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Combustion and Emission Characteristics of Egyptian Sugarcane Bagasse and Cotton Stalks Powders in a Bubbling Fluidized Bed Combustor

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Abstract

Combustion and emission characteristics of Egyptian sugarcane bagasse and cotton stalks powders were investigated in a bubbling fluidized bed combustor (BFBC) using silica sand as an inert bed material. Mixing and fluidizing characteristics of the two biomass materials and bed material of a certain size distribution were studied. It was found that, the feed rate ranged from 70 to 113 g/min and feed rate of 51 g/min for cotton stalks and sugarcane bagasse, respectively may be suitable for better combustion characteristics in the BFBC. The effect of different operating parameters on the axial temperature and gas concentration profiles (O2, CO2, CO, H2S, SO2 and NOx) was investigated. It was found that the formation of NOX during combustion doesn’t represent a problem as the nitrogen content of fuel is low, the bed temperature of fluidized bed is below 900 °C, and the particle size of the biomass is small. It was found that combustion efficiency ranged from 90 to 100% and from 93 to 98.8% for sugarcane bagasse and cotton stalks, respectively. Thermal efficiency was found to be in the range of (33.7–41%) and (32.5–48.7%) for sugarcane bagasse and cotton stalks, respectively. A verification model for mass and heat balance of combustion experiments was constructed to confirm that the measured values of different parameters were measured accurately with acceptable percent of error.

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Abbreviations

\({d_p}\) :

Particle diameter (m)

Ф:

Sphericity

\({\rho _b}\) :

Bulk density (kg/m3)

\({{\text{Q}}_{{\text{air~}}}}\) :

Theoretical amount of air required for combustion of one kilogram of fuel \(\left( {{\text{m}}_{{{\text{air}}}}^{3}/{\text{k}}{{\text{g}}_{\text{f}}}} \right)\)

\({{\text{m}}_{{\text{air}}}}~\) :

Amount of air required for complete combustion of one kilogram of fuel \(\left( {{\text{k}}{{\text{g}}_{{\text{air}}}}/{\text{k}}{{\text{g}}_{\text{f}}}} \right)\)

\({\dot {Q}_C}\) :

Theoretical volume flow rate of air (m3/min)

\(\dot {Q}\) :

Volume flow rate of total air at any velocity (m3/min)

FR:

Biomass material feeding rate (g/min)

\({{\text{U}}_{{\text{mf}}}}\) :

Minimum fluidization velocity (m/s)

\({{\text{U}}_{{\text{mf}},{\text{m}}}}\) :

Minimum fluidization velocity of the binary mixture (m/s)

U:

Fluidizing velocity (m/s)

\({\text{A}}{{\text{U}}_{{\text{mf}}}}\) :

Amount of gas passing through the emulsion phase is equal to that required for minimum fluidization (m3/min)

\({{\text{A}}_{\text{b}}}\left( {{\text{U}} - {{\text{U}}_{{\text{mf}}}}} \right)\) :

The remaining gas passes through the bubble phase (m3/min)

\({{\text{A}}_{\text{b}}}\) :

Cross sectional area of the bed (m2)

\({{\text{d}}_{\text{b}}}\) :

The equivalent volume diameter of a bubble (m)

\({{\text{H}}_{\text{b}}}\) :

Height of the bed (m)

Z:

Height of the bubble above the distributor (m)

\({{\text{A}}_{\text{o}}}\) :

The nozzle area of the distributor (m2)

\({{\text{d}}_{{\text{b}},{\text{max}}}}\) :

Maximum stable bubble size (m)

D:

Diameter of the bed (m)

\({X_{bio}}\) :

Biomass fraction

\({T_a}\) :

Air temperature (°C)

\({T_{exh}}\) :

Exhaust gas temperature (°C)

\({\upeta _{\text{c}}}\) :

Combustion efficiency

\({\upeta _{{\text{th}}}}\) :

Thermal efficiency

\(m_{f}^{ \cdot }\) :

Fuel mass flow rate (kg/s)

\(m_{a}^{ \cdot }\) :

Air mass flow rate (kg/s)

\(m_{g}^{ \cdot }\) :

Flue gas flow rate (kg/s)

\(C_{a}\) :

Heat capacity of air (kJ/kg K)

\({C_g}\) :

Heat capacity of flue gas (kJ/kg K)

HV:

Heating value of fuel (kJ/kg)

\({T_g}\) :

Flue gas temperature (K)

\({T_a}\) :

Ambient temperature (K)

\({f_{ash}}\) :

Ash content in 1 kg fuel \(\left( {{\text{k}}{{\text{g}}_{ash}}/{\text{k}}{{\text{g}}_f}} \right)\)

\({X_{{N_2}}}\) :

Nitrogen mole fraction

\({X_{C{O_2}}}\) :

Carbon dioxide mole fraction

\({X_{CO}}\) :

Carbon monoxide mole fraction

\({X_{{O_2}}}\) :

Oxygen mole fraction

\({m_{{N_2}}}\) :

Mass of nitrogen supplied by the combustion air per unit mass of fuel \(~\left( {{\text{k}}{{\text{g}}_{{N_2}}}/{\text{k}}{{\text{g}}_f}} \right)\)

\({\left( {{\raise0.7ex\hbox{$A$} \!\mathord{\left/ {\vphantom {A F}}\right.\kern-0pt}\!\lower0.7ex\hbox{$F$}}} \right)_{th,by{\text{~}}mass}}\) :

Theoretical air to fuel ratio by mass \(\left( {{\text{k}}{{\text{g}}_{air}}/{\text{k}}{{\text{g}}_{fuel}}} \right)\)

\(\left( {{\raise0.7ex\hbox{$A$} \!\mathord{\left/ {\vphantom {A F}}\right.\kern-\nulldelimiterspace} \!\lower0.7ex\hbox{$F$}}} \right)_{{act,mass}}\) :

Actual air to fuel ratio by mass \(\left( {{\text{k}}{{\text{g}}_{air}}/{\text{k}}{{\text{g}}_{fuel}}} \right)\)

Q:

Heat of combustion (KJ)

\(h_{f}^{o}\) :

Enthalpy of formation (KJ/mol)

\({h_i}\left( T \right)\) :

Sensible enthalpy of any species at any temperature (kJ/mol)

\({h_i}\left( {{T_o}} \right)\) :

Sensible enthalpy of any species at STP (kJ/mol)

\({n_i}\) :

Number of moles (mol)

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Mechanical Power Department, Faculty of Engineering, Zagazig University, Al-Sharkia, Egypt

    Saad A. El-Sayed & Mohamed E. Mostafa

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  1. Saad A. El-Sayed
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Correspondence to Saad A. El-Sayed.

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El-Sayed, S.A., Mostafa, M.E. Combustion and Emission Characteristics of Egyptian Sugarcane Bagasse and Cotton Stalks Powders in a Bubbling Fluidized Bed Combustor. Waste Biomass Valor 10, 2015–2035 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12649-018-0199-8

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