/1988 is February 1988.

Table 2. Ultimate analysis of Conoco coke used at NISCO, wet basis Carbon 79.74% Hydrogen 3.31% Nitrogen 1.67% Sulphur 4.47% Ash 0.27% Oxygen 0.00% Moisture 10.60%

Table 3. CPC Inc. boilers Project GWF-Bay 1, Pittsburg, CA GWF-Bay 2, Pit&burg, CA GWF-Bay 3, Antioch, CA GWF-Bay 4, Antioch, CA GWF-Bay 5,* Pittsburg, CA Rincon, GA Rating 22.0 kg/s 10.3 MPa 540C 22.0 kg/s 10.3 MPa 540c 22.0 kg/s 10.3 MPa 540C 22.0 kg/s 10.3 MPa 54OOC 22.0 kg/s 10.3 MPa 540c 40.3 kg/s 10.3 MPa 540c 50.4 kg/s 6.0 MPa 480C 28.7 kg/s 10.3 MPa 510C Fuel Fluid coke Start-up Dee 1990 Jan 1990 Status Operating

Fluid coke Fluid coke

Operating

Sept 1990 Ott 1989

Operating Operating

Fluid coke

Fluid coke

Mar 1990

Operating

Coal, petroleum coke

act 1991

Operating

Green Bay, WI

Coal, petroleum coke

July 1992

Operating

GWF-Armstrong, Hanford, CA

Petroleum coke, natural gas

Converted to petroleum coke, Ott 1990

Operating

* According to independent information, this unit is currently on standby to allow renegotiation of its contract.

periodically fired with either 100% petroleum coke or 70% oil and petroleum coke, with limestone addition, and is used for cogeneration. This unit was designed solely for petroleum coke firing (delayed coke with 5% sulphur) and the claimed availability of the boiler is in the mid-1990s. The SO, removal is quoted as 90% (600-800 ppm) with a nominal Ca/S mole ratio of 2, and NO, emissions are approximately 4&50 ppm. Pyropower also built a 59 MW boiler for the Portland Cement Company in Colton, California. This boiler, which started up in 1985, was designed to burn coal but the operator ran 65% petroleum

coke (delayed coke, with 5% sulphur) starting in 1990 for just under a year. However, there seems to be no other information available on these trials. 3.2.4. Japanese FBCpetroleum coke experience There are at least 41 FBC boilers operating in Japan (31 BFBC and 10 CFBC) and several of these bum petroleum coke23 (Table 5 lists boilers that have burned petroleum coke in Japan). Idemitu Kosan Company Ltd. has experience with petroleum coke combustion using a Multi Solids

Fluidized bed combustion Table 4. Operating conditions for Pyropower boilers using petroleum coke Start-up date 1984

245

Project Oriental Chemical Co., Inchon, Korea Kukdong Oil Company Ltd, Seosan, Korea California Portland Cement Co., CA

Rating 33.3 kg/s 10.9 MPa 23O C 33.3 kg/s 10.8 MPa 520C 24.1 kg/s 4.5 MPa 440C

Fuel 100% petroleum coke/coal

Status Operating

100% petroleum cake/70% oil 100% coal/co-fired with petroleum coke (I year)

1985

Operating Operating

1985

Table 5. Japanese industrial FBC experience with petroleum coke Site Naruto Energy Co.* Steam t/h 75 (182,263 lb/h) Manufacturer KHI Type BFBC Start-up 1985 Fuel Anthracite/ Petroleum coke Petroleum coke Petroleum coke Petroleum coke Emissions NO, 250 ppm; SO, 366 ppm (or 100 mg/Nm3) ? ? ?

Chuetsu Co. Taisei Kensetetsu Co., Chitose PC Works Nihon Cement Co.

20 (48,604 lb/h) Two units, each 1 63 (153,101 lb/h)

HSE Seiwakiko MHI

BFBC BFBC CFBC

1984 1990 1989

Key: HSE is Hitachi Shipbuilding & Engineering Co.; KHI is Kawashi Heavy Industries; MHI is Mitsui Shipbuilding & Engineering Co. * After problems with ,fouling, the fuel was changed to coal

Bed (MSFB) (Riley Stoker technology) which was brought on stream in 1989. Kawashi Heavy Industries (KHI) has also carried out trials on petroleum coke in 1985 on its own FBC system with a patented ash recycle system. The boiler had an evaporation rate of 59 t/h (18.0 kg/s or 143,000 lb/h of steam). The fuel used by Naruto Energy Corporation was Texaco Wilmington coke (possible from the Delaware refinery) with a sulphur content of 1.5% and a V,O, content of 24.6% in the ash; however, the ash content of the coke was only 0.25%. The SO, emissions were about 250 ppm and NO, levels about 80 ppm (for 4% 0, level). This result is quite remarkable considering that the coke has a nitrogen content of about 2.8%.24
Fluidized

3.2.6. Asea Brown Boveri: The Chatham boiler trials

3.2.5. Asea Brown Boneri (ABB) ABB has done limited work both at pilot-scale and industrial-scale on petroleum coke and has bid on a number of petroleum coke projects. The following is a summary of a presentation given by ABB on its FBC experience with petroleum coke. ABB believes that CFB technology is particularly suited to petroleum coke combustion, since it can provide efficient combustion with low emissions, inbed sulphur removal and has a tolerance to heavy meta1s.25 ABB has carried out experimental work using the University of British Columbia (UBC) pilot-scale combustor, the 22 MWe Chatham CFBC and the 65 MWe Scott Paper unit (Table 6).

The Chatham 22 MWe CFB boiler was built under a jointly sponsored project by Energy, Mines and Resources (EMR) and New Brunswick Electric Power Commission (NBEPC) as part of a $27 million demonstration program of CFBC technology in Canada. The unit was designed to produce 26.5 kg/s (210,000 lb/h) of steam at 6.2 MPa (900 psig) and 482OC (900 to meet the requirements of an existing F) turbine. The Chatham CFBC boiler was initially designed to burn high sulphur coal using Albert county oil shale and limestone for sulphur capture. The oil shale proved to have insufficient calcium content to justify its use and the unit had a number of problems related to sulphur capture and cyclone performance which were largely resolved during the demonstration program. The Chatham CFBC boiler performed well on delayed Conoco coke. ABB reports from the Chatham work that higher excess air, higher combustor temperatures and lower secondary air resulted in reduced carbon loss while increasing sorbent particle sizes improved the sulphur capture.

3.2.7. Asea Brown Boveri: The Scott Paper boiler

trials

The Scott Paper CFBC unit is located in Chester, Pennsylvania and provides steam and electricity. The unit, which is of Lurgi design, has been described in detail e1sewhere.26 The boiler was designed to pro-

246

E. J. Anthony Table 6. ABB experience with petroleum coke combustion

Coke Delayed, fluid and breeze Delayed (Conoco: 4.9% S) Fluid coke (7.3% S)

Facility Small pilot plant Chatham: 22 MWe Scott Paper: 65 MWe

Location UBC New Brunswick Chester, PA

Duration 3 weeks 3 weeks I week 8 weeks

Date ? Jan 1988 Aug 1988 Apr 1991

Condition Sole fuel 100% heat input 15% heat input (sweetener for culm)

duce 81.9 kg/s (650,000 lb/h) of steam at 10 MPa (1450 psig) and 510C (950 while burning a wide F) range of fuels including anthracite culm. ABB has indicated that it also burned fluid petroleum coke in this 65 MWe unit in a number of short trials. ABB claims that its Scott Paper work demonstrated that the small particle size of the coke was not detrimetal to the operation of the units and that there was no cyclone afterburning or additional carbon loss for the original fuel. In addition, the petroleum coke co-firing was beneficial since its high heating value stabilized the performance of the combustor and helped the economics of the plant. 3.2.8. Asea Brown Boveri: Texas New Mexico CFBC Very recently petroleum coke has been co-fired with lignite at Texas New Mexico Power 320 MWth s CFBC plant. As in the case of the work being done with the 160 MWe unit being operated by Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), the price advantage of petroleum coke is providing the incentive for the project. Current indications are that co-firing with petroleum coke has been completely successful.

3.3. Gas Emissions from Petroleum Coke

3.3.1, The SO, capture process

Sulphur capture for petroleum coke in FBC systems is within the normal range associated with coal. In principle, the FBC SO, capture process for petroleum coke should be better than that for high volatile coals, pitches or tars as a substantial volatile plume reduces sulphur capture. This occurs because sulphur compounds can bypass either the bed or the primary reaction circuit under reducing conditions (the volatile fraction in coal can contain a significant amount of the sulphur). 28-31 In the case of petroleum coke, volatile contents are relatively low and because the fuel char is comparatively unreactive it is more probable that it will be evenly distributed throughout the bed particularly if the recycle ratio is large. However, for bubbling bed or hybrid designs there can also be the problem of secondary combustion in the freeboard of the fines from fluid cokes which can prevent good sulphur capture. These problems can be prevented by operating at sufficiently low fluidiz-

ing velocities or ensuring high recycle like CPC designs. One can also speculate that the high carbon loadings in the return leg might enhance either sulphide production of the reverse sulphation process, particularly if local thermal excursions are produced in regions where air is used for pneumatic conveying of solids (e.g. the return leg). However, there are no reports in the open literature of particular problems with petroleum cokes in terms of either sulphide formation or low sulphur capture for petroleum coke firing. In earlier work supported by the Canadian Centre for Mineral and Energy Technology (CANMET), it was claimed that 90% capture with a Ca/S molar ratio of 1.O: 1.3 was achieved with Syncrude coke and Fort McMurray limestone.32 The most probable explanation for these results is that true steady state had not been achieved. A possible explanation for such data may be that significant conversion of SO2 to SO3 occurs in the presence of vanadium, particularly in the back pass of a boiler. In that case, attempts to calculate the sulphur capture based on SO2 measurements might well give very misleading results and this has been suggested as an explanation for some work done for CANMET on Conoco coke.33*34 This type of phenomenon could be demonstrated in the absence of limestone addition by measuring the total SO,, either by wet chemistry and separate measurement of the SO2 emissions or a direct measurement of SO, (a unique analyser designed to measure SO, is available from Sevem Science Ltd). Bench-scale tests in a fixed bed reactor do appear to have demonstrated that ash from the petroleum coke can catalyze SO2 to SO3 conversion.34 It should be noted that limited and unpublished BFBC work by CANMET on a delayed coke did not demonstrate any such effect, but if the SO3 was preferentially captured by the limestone, this may not be surprising. Clearly, more work needs to be done to resolve this issue. Another possible difference for the sulphur capture process is that the maximum capture appears to occur at a somewhat higher temperature in the 900-95O C range. 32,35*36There is no definitive explanation for this phenomenon, or for that matter the existence of the 850C SO, capture maximum. However, one might speculate that higher temperatures are associated with a lower bed carbon loading and hence their contribu-

Fluidized bed combustion Table 7. Emissions and conversion of fuel nitrogen from pilot-scale CFBC Conoco coke combustion33 Emissions from Conoco coke combustion Temp. (C) 882 848 861 849 859 894 847 877 856 Ca/S molar ratio
0.0

247

Conversion of fuel nitrogen%*

Run no. 17-1 17-2 I l-3 25-l 25-2 25-3 25-4 25-5 25-6

Ut (m/s)
1.0 6.Y

N,O* @pm) 3.8 4.3 4.3 4.9 5.2 5.0 3.8 3.0 4.2 181 191 154 243 212 I49 I75 154 191

NO,* @pm) 268 58 66 175 97 I12 69 72 60

NO, 9.18 1.99 2.26 6.00 3.32 3.84 2.36 2.41 2.06

N,O 12.41 13.09 IO.56 16.66 14.53 10.21 12.00 10.56 13.09

Total 21.59 15.08 12.82 22.65 17.85 14.05 14.36 13.02 15.14

7.1 6.4 6.4 6.7 5.3 1.3 7.0

2.5 3.2
0.0

2.5 2.8 2.4 2.4 1.1

* Gas emissions corrected to 3% 0,. t U = fluidizing velocity.

tion to the reverse sulphation CaSO,

reaction (1) is reduced:37 (1)

+ CO := CaO + SO, + CO,.

