Sintering and Fusibility Risks of Pellet Ash from Different Sources at Different Combustion Temperatures

Juan Carlos Contreras-Trejo, Daniel José Vega-Nieva, Maginot Ngangyo Heya, José Angel Prieto-Ruíz, Cynthya Adriana Nava-Berúmen and Artemio Carrillo-Parra
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Juan Carlos Contreras-Trejo: Maestría Institucional en Ciencias Agropecuarias y Forestales (MICAF), Universidad Juárez del Estado de Durango (UJED), Durango 34100, Mexico
Daniel José Vega-Nieva: Facultad de Ciencias Forestales y Ambientales, Universidad Juárez del Estado de Durango (UJED), Durango 34120, Mexico
Maginot Ngangyo Heya: Facultad de Agronomía (FA), Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León (UANL), Escobedo 66050, Mexico
José Angel Prieto-Ruíz: Facultad de Ciencias Forestales y Ambientales, Universidad Juárez del Estado de Durango (UJED), Durango 34120, Mexico
Cynthya Adriana Nava-Berúmen: Tecnológico Nacional of México (TecNM), Campus Technological Institute of Valle del Guadiana (ITVG), Villa Montemorelos 34371, Mexico
Artemio Carrillo-Parra: Instituto de Silvicultura e Industria de la Madera (ISIMA), Universidad Juárez del Estado de Durango (UJED), Durango 34120, Mexico

Energies, 2022, vol. 15, issue 14, 1-18

Abstract: Pellets are solid biofuels with a combustion efficiency of 85–90%, low CO 2 emissions and costs, great comfort and versatility. However, the ash generated during combustion can present sintering and fusibility, decreasing boiler efficiency and potentially malfunctioning. Ash composition indexes can be useful to predict observed ash sintering and fusion but require further analysis for a variety of feedstocks. The objective of this work was to determine the effect of the mineral composition of pellet ash from 15 biomasses of forest and agro-industrial sources on observed pellet ash slagging using a laboratory test. The chemical composition of pellets and the indexes B, NaK/B, SiP/CaMg and SiPNaK/CaMg at 550 and 1000 °C were determined. Pearson correlation tests were also performed between cumulative percentages of slag at different sieve sizes. The concentrations of CaO ranged from 4.49 to 65.95%, MgO varied from 1.99 to 17.61%, and the SiO 2 concentration was between 16.11 and 28.24% and 2.19–56.75% at 550 and 1000 °C, respectively. Pellets of forest origin presented a low risk of slag formation, while those from agro-industrial sources showed a high risk of slag formation. The index SiPNaK/CaMg showed the highest correlation (R 2 > 0.75) to observed slagging using the BioSlag test.

Keywords: ash; biomass; pellets; slag; sintering (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: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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