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Co-firing carbon dioxide-torrefied woody biomass with coal on emission characteristics

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Abstract

Torrefaction is a pre-treatment technique that involves the partial pyrolysis (200–300 °C) of biomass in an inert environment to improve its fuel properties. Effect of co-firing CO2-torrefied mesquite and juniper (10 % on mass basis) with coal in a 30-kWt downfired burner was studied considering the grindability potential of CO2-torrefied biomass (60 % higher grindability than N2-torrefied biomass). It was observed that co-firing 10 % by mass of raw mesquite with coal reduced the NO x emission from 420 to 280 ppm (33 % reduction) for an equivalence ratio (ER) of 0.9. However, co-firing TB with coal reduced the NO x emission by 10 % when compared to base case NO x emission from combustion of pure powder river basin coal (PRB) coal. Carbon monoxide percentage in the flue gas increased when biomass was co-fired with coal. An inverse relation was observed between CO and NO x emissions due to NO x reducing potential of CO in the presence of fixed carbon. Combining the advantages of using a greenhouse gas CO2 for pre-treatment and potential of CO2-torrefied biomass in reducing emissions with improved grindability, proves co-firing torrefied biomass with coal is an efficient technique.

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Abbreviations

A/F :

Air-to-fuel ratio

BTU:

British thermal unit

C:

Carbon

CFD:

Computational fluid dynamics

CO:

Carbon monoxide

CO2 :

Carbon dioxide

c p :

Specific heat at constant pressure

DAF:

Dry ash free

ER:

Equivalence ratio

FC:

Fixed carbon

GWP:

Global warming potential

H:

Hydrogen

H/C:

Ratio of hydrogen to carbon

HCN:

Hydrogen cyanide

HEX:

Heat exchanger

HHV:

Higher heating value

kJ/kg:

Kilojoule per kilogram

kW:

Kilowatt

kWt :

Kilowatt thermal

LPM:

Liters per minute

MJ:

Megajoule

MWe :

Megawatt electrical

N:

Nitrogen

NH3 :

Ammonia

NO x :

Nitrogen oxides

O:

Oxygen

O/C:

Ratio of oxygen to carbon

ppm:

Parts per million

PRB:

Powder river basin coal

RJ:

Raw juniper

RM:

Raw mesquite

RQ:

Respiratory quotient

S:

Sulfur

SCFM:

Standard cubic feet per minute

SLPM:

Standard liters per minute

SMD:

Sauter mean diameter

SO x :

Sulfur oxides

SR:

Stoichiometric ratio

TJ:

Torrefied juniper

TM:

Torrefied mesquite

VM:

Volatile matter

W:

Watt

X i :

Mole fraction of species i

\( {x}_{{\mathrm{O}}_2,\ \mathrm{flue}} \) :

Mole fraction of oxygen in the flue gas

\( {x}_{{\mathrm{O}}_2,\ \mathrm{a}\mathrm{m}\mathrm{b}} \) :

Mole fraction of oxygen in the ambient air

ϕ:

Equivalence ratio

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Acknowledgments

Authors acknowledge the help from Tiyawut Tiyawangsakul, Jason Caswell, and Dr Mirik Mustafa. The authors would like to thank the 2013 Texas A&M University-CONACYT: Collaborative Research Grant Program for financial support.

Consent and Ethical Statement

The manuscript was written through contributions of all authors. All authors have given approval to the final version of the manuscript and its publication. The submitted manuscript is not in consideration in any other journal, and no data presented here are fabricated.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, MS 3123 Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, 77843, USA

    Siva Sankar Thanapal & Kalyan Annamalai

  2. Texas A&M Agrilife Research, Vernon, TX, 76384, USA

    Robert James Ansley

  3. George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, 30332-0405, USA

    Devesh Ranjan

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  1. Siva Sankar Thanapal
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  2. Kalyan Annamalai
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  4. Devesh Ranjan
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Correspondence to Devesh Ranjan.

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Thanapal, S.S., Annamalai, K., Ansley, R.J. et al. Co-firing carbon dioxide-torrefied woody biomass with coal on emission characteristics. Biomass Conv. Bioref. 6, 91–104 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13399-015-0166-6

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