Finally, in some CANMET supported work using a 380 sq. m BFBC for a 3% sulphur, delayed coke,

using primarily sand as the bed material, the sulphur was found to be concentrated in the unburned char. S/C molar ratios adopted values up to three times higher than those associated with the original coke.36 This resulted in an effective apparent capture of 80: 20% between 83&1020C. Such a phenomenon would evidently reduce the apparent sulphur capture as the bed temperature increased. However, it is difficult to know if this phenomenon is common. Certainly it does not appear to occur to any significant extent for either Syncrude or Suncor petroleum coke, the two cokes for which fuels CANMET has extensive FBC experience. Nonetheless, this possibility should be investigated further when examining the FBC combustion of a new petroleum coke fuel. 3.3.2. NO, formation As petroleum cokes contain significant fuel nitrogen, NO, formation might be expected to be a significant concern with these fuels. However, from the experimental data available, it appears that typically relatively little of the fuel nitrogen is actually converted to NO,. Despite this, the NO, levels are often high. It seems that these high emissions are simply a reflection of the relatively high inherent nitrogen content in these fuels. Thus, for instance, Moritomi and co-workers3* note that for their experiments with a CFBC pilot plant, only 2% of the coke nitrogen is converted to NO, for petroleum coke combustion, compared to 10.7% of the fuel nitrogen for one of the coals they examined. This coal had a fuel nitrogen of 1.1% while the petroleum coke contained 2.4% N. Table 7 shows that CANMET supported work on a pilot CFBC which also gave very similar results.

The most likely explanation for this relatively low conversion is that the char which is present in relatively high concentrations (e.g. for the CANMET funded work mentioned above, the bed carbon loading was about 4%) is effective in reducing overall NO, emissions by catalyzing the reduction of NO by C0.3g.40 This view has also been advanced by Moritomi and his co-workers. Fortunately, it appears that this reduction is directly to nitrogen rather than N,0.38 Amand and co-workers (1991)40 performed some critical experiments to study the reduction of NO and the reduction and oxidation of N,O in a CFBC environment which were subsequently supported by Moritomi and co-workers (1991).38 In this work, they injected separately 400 ppm of both NO and N,O into the bottom of a 0.1 m (0.33 ft) dia., 5 m (16.4 ft) high CFBC pilot plant with petroleum coke as a fuel. They observed that, as was the case without adding additional NO and N,O, NO decreased as a function of reactor height while N,O increased (the latter observation suggests that formation reactions dominate destruction reactions from char with N,O). The added NO had little or no influence on N,O production, supporting the contention that it is reduced directly to nitrogen rather than N,O. Likewise, the added N,O did not influence overall NO emissions. This suggests that N,O is not oxidized to NO but rather reduced to nitrogen, although it has been argued that under alternating oxidizing and reducing conditions, NO formation from N,O decomposition over sulphated limestone is possible.41 A very important difference between coal combustion and petroleum coke combustion was demonstrated in CANMET supported pilot plant trials with Conoco petroleum coke.33 Here, limestone addition caused a net decrease in NO, levels from about 180 ppm (at 3% 0,) to 60-110 ppm range. Also, there was no systematic increase in NO, emissions as a function of increasing Ca/S molar ratio. Thus, very much like results for N,O, limestone seems

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E. J. Anthony
Table 8. Influence of FBC parameters on nitrous oxide emissior@ Parameter Increasing bed temperature NH, injection Increasing fuel volatile content Increasing excess air Air staging Nature of effect Decreases N,O emissions Increases N,O emissions Decreases fuel-nitrogen conversion to N,O Increases N,O formation Decreases N,O Support an effect 16outof16 7outof7 10outof11 9outof 11 3outof4

to produce a net reduction in emissions above some threshold value, but then has little additional influence at higher levels. Table 7 gives the degree of conversion of fuel nitrogen to NO, and N20 for these trials. The most tenable explanation for the relatively low conversion of fuel nitrogen to NO, depends on the fact that petroleum cokes have relatively low volatile contents. This in turn means that the dominant source of NO, and N,O is from the char. NO, production with high volatile coals can be seen as a competitive process between oxidation of NH, arising from fuel volatiles (which is then catalyzed by CaO) and reduction of NO by CO over that catalyzed by CaO, and perhaps CaSO,. If volatiles are effectively absent, then any NO derived from NH3 produced from fuel volatiles will be absent. Thus, one would expect that limestone would cause a net decrease in NO, emissions for petroleum coke combustion, as observed. This argument was in fact first advanced by Lyngfelt and Leckner (1 989)42 and has subsequently been supported in the literature.41 However, this is a major difference between petroleum coke and coal, for which NO, production increases with increasing Ca/S mole ratio, and may often not be understood. 3.4. Nitrous Oxide Emissions from FBC Petroleum
Coke Firing

It is well known that N,O emissions from coal combustion in FBC systems can be elevated when compared to conventional suspension firing without Selective Non-Catalytic Reduction (SNCR), i.e. 20200 ppm compared with c 5 ppm.43*44 For a high nitrogen containing fuel like petroleum coke, these emissions might intuitively be expected to be in the upper range of emissions from FBC systems. This observation is supported by pilot-scale CFBC tests carried out by Moritomi and co-workers (1991), * and CANMET supported pilot-scale CFBC tests with petroleum coke. 33 However, since N,O emissions are not regulated, there appear to be no published data on emissions from full-scale boilers. In the study by Moritomi and co-workers, the s conversion of fuel nitrogen to N,O for petroleum coke and coal were comparable at 22.6 and 20.5x, respectively. These data are also similar to CANMET funded work for Conoco petroleum coke combustion in a 150 sq. mm (5.9 sq. in.) CFBC combustor

(Table 7) and by Amand and co-workers ( 1991)40 for petroleum coke combustion in a 12 MWth CFBC. Thus, fuel nitrogen appears to be very important in terms of overall production of N,O and char formation of N,O appears to dominate char reduction of N,O for petroleum coke firing. The importance of char nitrogen in N,O production was also supported by CANMET work on bituminous coal, which showed NzO increased as a function of reactor height for a small pilot-scale BFBC.45 This is consistent with observations that N,O emissions are high with petroleum coke from pilot-scale FBC trials. Thus since fuel nitrogen conversion from char appears to be comparable with coal, as found in previous studies33*3s the presence of fuel nitrogen at factors of 2 or 3 times greater than coal should result in elevated N,O emissions. It is interesting that Amand and Leckner (1991)39 and Amand and co-workers (1991)40 have also supported the key role of char nitrogen in the N,O production by suggesting that HCN is of minor importance in N,O formation when compared to char nitrogen. Johnsson notes that there is disagreement as to the effect of various parameters on N,O emissions. His summary of those differences of opinion obtained from a literature survey are present in Table 8. NH, has been used by CPC in particular for some of their FBC boilers for deN0, because the NO, levels were relatively high for petroleum coke firing compared to the emission levels in California. It should be noted that Iisa and co-workers (1991)46 have suggested that CaO must be present to permit the conversion of NH3 to N,O and that for their results conversions ranged from l-15% which is in contrast to the work of Shimizu and co-workers (1991) who observed N,O formation from NH, addition for a small BFBC using a quartz bed. However, since fuel grade petroleum coke will require limestone use for sulphur control, this point may be moot. The formation of secondary N,O with NH, addition has also been supported by other workers4**49 and has also been reported for a full-scale unit by Brown and Muzio (1991),50 i.e. there was a 20% increase in N,O production for a corresponding 80% reduction in NO, levels for the TVA, 160 MWe boiler. Unfortunately, N,O production from urea injection in a 4 MW BFBC boiler was reported to be

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249

significantly greater. N,O production doubled for a mole ratio of urea of 0.8 (where the mole ratio is defined as the number of moles of urea divided by the number of moles of NO at the point of injection). 48 This effect parallels the behaviour of urea in SNCR systems for conventional coal combustion where N,O emissions of over 50 ppm have been reported.41 Interestingly, tests on a 1 MW BFBC reactor by Bramer and Valk (1991)49 also found acetonitrile produced remarkable amounts of N,O. It would seem likely that if deN0, is to be used for petroleum coke combustion in FBC systems, NH, will remain the best choice as a reducing agent. Johnsson (1991)43 notes that the effect of limestone on N,O are somewhat complicated and reports work carried out in Sweden at Chalmers University, demonstrating that some limestones seem to show no effect while others appear to be able to decrease N,O formation. A similar conclusion was reached by Cabrita and co-workers (1991) who observed no catalytic effect for experiments in which the Ca/S ratio was varied from O-4.5 in trials carried out with a small BFBC reactor. This result was also supported by Brown and Muzio (1991)50 who observed no effect due to limestone level on N,O emissions for test work at the Nucla plant. However, most workers have reported that CaO is an effective agent for the destruction of N,0.38,46~52~54 While it is difficult to interpret much of the literature because of the use of a wide range of facilities and fuels, part of the failure to see an effect may be due to the fact that the net reduction in N,O is not a strong function of the Ca/S molar ratio, as is the case with NO, production for CFBC reactors burning coal. Thus in CANMET supported work, as discussed above, limestone was shown to produce a net reduction in N,O in the 30% range (Table 7) while varying the Ca/S molar ratio over a normal range did not alter the degree of reduction, i.e. the effect of limestone is related to some threshold level and higher levels do not produce any benefits in terms of net reduction of N,0.33 This same observation has also been made by Gourichon and co-workers (1991)55 for coal combustion trials with a 0.5 MW CFBC. In this work a 20-30x reduction in N,O (from levels near 110 ppm at 6% 0, to levels in the 70-90 ppm at 6% 0,) was observed in the presence of limestone but no variation was seen in this reduction over a Ca/S molar ratio range of l&2.8 and this is also consistent with the observations of Brown and Muzio (1991)50 for the Nucla CFBC plant. The fact that limestone either produces no effect on N,O emissions, or more typically a small net reduction of the order of 20-30%, is an important difference in terms of limestone behaviour with coal combustion for NO,, where increases in Ca/S molar ratio produce corresponding increases in NO, production.

