Analysis of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon Content in Ash from Solid Fuel Combustion in Low-Power Boilers

Ewa Szatyłowicz and Wojciech Walendziuk
Additional contact information
Ewa Szatyłowicz: Department of Technology in Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Civil and Environmental Sciences, Bialystok University of Technology, Wiejska 45A, 15-351 Bialystok, Poland
Wojciech Walendziuk: Department of Electrical Engineering, Power Electronics and Electrical Power Engineering, Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Bialystok University of Technology, Wiejska 45A, 15-351 Bialystok, Poland

Energies, 2021, vol. 14, issue 20, 1-17

Abstract: The production of thermal energy is one of the sources of environmental pollution, especially when it uses traditional fossil fuels (in particular hard and brown coal). Burning conventional fuels contributes to air pollution because of emitting gases and producing waste after the process of burning in the form of ash. The work below was aimed at determining the indirect emission of PAHs in the form of fly ash, depending on the type of fuel burned. The conducted research showed which solid fuel combustion content leaves the lowest content of PAH in the fly ash. This work contains the analysis and assessment of the content of 16 PAHs (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons) in fly ash from the combustion of five selected solid fuels in low-power boilers. The following fuels were chosen for the research: hard coal with granulation above 60 mm, coal with the grain size of 25–80 mm, coal with the grain size of 8–25 mm, pellets with the grain size of 6 mm, and mixed dry wood. The results of the research showed that the most frequent and most concentrated compounds were naphthalene and acenaphthylene from the PAH group. These hydrocarbons have the smallest number of rings in a molecule. It was also found that the content of the LMW (Low Molecular Weight Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons) fractions in the fly ash from the analyzed fuels in ∑PAHs exceeds 57% in the case of 6 mm pellets and in the case of the ash from wood and hard coal when the grain size >60 mm. The opposite dependence can be observed in the case of the HMW (High Molecular Weight Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons) fraction.

Keywords: PAH; fly ash; solid fuel; 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: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/14/20/6801/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/14/20/6801/ (text/html)

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:gam:jeners:v:14:y:2021:i:20:p:6801-:d:659184

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Agatha Cao

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().