Experimental study on the effects of co-firing coal mine waste residues with coal in PF swirl burners

B. Peña, J. Pallarés, C. Bartolomé and C. Herce

Energy, 2018, vol. 157, issue C, 45-53

Abstract: Co-firing coal mine discards with coal in pulverized fuel burners of the current power plants would be a promising way both to reduce the environmental impact of coal production and to energy valorize such residues, with an acceptable economic investment. Changes in fuel blends bring along alterations in flame dynamics and structure which must be considered for successful operation. The paper addresses the challenge of co-firing coal mine waste residues of low rank, high ash content and rich in sulfur with bituminous South African coal in a 500 kWth pulverized fuel pilot plant. The effect of fuel blend composition on combustion performance is investigated by means of image processing and through some relevant operation parameters recordered during the tests. Lower brightness, fluctuations and flicker frequency are registered in the flame videos as coal mine waste residues are added. Nonetheless, the experimental tests confirmed the viability of the process with acceptable levels of carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxides, very stable chamber pressure and gases temperature. The present work also shows the usefulness of visualization systems for detecting and characterizing dynamical instabilities associated with changes in flame structure and certain flame features could be used as inputs in monitoring systems or predictive control.

Keywords: Coal mining residues; Co-firing; Digital image processing; Flame instability; Pulverized fuel burner (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360544218309149
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:energy:v:157:y:2018:i:c:p:45-53

DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2018.05.091

Access Statistics for this article

Energy is currently edited by Henrik Lund and Mark J. Kaiser

More articles in Energy from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().