3.5. Corrosion and Materials Wastage Issue with

Petroleum Coke

As petroleum cokes often contain high levels of vanadium (0.15% or more), the vanadate corrosion experienced on superheater and reheaters for conventional boilers firing high vanadium fuels might be expected. 56 Both Battelle Columbus Laboratories and CANMET have carried out experimental investigations to try and quantify this phenomenon.57 6o Battelle appear to have had some difficulties with their experiments and no data appear to have been published on their results for FBC systems. However, they did not see major evidence of significant corrosion in their trials but were uncertain as to whether this was related to fuel properties or a failure to reach appropriate specimen temperatures. CANMET work in this area was carried out by its Physical Metallurgy Research Laboratories and its Mineral Sciences Laboratories using a small 100 mm (3.9 in.) dia. CFBC reactor.61 In these trials three nominally 12.7 mm (0.5 in.) dia. type 304 stainless steel tubes were used as corrosion probes and exposed at 850C (1562 in the combustion zone of F) the reactor for about 125 h at steady state operation. The fuel used for these trials was Syncrude coke, a fluid coke with 7% sulphur and 1760 ppm vanadium (or 4.47% V,O, in the ash). The coke was fired with Fort McMurray (or Athabasca) limestone as the sulphur sorbent. In addition to the trials on Syncrude coke, three other tubes were exposed for a similar time in the combustor when burning 8% sulphur Minto coal from New Brunswick. In both cases, metallurgical examination indicated that the tubes had suffered severe intergranular sulphidization/oxidation on the bottoms where deposits formed to a depth of about 70pm for the Syncrude coke and up to 120 pm for the Minto trials. Negligible attack was seen on the top of the tubes and the area and depth of the attack on the tubes appeared to be quite similar for both fuels, and comparable with that observed with austenitic alloys exposed to a BFBC environment.62*63 No evidence suggested that the vanadium in the Syncrude coke played a role in the corrosion. The scale produced by the corrosion of the stainless steel tubes exposed in the reactor was also examined with an electron probe microanalyser. It was shown to be principally composed of calcium, sulphur and silica and appeared to contain negligible vanadium (0.44 and 0.05% for the non-magnetic and magnetic fractions, respectively). The magnetic fraction represents materials spalled from close to the metal surface and the absence of vanadium in this deposit also suggests that vanadium does not play an important role in the corrosion. For comparison, in conventional boilers where vanadium has contributed to corrosion, there is evidence that the deposit had been liquid, with a melting point in the 500-

250

E. J. Anthony limestone and they operated with a coarser limestone. Although this did help to reduce the problem, it did not prevent it altogether, and the unit must be cleaned at least every four months, the longest period of operation being 130 days. The boiler operators have also tried a number of other approaches, including installing additional air nozzles in the loop seal, with no significant success to date.66 Similar, if less severe, problems have also been seen with other FBC boilers. For the perhaps most significant petroleum coke combustion project to date, the NISCO project, the operators believe that they may have found a mechanical solution, at least as far as J-valve fouling is involved, and they currently report over 190 days of continuous operation. 67 However, this solution is not necessarily applicable to other subsystems in the FBC boiler.

650C (932-1202F) range and the V,O, concentrations could be of the order of 2G34%.60 This viewpoint was also confirmed in a 17-country survey, made as part of an evaluation of FBC technology for burning petroleum coke which indicated no evidence of any special corrosion or metal wastage problem with FBC technology burning this class of fuels.24

3.6. Ash Agglomeration and Fouling Problems when Burning Petroleum Coke Perhaps the most significant problem reported for petroleum coke firing in FBC systems is that of fouling of heat transfer surfaces and the buildup of agglomerates. At present there is no confirmed mechanistic explanation for such effects, although, since Mg containing salts appeared to reduce the problem, it is possible that vanadates are implicated. This problem is currently being studied by CANMET, whose work in this area does not suggest that low melting vanadates are involved. Instead, it indicates that the agglomeration is caused by prolonged sintering and sulphation of the CaSO,, resulting in a molecular cramming phenomenon which, in the absence of a significant inert ash fraction, leads to the formation of dense, impermeable layers of limestone residue, in which almost all of the availagle Ca has been converted to sulphate.64 If so, this phenomenon appears to be similar to a mechanism described by researchrs from Abe Akademi in Finland,65 which they call chemical reaction sintering and which they report as occurring in both FBC and PC environments. If this explanation is correct, then the benefits of adding a Mg containing compound are really those of adding an inert nonsulphating material which prevents the build up of these agglomerates by mechanical means. This would also mean that it would be possible to achieve the same effects more cheaply by adding any inert fluidizable solid. The severity of this problem appears to vary but has on occasion been sufficiently severe to prohibit using petroleum coke. For instance, one Japanese company operated for about one year (or 6000 h total operating time) using petroleum coke for an industrial scale bubbling FBC boiler.24 However, the boiler in-bed tubes (evaporator and final supers heater) developed a coating on their surface containing Na, K and V. This fouling adversely affected the heat transfer efficiency, requiring that the tubes be cleaned. No satisfactory methods were found to prevent the fouling and the company decided to abandon the use of petroleum coke in favour of anthracite which has since given them trouble-free operation. In a case involving another boiler, the only significant problem after the initial start-up was that of fouling or clogging of the loop seal. The operators initially believed that this was due to use of too fine

3.7. Ash Issues for Petroleum Coke FBC Combustion 3.7.1. CFBC ash disposal Probably the single most important issue for FBC technology when applied to high sulphur fuels is that of ash management. As calcium utilization efficiencies are seldom more than 45% and often much lower, considerable amounts of excess limestone must be transported and disposed of. Attempts to utilize ash are also only now being developed. The characteristics of FBC ashes have been described in detail in several CANMET reports and papers.68m70 A good overview of the state of the art in FBC ash management technology can be found in a 1990 IEA Coal Research report or in the proceedings of a seminar organized for Nova Scotia Power. * Petroleum cokes are different from other fuel in that they possess very little fuel derived ash, and these ashes are low in dehydroxylated clays that are typically found in coals. This leads to very different behaviour and reduced effectiveness in terms of the cementitious reactions that can occur with FBC coal derived ashes. This has been born out in a limited number of unpublished studies. Thus, for example, the Western Research Institute (WRI) indicated that the petroleum coke ash samples from California (origin unspecified) did not appear promising for construction application and showed poor strength development.73 Similar conclusions were drawn by Dearborn who carried out a study for Environment Canada on the ashes from the Chatham CFBC unit when burning a delayed coke.74 The residues produced by CFBC combustion of petroleum coke were also found to contain significant unreacted lime; in some cases higher quantities than were found in coal derived residues from the Chatham CFBC boiler burning S-7% sulphur containing coals.75 An approximate composition for the ashes from the Chatham unit for combustion trials is given in Table 9 together with data for combustion trials on

Fluidized bed combustion Table 9. Analysis from Chatham CFBC derived ashes Component CaSO, CaO Coke trials 40.0 29.5 Minto trials 24.2 33.5 Devco trials 29.5 22.4

251

Ash C

5.5 25.0

32.9 9.4

39.2 8.9

the same boiler with Minto and Devco coal for comparison. It should be noted that the above analysis ignores the presence of a number of other minor components often present in FBC ashes, particularly CaS which is present at approximately the 0.5% level for the two coal derived ashes, and CaCO,, present at the 6.3 and 3.4% level for the Minto and Devco derived ashes, respectively. Nevertheless, the analysis shows clearly the difference in composition of the ashes, in particular the presence of a much higher percentage of unburned carbon, lower fuel derived ashes content and proportionately higher CaSO, concentrations for the petroleum coke derived fuel. There is little or nothing available in the published literature on ash disposal and utilization of CFBC ashes from petroleum coke firing. What little information already obtained comes mainly through direct conversations rather than the open literature. Thus, CPC is known to have operated a number of its boilers at elevated Ca/S mole ratio in order to dilute the vanadium content in the ashes to prevent their wastes from being classified hazardous and to permit them to be used as a cement additive. NISC017,76 appears to be able to sell its bottom ash for treating acidic waste (the remainder being landfilled) and claims that value of the waste ash sold is sufficient to ensure that ash production represents a net credit to the process. However, to the author knowledge, this is the only case where such s an advantageous situation has been achieved. For other Foster Wheeler units, i.e. the City of Manitowoc and the Fort Howard boilers, it appears that straight ash disposal is the method used.24 Two graphs distributed by Foster Wheeler at CIBOs 8th annual conference on FBC in December 1992 indicated that for the city of Manitowoc units at about 4% sulphur in the fuel mix (either petroleum coke/coal/rubber or petroleum coke/coal), the decreased fuel costs equalled the increased sorbent costs at about 5 x 1O-3 $/GJ (5 x 10e3 $/MMBtu). This suggests that in some situations the sheer amount of ash produced (due to limestone addition) can be a significant issue in deciding whether it is economical to fire petroleum coke in a CFBC.

moisture contents and sometimes elevated sulphur contents. These problematic characteristics can be well handled by FBC technology. In the past, virtually no use was made of these materials and they accumulated in heaps as mine-waste dump sites. Now around the world FBC is being applied to utilize the energy value of these low-grade fuels and to eliminate the often environmentally objectionable heaps (which produce water pollution, are a fire hazard, waste land, and are aesthetically offensive).

