A Study of Sewage Sludge Co-Combustion with Australian Black Coal and Shiitake Substrate

Guan-Bang Chen, Samuel Chatelier, Hsien-Tsung Lin, Fang-Hsien Wu and Ta-Hui Lin
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Guan-Bang Chen: Research Center for Energy Technology and Strategy, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan 70101, Taiwan
Samuel Chatelier: Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan 70101, Taiwan
Hsien-Tsung Lin: Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan 70101, Taiwan
Fang-Hsien Wu: Research Center for Energy Technology and Strategy, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan 70101, Taiwan
Ta-Hui Lin: Research Center for Energy Technology and Strategy, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan 70101, Taiwan

Energies, 2018, vol. 11, issue 12, 1-25

Abstract: Co-combustion technology can be a gateway to sewage sludge valorization and net CO 2 reduction. In this study, combustion characteristics of sewage sludge, Australian black coal, shiitake substrate, and their blends were analyzed via thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) coupled with Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The ignition temperature, burnout temperature, flammability index ( C ), and combustion characteristics index ( S ) of the fuels and their respective blends were estimated. Kinetic parameters were also estimated using the Coats-Redfern method. The results showed that the oxidation of the blends had two distinct stages. Synergistic effects existed for all the blends, with negative ones occurring at temperatures between 300 and 500 °C and positive ones during the char oxidation period. In the first oxidation stage, both C and S indexes increased with sludge addition to the coal. However, they decreased with sludge addition in the final oxidation stage. The catalytic effect of the sludge and the shiitake was pronounced in the final oxidation stage and it resulted in a decrease of activation energy. As for the pollutant emissions, the results showed that NO x and SO 2 emissions decreased for 25 wt.% sludge addition to the coal. For the sludge-shiitake blends, NO x and SO 2 emissions decreased with increasing shiitake addition. The single-pellet combustion results showed that ignition delay time reduced with increasing sludge/coal ratio but increased with increasing sludge/shiitake ratio. The volatile combustion duration decreased with the addition of sludge and total combustion time decreased sharply with increasing sludge ratio.

Keywords: co-combustion; sewage sludge; thermogravimetric analysis; Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy; synergistic effect; single-pellet combustion (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (10)

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