| The fluidized bed combustion process has been employed successfully in several applications, among which steam raising is notable. The use of circulating fluidized bed (CFB) combustion for steam and power generation offers a competitive alternative both in the United States and worldwide, yet there remain technical issues, which if addressed, can improve the competitive position of CFB boiler technology, and improve the operating economics of existing plants.; Prominent among these technical issues are the performance of limestones and dolostones as sorbents for emissions control, and the ability of a plant's ash handling system to respond to changes in the fuel or sorbent used by the plant.; Study of the effects of fuel and sorbent properties on the partitioning of their resultant bed particles between the ash streams, during the fluidized bed combustion process, has been carried out. This work used results from sorbent tests in a commercial CFB boiler and experimentation with laboratory fluid bed reactors. Sorbents varying in petrographic properties were used in the boiler tests as well as the laboratory testing. Fuels tested had varying distributions of ash content by specific gravity, and ranged in composite ash content from 25 to 49 wt%.; Sorbent petrographic properties, described by a characteristic crystallite size, influenced the partitioning of calcium to the flyash and bottom ash streams of the boiler.; Under the boiler conditions used for the sorbent tests, sorbent petrographic properties significantly influenced the sorbent consumption rate required by the boiler to maintain air quality compliance.; Testing of a range of fuels was carried out in a laboratory fluid bed combustor. Ashing of different specific gravity fractions of the coarse fuel particles revealed a trend where higher specific gravity fractions of the fuel yielded coarse ash particles. A trend was found between increased presence of high ash content particles in a fuel, and increased production of bottom ash by the combustor.; The results suggested that the distribution of ash content across the range of fuel particles, sorbent attrition properties, and the size classification characteristics of the system will influence the ash split produced by a fluid bed combustion system. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)... |