4.1. Installations and Experience by Country Since local circumstances vary widely, the many R&D programs on coal waste fuels will be examined country by country. 4.1.1. Australia Australia produces a substantial amount of washery rejects. For instance in 1991-1992 Australia produced 41 Mt/a of washery rejects77 and predictions for the minimum quantities to be produced by the year 2000 are as high as 60 Mt/a.78 To date, all the Australian R&D has been done under the auspices of the Australian government organization, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO). Most of CSIRO work is cons cerned with the evaluation of different quality rejects in a series of BFBC pilot plant combustors.78~n2 The combustors employed in much of this work was 2.6 x 1.6 m in cross-section and capable of firing fuel at a maximum rate of 2 t/h with a heat release equivalent to 4.5 MWth. 78~81In addition, trials were also carried out in a smaller 0.3 m dia. combustor.82 The coarse rejects were first crushed to < 19 mm and then fed by a screw feed system to the combustor. The tailings, which contained up to 95% moisture, were first thickened and then stored in a stirred tank prior to being pumped to the combustor. They were fed overbed into the combustor by means of a water cooled screw. Both sole firing and co-firing of coarse rejects and tailings were examined. The tailings were fed with moisture levels of up to 76% and heating values as low as 8.1 MJ/kg. CSIRO reported that for solid contents of less than 40x, difficulty was experienced in maintaining combustion without the use of air preheater or auxiliary fuel. No other difficulties, such as agglomeration or problems with the fuel feed system, were reported However, evidence of with low sulphur fuels. 7g*80.81 agglomeration was encountered for a subituminous coal from South Australia, Bowmans, and Esperance lignite from Western Australia in the 0.3 m dia. combustor. Both of these fuels have sulphur contents of about 5% (dry basis) and an as-received moisture content of 55-60% (dry basis). Little information has been given on ash disposal characteristics, although CSIRO expressed the view

4. COAL

MINING/CLEANING

WASTES

Coal washery rejects represent an important class of waste fuels. Typically, they have high ash and

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E. J. Anthony

that reduction in mass of material to be disposed of by about 30% could be achieved. In addition, the reduction in size or elimination of tailings ponds and the elimination of the potential for fires in waste heaps constitute major benefits of the FBC combustion option. It was also CSIRO opinion that the s leachate characteristics of FBC wastes were unlikely to pose a greater hazard than leaching from the present coarser refuse embankments. * CSIRO also indicated that it was desirable to maintain as much ash in the bed as possible because coarse material can be more easily disposed of.* With the coarse rejects in the CSIRO trials, an average of 56% and a maximum of 760/, of ash was retained in the bed. However, it was found that tailings varied widely in their ability to provide bed makeup with some , tailings elutriating completely and others forming spherical pellets which had to be removed to prevent defluidization. Currently plans are at an advanced stage for a full-scale FBC boiler project (100 MWe). These plans are based on 200 h FBC trials carried out by CSIR0s3 and this venture, named the Redbank project, will utilize coal tailings in the Hunter Valley, New South Wales. The partners in this project include CSIRO, National Power Company of Oakland, California and ES1 of West Palm Beach, Florida.84 Construction is expected to start in mid-1995, with a start-up in late 1997.85 4.1.2. Belgium A Belgian colliery retrofitted a PC boiler to permit it to bum tailings. 86 The unit was converted into a bubbling FBC system consisting of three compartments, each of 7 mz (75 ft base area, that could be ) regulated individually. It then produced 40 t/h of steam at temperatures of 390400C and a pressure of 3.8 MPa. The fuel consisted of coarse washed shale which was crushed to a top size of 8 mm, and tailings of 1 mm maximum size. The proportion of washed shales to tailings was about 9 : 1. The heating value of the shale was about 2.5 MJ/kg and that of the tailings was about 5 MJ/kg (LHV).* The ash contents were respectively 84 and 70% and the moisture contents were 9.9 and 28% (all dry basis). Both materials were screw-fed into the bed. The process appears to meet proposed EC guidelines for limestone addition but shows NO, emissions about 2& 30% higher than the guideline value of 650 mg (N0,)/Nm3 at 6% OZ. It was reported that attempts were being made to find uses for the bed ashes in the ceramics industry and for the production of paving tiles and sewage pipes, but the success of this is unknown.

41.3.

Canada

* Except where otherwise stated all heating values quoted

in this paper are higher heating values.

All of the FBC work carried out on washery rejects in Canada appears to have been done under the auspices of CANMET. The three studies that have been published in the open literature involve: ?? An examination of the behaviour of washery rejects from British Columbia (Hat Creek coal wastes); ?? An economic evaluation of the use of washery rejects for a coal drying plant and power production;** ?? study on the use of FBC combustion for coal A water slurries and tailings combustions9 Hat Creek coal wastes were burned in a 240 mm dia. BFBC reactor. The fuel contained 44% ash and 17% moisture (dry basis), had a heating value of 8.7 MJ/kg and was fed pneumatically. High combustion efficiencies (up to 99%) were achieved and there were no emission problems. Approximately 50% of the ash was retained in the bed and no agglomeration problems were reported. It was hoped initially that the ash, which contains high levels of Al,O, (about 30%) could be used as a non-bauxite feedstock for aluminium production, and indeed CANMET developed processes for producing cell-grade alumina with this ash. However, despite the technical feasibility of these processes, economic evaluation suggested that they would not be competitive with the Bayer processgo In 1984 CANMET commissioned an economic and technical feasibility study** for Luscar Ltd for a CFBC plant to produce hot flue gases for coal drying and up to 30 MWe power generation at Luscar s Coal Valley mine site in Alberta. This study involved the development of preliminary plant/process designs and capital investment estimates for three power production scenarios (IO, 20 and 30 MWe). It was concluded that such a project was technically but not economically feasible at the time of the study. Currently, Luscar Ltd is re-examining the feasibility of using its washery rejects and other local fuels for power generation alone.91 In 1983, CANMET commissioned Babcock & Wilcox Ltd (B&W) to study the behaviour of coal/water slurries and tailings in FBC. Tests were conducted on a beneficiated coal/water slurry (60% solids), an unbeneficiated coal/water slurry (60% solids) and a thickener underflow (30% solids).89 The two slurries were supplied by AB Carbogel of Sweden and Scotia-Liquicoal of Nova Scotia, Canada, and had heating values of 25.3 and 16.2 MJ/kg (wet basis), respectively. The thickener underflow was from a coal-cleaning facility in Alberta and had a heating value of 3.8 MJ/kg (wet basis). The work was carried out using B&W 305 sq. mm BFBC test facility at s the Alliance Research Center in Ohio. The slurries were fed inbed through a water-cooled injection lance using a Moyno pump. Successful combustion was obtained for the two coal/water slurries but stable combustion with the thickener underflow could only

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253

be achieved by co-firing with an ancillary uting at least one third of the combustion in the bed.

fuel contribheat release

Table 10. Physical properties of tailings as a function of moisture content Moisture (%) (wet basis) 20% or less 20628% 28-35% 35% or more Physical description

The two slurry fuels demonstrated excellent combustion performance. However, attempts to feed the thickener underflow by itself led to severe agglomeration problems which were attributed to its high moisture content. Some problems were also experienced with blockage of the feed system but since these were resolved by screening the slurry, they were attributed to the presence of large particles in the as-received thickener underflow cake. 4.1.4. Chinn There are a number of bubbling bed boilers in China using coal washery rejects as a fuel, some dating back to the early eighties. In general, they are small (4-10 t/h of steam) and are used to supply steam for industry (e.g. fertilizer, textiles industry) or for coal mines operations. Most of these projects are located in Southeast China in the provinces of Jiangxi, Fujian and Guangdong, although there are also some in Sichuan and Shandong. The lower heating value of the rejects is typically 4.2-8.4 MJ/kg. Recently, some larger units were being produced (around 33 t/h) for thermal power generation. CANMET enquiries indicate that these fuels are screws fed into the boilers. A number of papers have been published by researchers at Zheijang University on the combustion of washery rejects and coal water slurries. They indicate that about 6 Mtja of low-grade rejects are produced in China. 93-gs In an overview paper on FBC combustion of low-grade fuels in China,g6 the Ministry for the Chinese coal industry reported that a total of 570 FBC boilers have been commissioned since 1968, with a total steam generation rate of 3800 t/h. The ash from these plants is apparently used in the cement industry as a sand replacement. Experimental work has been carried out in a series of small BFBC combustors (80, 250 and 500 mm dia.).g3.g4*g5The fuels examined varied in water content from 30-75% (wet basis) and in heating value from 4.2 to 16.4 MJ/kg. It was found that the fuels have some tendency to agglomerate but it was noted that for fines this could result in improved combustion efficiency. Cen and his co-workersg4 then extended their g5 work to retrofit a spreader/stoker-fired boiler with a nominal production of 10 t/h of steam for FBC boiler operation. This plant was used to burn washery tailings (size ~0.5 mm). At 20% moisutre (wet basis) these tailings behaved as a solid fuel. However, the tailings properties were strongly dependent on moisture content (Table 10). Fuel preparation required removing oversized material using a vibrating * F is French francs.

Behaves as a solid Mud-like Paste-like Behaves as a slurry and can be pumped

screen system and then adjusting the water moisture content. The fuel was then fed via a 159 mm dia., 21 m long pipe to the feeder. Tests were carried out extruding the fuel (with a moisture content of about 25-30x) either overbed or directly inbed. 4.1.5. France
The only significant project of this type in France appears to be the 125 MWe Emile Huchet plant at Carling in north-east France, near the German border. However, this unit is the largest CFBC boiler in the world burning coal/water slurries. It has been the subject of many papers and articles and won Electric Power International Powerplant Award for s 1992.g7~g8~gg~ The project was developed in conoo junction with Lurgi and an architect engineering company, CdF Ingtnerie Coreal which in turn is a subsidiary of Charbonnage de France (CdF), the French national coal company. The boiler is now owned and operated by Houilleres du Bassin de Lorraine which is also a division of CdF. The client for the power produced is Electricit& de France, the French national power company. The Emile Huchet power station produces 1200 MWe. The main fuel is dried coal washery rejects (by French law, CdF can only fire waste coal). These are pumped from the washing plant in the form of a black liquid and are then concentrated, vacuum filtered and dried to about 8% moisture prior to being pulverized for suspension firing. The use of pumping is convenient as the area is heavily congested by industry and road traffic. It is cheaper than rail or road transportation (about 38F*/t compared to 41.38 and 51.17 F/t respectively for rail and road in 1986). Since 1950, rejects have also been sent to settling ponds. In total, about 8 Mt can be found unevenly distributed over 12 old settling ponds in the Lorraine coalfields. The rejects are referred to as schlamms There has been some confusion over this . term in that it has occasionally been assumed that schlamm is synonymous with slurry. This is not so and the simplest translation is fine coal rejects . Until the advent of the 125 MWe CFB project in 1987, no attempt was made to use washery rejects from the settling ponds. The reason is that the material has a high clay content and induces severe slagging on boiler tube surfaces. In addition, drying is difficult and if not correctly done, then the grinding

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E. J. Anthony

1 -UmestoneFeed P-CoalFeed 3-SandFeed 4.Aiflnlets ; - yY& t

4
1

7:stack 8 - Baghouse 9.AshandSlagRemoval 10.Sla9Removal 11 - Water and Steam Circulation 12 - fluidized Bed Combustor

10

! / j

Fig. 3. FBC Emile Huchet plant at Carling, France.

and pulverization processes are found to be excessively demanding and expensive for conventional suspension firing. However, there were three incentives to use this fuel. First there is a desire on the part of CdF to clear and remediate the settling ponds. Second, new legislation has been introduced to control SO2 and NO, emissions from coal fired systems which provided an incentive to use CFBC technology.102 Finally, as the fuel is the property of CdF, it is available for the cost of extraction and preparation. In addition to the schlamms already deposited, fresh schlamms are being produced by coal preparation plants at Freyming-Merlebach, La Houle and de Vemejoul. The fine by-product materials (< 1 mm) are first concentrated at the washing plant and are then transported by two pipelines to the Emile Huchet plant. There they are vacuum filtered, thermally dried, ground, and finally burned in the pulverized coal-fired boilers operating at the Carling site. CdF examined two possible methods of conveying coal slurries: (a) turbulent flow with about 35% solids and (b) laminar flow with 70% solids. Although the pumping energy for a turbulent flow system would be less, CdF decided to use the laminar flow system because the slurries so produced (with 70% solids contents) can be burnt directly in the CFBC combustor thus avoiding the cost of drying prior to feeding the slurried fuel. CdF was successful

in developing a feed system for slurries with about 30% moisture without the use of additives just by appropriate screening of the fuels to be slurried and by blending of the reclaimed waste and fresh schlamms. Following final preparation, the slurries are pumped 680 m to six storage tanks each having a capacity of 120 m3. The slurry is kept in suspension by air injected at the base of the tank. Although the slurry is considered to be quite stable, air injection prevents any problem that might be caused by settling and helps the feeding of thick sediments to the pump. The slurry is then fed into the bottom of the combustor by six independent feed systems at a total flow rate of about 18 t/h. Each feed system is comprised of two Schwing piston pumps and a pipeline which leads to an atomization lance in the base of the combustor. Each atomization lance can be isolated so that it can be immediately water flushed and air cleaned if it becomes fouled for any reason. Each line is also equipped with a water cleaning system which is used when it is out of operation for an extended period. If the lance is blocked due to drying and coking of the slurry fuel, then the lance can be removed and its port isolated so that the lance can be cleaned or replaced. When lances are not to be used for an extended period, they are removed. The system (Fig. 3) is designed to simultaneously

Fluidized bed combustion Table I 1.Steam conditions for 125 MWe CFBC boiler Parameter Steam flow Feedwater temperature Superheater steam temperature Superheater steam pressure Reheat steam slow Reheat steam pressure Inlet steam reheat temperature Outlet reheat steam temperature Level 367 t/h 242C 545C 13.4 MPa 338 t/h 3.0 MPa 351C 540C

255

will burn high sulphur lignites. These will be fired both in the form of raw coal and coal/water slurry. CdF also intends to target markets in the third world where they believe the potential exists for 10 GWe of coal based thermal power over the next decade. Their technology evidently has strong development possibilities. 4. I .6. Germany Germany is the home of Lurgi, which is a major manufacturer of FBC boilers. However, there is little in the open literature concerning the FBC combustion of washery rejects there even though significant quantities are produced (2.7 Mtja in 1977).lo3 There appears to be a 114 t/h CFBC boiler burning coal washery rejects in Luenen.lo4 The only technical publication I found in the open literature is on work by Babcock-BSH 03 on the combustion of fine coal separated by flotation. The unit used for the test work was a 0.6 m dia. BFBC combustor. The slurries were fed inbed with a water cooled slurry lance . Maximum solids contents were 55-57x and attempts to use higher concentrations led to unacceptable levels of agglomeration. It is interesting to note that agglomeration problems have been resolved with slurry fuels for the 125 MWe CFBC at Carling, France, which is also of Lurgi design. 4.1 .I. Indiu India has an active FBC program which, for coal, is led by Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL). They have been involved in the development of FBC systems since 1975.105~ Typical fuels have calorific 06 values of 6.7-10.9 MJjkg and ash contents of 6070%. As of 1982, about 4.5 Mtja of washery rejects were generated from coking coal alone. To date, six BFBC plants each of 10 MWe capacity have been installed to burn washery rejects at various washeries in India. By April 1991, the time logged by one of these plants was 19,000 h. In these systems, rejects are fed dry with a top size of 6 mm. The ash retention in the bed is around 50%. Ashes ready for disposal are mixed with water and pumped to the disposal area. There appear to be no significant problems in burning the materials using BHEL s FBC technology. 4.1.8. Japan Japan is one of the world leaders in FBC technology. However, there is relatively little reported work on FBC of coal washery rejects as might be expected given Japan position as a major coal importer. As s of 1982, annual production of coal washery rejects was 4 Mtja. lo8 Babcock, Hitachi and Sumitomo coal mines carried out a test program on Sumitomo s tailings.lo3 The coarse rejects could be burned without problems. However, the sludge produced at the Sumitomo coal

Table 12. Emission levels for the 125 MWe Emile Huchet CFBC boiler Emission SO, (6% 0,) NO, (6% O,)t Dust (6% 0,) Guaranteed 330 mg/Nm3 300 mg/Nm3 50 mg/Nm3 Actual 250 Mg/Nm3* < 200 mg/Nm3$ < 50 mg/Nm3

* At a typical Ca/S molar ratio of 1.9. t Expressed as NO,. 2 The average NO, is I70 mg/Nm3 for the dry schlamms and 120 mg/Nm3 for the slurry. bum coal/water slurry (33% water) and dry schlamms in any proportion up to a 1OO slurry. It has operA ated for over a week on slurry fuel alone. The excess air is adjusted to 20% when burning coal/water slurry only. It is increased when burning dry schlamms to maintain the same flue gas flow. The system can also accept up to 30% of its thermal input value from gas. The CFBC unit was expected to operate at Ca/S mole ratio of 2.5 and the limestone consumption was predicted to be about t/h with a total annual cost 7 of 7-8 million F or 1 centifranc per kWh. However, in practice this limestone feed rate is about 2.3-2.7 t/h for the current reject fuel which has about 1% or less sulphur content, giving a Ca/S mole ratio of 1.9. The limestone size is in the O-200 pm range and the average particle size is very small with a d,, of about 60 pm. The limestone is injected pneumatically into the bottom of the bed. Steam conditions are given in Table 11 and are comparable to the levels seen in conventional coalfired boilers. The CFBC boiler is a natural circulation boiler with moderate steam pressure. It should be noted that this boiler is a retrofit of an old PC boiler and that the previous water circuits (i.e. turboset, cooling tower and water feed system) have been preserved with only relatively minor modifications. Emission levels are given in Table 12. In 1991, the boiler had an availability of 83%. In 1992, the availability increased to 93.8%. No significant operational problems of any kind have been reported. This project has been so successful that CdF Ingtnerie Coreal has carried out two feasibility studies for projects in eastern Europe involving schlamms: one for Ostrava in the Czech Republic and the other in Zdzieszowice in Poland. It also has a current CFBC project in Spain, the 150 MWe Teruel project, which

2.56

E. J.

Anthony energy recovery to justify the capital and operating costs necessary to operate with these fuels. As of 1993, this unit has accumulated 23,000 h of continuous plant operation burning wastes and problem materials. ENERTEK has also licensed its technology to International Combustion Africa (ICAL), which is now incorporated into John Thompson Africa (JTA) and it is in the process of attempting to license its FBC technology internationally. The coal slimes or slurries burnt have a fairly high sulphur level (1%) and an ash content of about 21% (dry basis). The heating value is fairly high at 24.6 MJjkg (dry basis). The fired slurry contained as up to 63% solids. The maximum boiler efficiency achieved when firing slurries was only 67% (compared to 79% when firing duff coal). The slurry used for the ENERTEK test work was a discard product and was not beneficiated or milled. It was pumped with a 38 mm dia. air driven doublediaphragm pump through a flexible pipe to the injection nozzle. Successful overbed feed was demonstrated with this fuel but the preferred method of firing was inbed through nozzles. However, the slurries were first passed through a 5 mm sieve to remove any tramp material that had accidentally been included. Particle size in the slurry was 5-600 pm with a mean size around 200 pm. As has been seen with many other coal/water fuels, ENERTEK discovered that these slurries agglomerated to produce particles significantly larger than the parent material. However, ENERTEK experienced no defluidization from agglomeration in their test runs (typical test duration ranged from 1 to 4 days), although they did speculate that if the fuels were used continuously over long periods there might be problems with defluidization because of increasing size of the bed material due to the presence of the agglomerates. 4.1.10. United Kingdom Although there are no commercial FBC units burning coal rejects currently operating in the UK, much of the early development on the use of FBC for these fuels was performed in the UK under the auspices of British Coal from the early 1970s to 1985.114~1 Rogers and Cooke (1980) indicate that 8 approximately 56 Mt/a of washery rejects were produced and disposed of in 1979-1980. However, despite the relatively large quantity of such wastes being produced, FBC technology has not proven to be commercially attractive, mainly because few local users for the steam produced can be found.li4 Research was done on a series of BFBC combustors having dimensions 0.3 m dia., 0.5 m dia., 1 x 0.5 m, a 1.5 m dia. unit and a 0.6 m dia. spouted fluidized bed, all of which were operated by British Coal at its laboratories in Stoke Orchard. The tests were of short duration (typically 5-10 h) and in??Required

mine in Akabira, Hokkaido consisted of very fine particles (70% c 5 pm) and had moisture contents of 25--30x, typical of that achieved by the filter presses. The rheological properties of the sludge meant that feeding was most easily achieved by extruding the fuel into the top of the combustor in the form of 15 mm long segments. The test unit was a 2.8 x 3.3 m BFBC combustor with freeboard height of 6 m and the expanded bed depth employed was 1 m. The boiler output was rated as 10 t/h of steam. No s problems were reported with bed agglomeration using the extrusion technique. Since the development of the Akibara unit, Babcock Hitachi has continued its development of multifuel boilers and in 1991 had six operating installations (including the Akabira unit) which could be used to burn colliery washery waste as fuel. lo9 All of these boilers were of bubbling bed design. Only three (the Akibara boiler, a 11 t/h boiler at Kushiro, and a 50 t/h boiler at Ebetsu operated by the Oji Paper Company) are normally employed to burn colliery washery wastes. Specific details on the feed systems for these units have not been reported. However, it appears that the sludges have fairly low clay contents and are handled as effectively dry materials and, provided they are crushed to below 10 mm, can be fed using a conventional rotary feeder. Ebara Corporation has also done limited work on coal rejects, using its internally circulating fluidized bed technology, and reports good results. 41.9. South Africa South Africa derives 88% of its energy from coal and produces approximately 45 Mt/a of coal rejects (amounting to 20% of the mined coal). l1 l2 These 9 rejects are divided into three major waste products: l3 ??Discard coal, of high ash content; ??Duff coal, of high fines content; ??Slurry (or slimes), ultra-fine, with high water content. South African R&D on FBC combustion of coal rejects has been carried out under the auspices of the ENERTEK division of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) which operates a 3 sq. m BFBC boiler burning 10 t/h of fuel and producing about 12 t/h of steam. The boiler is located in Pretoria West. The coarse rejects are crushed to a top size of 6 mm and both coarse and fine rejects are either screw-fed overbed or pneumatically injected inbed. In 1987, CSIR entered into an R&D program to develop better methods for dealing with tailings fines. The primary aims of this program are to determine: ??Minimum water content at which slurries can be conveniently handled, conveyed and combusted; ??Importance of auxiliary fuels for such systems; ??Achievable thermal efficiency and how it is affected by water content and coal particle size and quality;

Fluidized

bed combustion

257

volved tailings with heating values ranging from 5 to 15 MJ/kg (dry basis). In the case of the 1.5 m dia. rig, tests were carried out using rejects screened to a top size of 3 mm and sprayed overbed in the form of a pumpable slurry with a 45% moisture content (wet basis). Approximately 36% of the ash was retained in the bed and some evidence of agglomeration was found. 16.1 Based on this work, British Coal developed a preliminary design for a unit to burn 30 t/h of thickened tailings with a water content of 45% and a heating value of about 8.5 MJ/kg. 4.1.11. United States

( > 40% moisture) or dense slurries ( c 40% moisture). Currently, most users of the technology attempt to burn nominally dry However, with the advent of . the Carling 125 MWe CFBC in France, it seems likely that the approach of using dense slurries, particularly for tailing fines, will find increasing favour, simplifying as it does the handling and feeding systems and removing the costly necessity of drying the rejects. For slurry fuels, the most serious problem is the potential for agglomeration. However, it seems clear that a number of designs can successfully introduce coal rejects into the FBC boiler while avoiding this problem. 5. PEAT

The U.S. market for FBC is currently the biggest in the world and there are numerous projects involving washery rejects from a wide variety of fuels. Thus for 1992, there were 29 FBC boilers worldwide burning washery rejects or anthracite culm, of which 23 were in the U.S.i19 In particular, Pennsylvania has currently about 13 operating FBC boilers and two others under construction, burning waste coal. There is a users organization the Anthracite , Region Independent Power Producers Association (ARIPPA) based in Pennsylvania, dedicated to assist users of FBC technology burning coal wastes. In the view of ARIPPA, CFBC technology is ideally suited to burning waste coals and in addition, such projects contribute substantial benefits in terms of clean-up of acid generating coal wastes.i2 In addition, companies like Air Products and Chemicals Inc. and PG&E are pursuing the owner/operator market where, in return for an appropriate power contract, these companies will be responsible for the development of a turnkey project using technologies such as a FBC unit to burn a washery reject or an alternative fuel. There are also a number of vendors such as B&W and Foster Wheeler that own and operate their own FBC proejcts.121m126

Peat is an unconsolidated desposit of semi-carbonized plant remains of a water saturated environment such as a bog or fen and of persistently high moisture content (75% minimum). It is considered an early stage or rank of coal. Typically it has a carbon content (dry) of up to 60% and oxygen contents of about 30% and, when dry, burns readily.12a In order to use peat, it is typically milled and then dried to about 50% moisture. Dried peat is associated with significant dust explosion hazard and must be properly handled during drying and pneumatic transport. 29 Peat has been extensively utilized as a fuel in Finland where, as of 1989, there were over 100 peat fired energy stations. 12g It has also been extensively burnt in CFBC plants in Finland and other Scandinavian countries. The first commercial Ahlstrom Pyroflow units built in 1979 employed this fuel and Pyropower lists some 16 CFBC boilers firing peat either by itself or co-fired with other fuels.** Other manufacturers also offer bubbling bed designs to burn peat, thus Outokumpu lists 18 BFBC boilers which are fired or co-fired with peat including 3 units in Deblois, Maine.13
6. PULP AND PAPER WASTES

4.2. General Conclusions on the Combustion of Coal Rejects It is clear that many countries have experimented with the use of FBC technology to burn coal rejects and that this technology is ideally suited to this class of fuels. Unfortunately, the economics of waste coal projects are very site-specific making it impossible to draw general conclusions about economic feasibility. There is, perhaps, one general caveat about * such projects, namely, that the cost advantage of waste coal can be easily offset by the additional costs associated with fuel extraction, preparation (e.g. drying and crushing) and any ancillary costs associated with designing a suitable FBC boiler to deal with the waste coal in question. A key decision in burning these materials is whether to handle them nominally dry or in dilute

6.1. Introduction The disposal of residual fibre and other mill wastes generated by the pulp and paper industry is becoming an increasingly serious concern, particularly with the trend towards recycling paper products. Currently, there is considerable interest in the application of FBC technology for burning de-inking and other wood/paper pulp-derived sludges, both in incineration and in energy-from-waste projects. This is demonstrated, for example, by the fact that five of the eight papers presented on sludge burning for the recent 12th International Conference on FBC, held in San Diego, California and sponsored by the ASME, were devoted to the subject of paper derived sludges.

258

E. J. Anthony nounced a 22.5 MWe cogeneration project in Brooklyn, Nova Scotia. The BFBC boiler will be owned and operated by the Chicago based Polsky Energy Corporation and run for Bowater Mersey Paper Company Ltd, with the power sold to Nova Scotia Power Inc.139 The company also has a 25 MWe BFBC plant in Whitecourt, Alberta which is designed to burn waste wood products. It also has extensive experience with wood-derived sludges outside of North America. 133 However, recently the Finnish parent company, Outokumpu Oy, sold a number of its constituent companies to Ahlstrom Pyropower and its BFB North American based subsidiary to Kvaerner EnviroPower AB. As indicated above, most of the pulp sludge market is dominated by companies using BFBC technology. However, Ahlstrom Pyropower is also offering CFBC technology. Its two North America projects both appear to involve fairly large boilers co-fired with coal (180 t/h). 14 Here the primary fuel is coal with the sludge being co-fired as a secondary fuel. Riley-Stoker Corporation is also exploring this market and has recently completed an extensive series of pilot-scale CFBC trials co-firing pulp sludges and coal under a contract to Morgantown Energy Technology Centre. 32Babcock and Wilcox in Barberton, Ohio are also looking at this fuel using their own CFBC and BFBC pilot plants.i41 In addition, there are other interested vendors who are actively pursuing the North American market, e.g. the Ebara Corporation. Industrial vendors interest in burning pulp and paper sludges in FBC systems appears to be intense. Although many of the active companies in this field are offering simple and low cost BFBC boilers, there seems no doubt that CFBC is also capable of giving good performance, especially when co-firing with coal in larger projects.

Current practices for disposal such as landspreading (which accounts for about 8% of paper sludge disposal in North America) may cost about $20/t with annual application rates of about 185 t/hectare requiring the availability of large areas of suitable land. In addition, there are concerns that such a practice adversely affects the drainage of land, may introduce PCBs and heavy metals into the land and causes odour problems. Similarly, landfill that currently accepts about 70% of this material in North America is becoming increasingly expensive, with disposal costs ranging from about $20 to $30 per wet tonne and up to a $50 per wet tonne near major urban areas.i3i The key element in improving the economics of burning these fuels and achieving autogenous combustion is water content. Typically most dewatering techniques deliver a product with 5060% moisture. At the higher limit a supplementary fuel must be used or alternatively heat exchangers are necessary to preheat the combustion air. There can also be feeding problems. However, there seem to be no emission problems since the fuels are of inherently low sulphur (0.05%) and low nitrogen (0.1%) contents. In addition, emissions of organics such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB) and polychlorodibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans (PCDD/CDF) are also very low (much less than 0.1 ng/Nm3 expressed in terms of a tetrachlorodibenzop-dioxin TCDD/Nm3 equivalent) and the ash produced from a 100% paper sludge firing is also nonhazardous in terms of standard leachate tests such as the Toxic Characteristic Leachate Procedure (TCLP).131m134

6.2. Industrial FBC Boiler Experience on Paper

Sludges Firing

Tampella Power Corporation has extensive experience with sludge firing using BFBC technology in the pulp and paper industry in Finland.135 Interestingly, Tampella cites one of the advantages of BFBC to be the possibility of retrofitting existing spreaderstoker equipment. The only North American project cited by them in a recent paper by J. Louhimo is a retrofit of the Champion International Corporation stoker in Sheldon, Texas. 35 In North America, JWP Energy Products of Idaho (EPI) recently installed a BFBC unit to burn 70 wet t/d of de-inking sludge in Spokane, Washington for Inland Empire Paper CO. and a 20 dry t/d of Bear ~~ Island Paper Company in Richmond, Virginia. 13 However, the current situation of EPI is uncertain as JWP Ltd divested itself of EPI. It was announced that an Alberta based company would purchase EPI13* but this does not seem to have occurred. Another company with success in marketing BFBC technology for wood derived-residues is Outokumpu EcoEnergy Inc. This Finnish company recently an-

7. MUNICIPAL

SOLID

AND INDUSTRIAL

WASTES

7.1. Muncipal Solid Wastes The combustion of municipal solid wastes (MSW) or refuse derived fuel (RDF) in BFBC boilers is well established, particularly in Japan where there are currently over 100 operational BFBC units for MSW. Current Japanese trends are to build larger BFBC plants. 14* In 1989 the U.S. EPA commissioned a study on the use of FBC to burn MSW. 43 The study was part of a larger program to provide emission standards and minimize emissions for new MSW combustors and concentrated on the use of FBC technology to burn RDF. A particularly important conclusion was that the lower temperatures normally employed by FBC systems, 8 15-87O (1500-l 600 C F) are adequate to ensure good combustion as compared to the minimum 980C (1800F) necessary for other MSW combustion technologies in order to

Fluidized bed combustion ensure the destruction of gas phase organics and to minimize the PCDDjCDF emissions. More recently in Canada, CANMET commissioned a study on the use of FBC for the combustion of MSW. 44 One of the major conclusions was that conventional BFBC systems operate best with treated MSW, i.e. RDF which requires relatively costly sorting and precrushing of the MSW. However, it appears that hybrid revolving and internally circulating FBC beds can effectively burn MSW with only minimal separation of oversized materials. FBC offers the advantage of considerable fuel flexibility, providing that the boiler is appropriately designed and is suited to co-firing waste fuels such as RDF along with a premium fuel like coal. A good example of this practice is provided by the Tacoma steam plant No. 2 which is operated by Tacoma City Light Corporation in Tacoma, Washington. In this facility, two BFBC boilers supplied by EPI, provide steam (2.76 MPa, 400C) to a 50 MWe turbine. The design fuel is 50% coal (of less than 0.8% sulphur). 35% wood waste and 15% RDF, based on heat input. Although the boilers can in principle feed any combination of fuels, the following restrictions have been set on the fuel feed: max. 50% RDF and max. 50-80x wood (depending on moisture content), with the balance of the fuel being supplied by coal. By avoiding the necessity of having to burn a minimum amount of garbage-based fuels (like mass burn plants), no restriction need be placed on recycling in the community. Thus. if 25% more of Tacoma s garbage is recycled, the balance can be made up of other fuels permitting the boilers to continue to operate at full load. 145 This flexibility of FBC boilers may significantly assist in the permitting of such MSW projects, although, since the tipping fee is in many cases key to the success of such a project, the economics of such a plant will also strongly limit options on fuel choices. Another project that will likely be important in the development of FBC for MSW combustion is that of the Reading Energy Company in Robbins, Illinois. 44.146 The two CFBC boilers are of a Foster Wheeler design and will pose the first use of CFBC in North America for the combustion of RDF. The units will produce 55 MWe and are expected to use about 453,500 t/a of MSW. These boilers will use a SNCR-system to keep NO, levels less than 130 ppmvd (7% 0,) and will use dry scrubber (using a lime slurry) to maintain HCl emissions below 25 ppmvd (7% 0,). In addition, small quantities of activated carbon will be mixed with the slurry and sprayed into the flue gases to help control certain heavy metal emissions (e.g. Hg) and organic emissions (particularly PCDD/CDF). This type of emission control is in fact identical to that employed by modern mass-burn systems, as these boilers will not use a limestone bed and bed inventory will be maintained by a mixture of sand and sieved bed ash. An important point to recognize is that for sys-

259

terns using limestone addition, HCl capture inbed depends very strongly on bed temperature. It will be very limited at normal bed temperatures and thus may require some other form of control for HCl. The reaction CaO + 2HCl = CaCl, + H,O (2)

is strongly reversible at typical FBC conditions and inbed HCl capture is negligible at bed temperatures much above 850C.147,148

7.2. Industrial

Waste Fuels

There is a wide range of industrial waste fuels that can be burned by FBC technology. A typical project of this type is a JWP Energy Products Inc. 32 t/h boiler burning X-ray film and plastics for E.I. Du Pont de Nemours and Company Inc. in Brevard. North Carolina. This on-site boiler uses <: 76 mm shredded plastic to supply 1.21 MPa saturated steam for Du Pont adjacent X-ray film manufacturing s plant which is the source of the waste plastic feeds. Here the BFBC boiler replaced an existing fossil fuel fired stoker with the overall benefit of net reduction in NO, and SO, emissions. 49 Plastics have also been co-fired with coal in a 65 MW Pyropower CFBC boiler as a mixture of waste plastics and cardboard packaging (supplying IO-20% of the overall energy). SoOverall, excellent combustion performance was reported. Important conclusions were that there was no relationship between PCDDjCDF in the flue gas and the fly ash but that the emissions of these compounds on fly ash itself corresponded strongly to their chlorine and copper content. Limited experiments were also carried out with the addition of sulphur, but this showed only a minimal influence in reducing PCDDjCDF concentrations. This conclusion is important because it has been suggested that sulphur addition might be a mechanism to reduce PCDDCDF concentrations, 51.2

Another important class of waste fuels is autoshredder residue (ASR) or, as it is sometimes known, car fluff. This fuel is derived from all of the non-recyclable portions of the automobile and contains significant plastic wastes, rubber, metallic components, and glass, etc. Typically this material contains about 4555% organic and hence burnable material (which, however, represents about 80% of the volume). A typical heating value for this material is 12.6 MJ/kg. In Quebec, Canada, this waste is considered hazardous although this is not the case in other parts of Canada, and so a major study was commissioned from the Centre de Recherche Industrielle du Quebec (CRIC) by the Ministry of Environment of Quebec.ls3 Considerable quantities of this material are produced. For instance, in Quebec about 120,000-l 30,000 t/a of fluff are produced and a total

260

E. J. Anthony ing the potential for energy recovery. There is, however, a potential problem which has not hitherto been recognized, namely N,O emissions. Sewage sludge has very high nitrogen content, typically from 5 to 8% dry basis,161~ and hence there is a poten62 tial for elevated NO, and N,O emissions. Emission levels of 45-600 ppm NO, (at 6.8-16.8x 0,) have recently been reported. It is interesting to note that emission levels of N,O were also high (51-106 ppm for O2 levels from 14.2 to 15.8%) for stoker-fired units burning this fuel. 16 Although N,O is not currently regulated, the potential of sewage sludges to give high N,O emissions should be of concern. A recent study in Korea gave results on the combustion of sewage sludge using both a conventional BFBC combustor and a two-stage swirl-flow fluidized bed unit. 63 However, this sludge had quite a high sulphur content (about 1.4%) and a relatively low nitrogen content (about 2.3%). The use of limestone for sulphur capture with this material, which is not a usual practice, was studied. Points of particular interest include: (a) the demonstration of significant overbed burning associated with fuel fines, indicating that the feed method chosen for this type of fuel may be particularly important for BFBC designs, and (b) the finding that heavy metals associated with the fuel were found quantitatively in the ash streams, i.e. they were not mobilized.

of 430,000 tonnes of ASR is estimated to have accumulated on the land where the automobile shredders are located. The CRIC study considered only conventional BFBC bed technology and erroneously concluded that FBC technology normally demanded a very uniform waste size distribution and fuel particle sizes of less than 13 mm (with the exception of a technology developed but not demonstrated by Turnpoint Engineering Corporation which was designed to deal with material up to 76 mm size.ls4 However, given that Turnpoint Engineering Corporation did not actually build any functioning full-scale FBCs burning ASR,155 any conclusions based on their work should be tempered with caution). 55 The CRIC study did, however, correctly note that there is considerable potentials for agglomeration with this fuel, due to the high glass and metal content. An additional problem noted by McGowin and Howe (1993)156 was the potential for superheater corrosion, presumably because of the high chlorine content of some of the plastics. ASR of a size of up to 76 mm was successfully burnt by EPI in a 0.84 sq. m pilot-scale BFBC combustor. 57 They report that it was critical remove oversized metal components magnetically to achieve successful feeding. They also reported plugging of the cyclone when temperatures were much above 815C. ASR, along with a wide range of alternative wastes, has also been successfully burnt more recently in 86 t/h internally circulating fluidized bed combustor built by Ebara in Japan.156 More recently, successful combustion has been demonstrated on a 32 MW Ahlstrom Pyropower CFBC system operated at Massy, France.158 In these trials car fluff was dried, then crushed to a mean size of about 50-80 mm, and ferrous metals were removed prior to feeding.

9. WASTE

TYRFX

8.

SEWAGE SLUDGE

FBC, and particularly BFBC, has been used extensively to burn sewage sludge since at least the early 197os.159 Typically, this sludge can be burned without auxiliary fuel, i.e. autogenously, if it is dewatered to about 40% solids; otherwise it must be co-fired with a supplementary fuel.16 A typical example of this type of FBC is found at Oneida, New York. This unit disposes of about 20 t/d of dry solids. Solids are dewatered to about 2@-27% moisture and fed by means of processing cavity pumps; No. 2 fuel oil is used as a supplementary fue1.15 In order to reduce the amount of supplementary fuel, the off-gases, which are at 8 15-87O (1500-1600F) are passed C through a heat exchanger and used to preheat the combustion air to 54659OC (1000-l 100F). The primary issue with sewage sludge from the point of view of economics is the dewatering technology; the lower the water content, the more likely it is that the sludge can be burnt autogenously, thus minimizing the use of supplementary fuel and improv-

Waste tyres are in many ways perfect fuel for the FBC boilers, having as they do a very high heating value ( - 27-39 MJ/kg), comparable to or better than the best quality coals, and moderate sulphur contents necessitating SO2 removal. 66 In addition, tyres 64- pose a considerable health problem when disposed of in conventional landfills, providing a breeding ground for insects and rodents and a significant fire hazard. A number of fires have recently occurred in Canada, including a major one at Hagersville, Ontario. In North America, the figure of one tyre a year per person is often quoted as the typical generation rate of tyres, showing that tyre disposal is indeed a major environmental problem.16 However, scrap tyres contain wire which can form bird-nest in the bed material. These must be removed by properly designed extraction systems to avoid plugging of the bed drains and subsequent defluidization. Tyres can also contain fibreglass which can form clinkers or lead to agglomeration.164 In addition, the ash can contain elevated zinc oxide levels which make ash disposal more problematic. 156 A particularly important study of the use of FBC for the combustion of waste tyres and other alternative fuels was carried out in 1991 by the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), who looked at commercial experience with tyres and tyre derived fuels (TDF) both with EPI units in North America and an

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bed combustion

261

internally circulating FBC unit in Japan. The study showed that properly designed fluid bed systems can deal effectively with the bird-nest wires and metal plates in the bed material.16s However, a major conclusion was that tyres or TDF cannot be burnt indiscriminately in FBC boilers; the boiler has to be properly designed to handle this type of fuel. Currently, most of the experience in burning tyres or TDF has been obtained with BFBC technology. However, Foster Wheeler Corporation has also carried out limited test work on a CFBC boiler being operated by Manitowoc Utilities in Wisconsin.169s17o The boiler was a 91 t, CFBC system and limited h trials were carried out firing a mixture of petroleum coke and TDF between 2 October to 15 December, 1991. In these trials, TDF up to 20% of the heat input was used, with the TDF being supplied as nominal 25 mm cubes (with oversized material up to 75 mm cubes). Foster Wheeler reported trouble free operation in these trials and determined that the Foster Wheeler directional nozzles which are designed to direct oversized materials to the bed withdrawal systems functioned well for this fuel. In addition, they reported no problems with segregation due to the large size of the TDF fuel. Foster Wheeler note in their paper that the demand for TDF is such that it is likely to be unavailable for the Manitowoc boiler in future. This comment underscores the fact that TDFs superior combustion characteristics mean that boilers dedicated to burning this material may have problems in ensuring long term supplies of tyres and in that case FBC fuel flexibility may offer a significant advantage in allowing the boiler to be operated with other fuels in the event that TDF becomes unavailable.

10. AGRICULTURAL/FOOD

PROCESSING

WASTES

Agricultural wastes cover a wide gamut of possible materials and include products ranging from biomass such as waste wood to others like olive pits, coffee grounds, etc. In order to simplify this section of the report, agricultural waste will be regarded as any product that is not produced in conjunction with a product with nutritional value for humans or animals (e.g. bark or wood products) while food processing waste will be defined here as residues produced in the direct processing of food materials (e.g. coffee grounds or olive pits). Food processing wastes will be regarded as distinct from waste foods, i.e. residues which could in principle be used for animal feedstocks.

10.1. Agricultural Wastes For such wastes, the key problem is probably ensuring reliable feeding of the waste, given that they often show considerable variation in density and

moisture content. In addition, where large variations of moisture content occur there are great benefits from ensuring careful blending of fuels to reduce effects of variations in fuel moisture and heat contents. Other key issues include ensuring that adequate bed withdrawal systems exist to deal with the large amount of tramp materials (e.g. rock and dirt) that are likely to accompany the agricultural waste feed, otherwise the boiler may well become defluidized. Another issue is that of fouling or agglomeration resulting from the high alkali content that is often associated with agricultural wastes, leading to the production of an ash whose softening temperature lies in the typical range at which such combustors are operated. One method of dealing with this problem is to use limestone as the bed material, thus helping to raise the ash softening point to 850-950C.i7 It is difficult to determine the total number of FBC units burning various wood wastes and biomass either by themselves or co-fired with coal or some other premium fuel. However, worldwide the number is certainly in the hundreds. For example, Babcock & Wilcox (B&W) have built 29 FBC units of which about 50% burn or co-fire agricultural wastes. In the U.S., B&W has built three CFBC/Studsvik boilers to burn wood and waste wood products.173 Similarly, in 1991, Pyropower reported that it had built over 90 CFBC systems worldwide. Of these, perhaps 20 or so have been used to burn wood or industrial waste either as the sole fuel or co-fired with a premium fuel such as coa1.174~ Other major compa75 nies such as Foster Wheeler, Deutsche Babcock. Asea Brown Boveri-Combustion Engineering and Lurgi, and Tampella Power Corporation also offer proven CFBC designs in North America and worldwide for a wide range of biomass and industrial wastes at both the industrial and utility scale. Smaller manufacturers are also offering FBC technology for a wide range of industrial wastes. For example, EPI i have built five successfully operati ing BFBC boilers for the combustion of biomass in California. The largest, a 27 MWe FBC boiler located in Delano, California burns agricultural wastes (orchard prunings, secondary wood, almond shells and cotton stalks). It has successfully met Californian emission guidelines for sulphur compounds, oxides of nitrogen, hydrocarbons and carbon monoxide. No significant problems have been reported with these units, although limestone addition was necessary for some fuels in order to increase the ash softening point and reduce fouling on the heat transfer surfaces. Ammonia injection was also necessary to meet Californian emission guidelines for NO,. Another company which has recently entered the North American market and boasts over 30 BFBC boilers worldwide burning a range of difficult fuels is Outokumpu Technology. Fuels burnt in their boilers include bark, wood chips, paper waste and waste sludes, oil tank sludges, etc. Outokumpu s North American subsidiary, Outokumpu EcoEnergy Inc., is

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E. J. Anthony

would be necessary, which would have entailed installing additional plant. The boiler was commissioned in January 1994, and is co-fired with coal. The effective water content of this composite fuel is about 73%. The fuel was introduced into the boiler by means of wide-throat auger-fed mono pumps, which are designed not only to feed the sludge, but cope with the occasional presence of large lumps (up to 15 mm) of chicory in the sludge. The pumps are also designed to throw 10.2. Food Processing Wastes the fuel across the bed and hence disperse it evenly across the bed to avoid local quenching of the bed Food processing can be classified into three classes due to its high water content. This project involved of operations: many unique engineering challenges and won a South ??Separation processes (e.g. rendering, skinning, African Institution of Chemical Engineering triboning, coring, defeathering, husking, peeling, annual innovation award. 1*O shelling); Food wastes per se do not appear to be utilized in ??Assembling processes (e.g. coating, enrobing, FBC systems. This is not altogether surprising bebaking, homogenization, roasting, pelleting, cause many food wastes contain high levels of water, stuffing); making them at best a questionable fuel. Also, ??Preservation, such as may occur at harvesting or protein-rich fuels have high nitrogen contents which at a food processing plant, etc. could lead to elevated levels of NO, and N,O emisOf these operations, clearly the first is the most sions. For instance, the 20 common amino acids likely to produce wastes which can be handled in a contain nitrogen levels from 8 up to 32%, products FBC combustor. However, most of these are availlike leather shoes contain up to 11.5%, ripe leaves able only in small quantities which means that the can contain up to 6%, while mixed food wastes may development of exclusive FBC equipment to burn contain 3%. In addition, waste foods lend them*l them is unlikely and the project is typically one-ofselves more naturally to operations like composting, a-kind so that it may not be reported in the literaethanol production or use in animal feedstocks. ture. For example, an examination of the boiler One possibility that is being examined is the cominstallation lists from JWP Energy Products Inc., bustion of waste leather. This waste is being tested Ahlstrom Pyropower, Babcock Enterprise Groupe by the Spanish government R&D organization and SFA Quaterly Report, June 199222~119~172~175CIEMAT using a BFBC pilot plant. The wastes revealed no projects involving food wastes. However, examined are from the Spanish tannery and footwear an example of a successful installation is provided by industry which produces about 40,000 and 10,000 t/a a boiler built by FluiDyne Engineering Corporation respectively, with nitrogen contents ranging from who constructed a BFBC unit (one of only two FBC 11.9 to 13%. The wastes are also heavily contamiboilers built by that company) in Lindsay, California, nated with chrome. Emission results fully exemplify burning olive pits (Lindsay Olive Growers). The FBC the NO, emission problem in that they ranged from solution for disposal of these wastes was chosen only 750 to 820 ppm (6% 02). * after a wide range of alternative options was considered, including attempts to grind for cattle feed, 11. DISCUSSION pressing into charcoal logs or for use as a road filler. The unit primary purpose was disposal of olive s pits, with steam raising as a secondary feature. ~ J This survey demonstrates the versatility of FBC The boiler was a single-piece shop-assembled fluid for burning a very broad range of hydrocarbon based bed boiler rated at about 9.1 t/h of steam. fuels. In particular, two fuels, petroleum coke and Another example of this type of one-of-a-kind waste coal, are shown to be of special economic project is provided by a BFBC boiler which produces importance, although at the moment most of the developments on petroleum coke are restricted to 26 t/h of steam by burning coffee grounds sludge, containing 85% water. This boiler was built by JTA North America. While FBC can achieve effective in Natal, South Africa. FBC technology was chosen combustion of almost any waste in an environmenbecause of its fuel flexibility and ability to accept tally benign way (i.e. low NO,., SO? and unburnt hydrocarbons), it is an expensive technology and wide variations in fuel composition, which was necessary to ensure that the plant could achieve two attempts to improve emissions performance always functions, namely to incinerate coffee ground sludges come at added cost. However, as the price of landfill produced at a varying rate, and to meet the plant increases and environmental standards become more steam requirement, which are not necessarily linked. rigorous, FBC is one of the few technologies that are No conventional combustion technology could burn likely to offer solutions for almost any combustible wastes at both small industrial scale and utility scale. the coffee grounds in this form, and hence pre-dying

currently building a 25 MWe power plant to burn sawdust and wood waste with a moisture content of 46x. Although the above list of full-scale FBC projects to burn wood and other agricultural wastes is not exhaustive, it does demonstrate that FBC technology can be regarded as a mature technology for burning these classes of fuels.

Fluidized bed combustion In the latter category, at least three major 250 MWe boilers and one 350 MWe boiler are underway in order to burn coa1.iE3 For utility-scale applications of FBC, most of the classical problems of slow startup have been resolved. Cold-startup times have been reduced to 10-15 h, comparable with those of conventional PC boilers,lE3 and hot-startups to a few hours (e.g. one CFBC boiler burning petroleum coke was operated regularly only during the daytime, to take advantage of cheap electricity that could be wheeled during night time hours). 24 Availabilities of over 90% are also commonplace. s3 An important consideration with respect to FBC is its potential fuel flexibility. However, this must be built into the technology. EPRI notes that its own studies have suggested that for a nominal investment of about $lOO/kW, variations in heating values of about 18.1-31.9 MJjkg (7,800-13,700 Btu/lb) can be accommodated and this would represent a capital cost increase for a 150 MWe plant of only 7%.iE3 There are perhaps two important limitations of FBC technology, namely sensitivity to agglomeration and significant N,O emissions. Agglomeration can arise in a number of ways: From the use of slmried or wet fuels where the water causes local wet quenchingiE4 and the formation of agglomerates, as in the case of coal rejects; From the use of fuels with components having a low ash softening point, e.g. as with biomass, due to high alkali contents, ASR, due to high glass contents; or pot liners and spent electrodes from the aluminum industry, due to the presence of cryolite; From phenomena that promote agglomeration and fouling through the limestone used for sulphur capture, i.e. chemical reaction sintering, of which petroleum coke firing appears to be an extreme case. N,O emission may become a major limitation when using the technology for coal, petroleum coke and a range of non-biomass fuels.41 Biomass fuels, however, produce inherently low N,O emissions.is Although N,O is not currently regulated, its potential as both a greenhouse gas and its capacity to destroy stratospheric ozone mean that it may become an important consideration in the future, and in the author view merits the considerable attention it is s receiving from the FBC R&D community as there is currently no satisfactory way of reducing N,O emissions. Other problems with alternative fuels relating to emissions can arise due to high nitrogen content which leads to high NO,., or to the presence of elements such as chlorine which must be captured after the bed. There are also mechanical problems in ensuring good feeding which can be particularly demanding for fibrous fuels or those with low bulk densities like biomass or tyres. Also, fuels containing

263

considerable tramp material such as MSW, ASR or agricultural wastes give problems both in feeding and removal of the inert fractions following combustion. However, some solutions exist such as Foster Wheeler directional nozzles, Ebara internally circus lating bed, or revolving beds which attempt to set up solid circulation patterns to promote mixing and allow tramp material to be removed. *6~1*7 Nevertheless, these sorts of problems are often under-appreciated by designers of FBC systems and have caused the failure of more than one FBC project. An additional caveat for biomass fuels is that unless they are co-fired with coal or petroleum coke, the size of an FBC project will be restricted. This arises simply due to the problems of collecting and transporting enough of these high moisture, high volume and hence low energy density fuels to operate a large unit.

12. CONCLUSION

Fluidized bed has been shown to be a versatile technology capable of burning practically any waste fuel combination with low emissions. There remain some challenges to overcome, particularly in the areas of N,O emissions and for certain fuels regarding agglomeration and fouling problems. Secondary issues involve the improvement of feeding and bed withdrawal systems which can pose serious problems with a few very difficult fuels such as ASR. In the long term the issue of limestone use and the disposal of bed ash will likely become problematic as well, particularly if landfill prices continue on the slow upward spiral being seen in North America. Currently, the disposal of spent ash can cost anywhere between 2 or 3 $/t up to about 21 $/t. While these *s problems have not been discussed in great detail in this report, they are likely to become increasingly important in the future.
would like to thank Professor Henry Becker and Mr Peter Gogolek for a number of useful suggestions during the preparation of this article.
Acknowledgements-I

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