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Co-combustion characteristics of municipal sewage sludge and bituminous coal

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Abstract

The co-combustion characteristics of municipal sewage sludge and bituminous coal in air and O2/CO2 atmospheres were assessed by using a thermogravimetric analysis approach between heating rates of 20 and 80 K min−1. The combustion characteristics of sewage sludge/bituminous coal blend (50% blending ratio) in air were also compared with its oxy-fuel behavior. In air atmosphere, the ignition temperatures for sludge/coal blends were between those for their parent samples, which ranged from 238 to 418 °C. In O2/CO2 atmosphere with oxygen content of 30%, the ignition temperatures of 50%sewage sludge/50%coal blend were between 260 and 275 °C, which were less than those (268–280 °C) in air. The ignition and burnout indexes of the sample in 30%O2/70%CO2 atmosphere were very close to those in air. The temperatures with respect to maximum combustion rates of the 50%sewage sludge/50%coal blend in 40%O2/60%CO2 were lower than those in air. The average value of the activation energy for the 50%sewage sludge/50%coal blend in 30%O2/70%CO2 was less than that in air.

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Abbreviations

α :

Conversion degree

A :

Pre-exponential factor (s−1)

C:

Char

D :

Combustion index

E a :

Apparent activation energy (J mol−1)

m :

Mean; empirical constant in integral function

n :

Reaction order

R :

Universal gas constant (J mol−1K−1)

T :

Temperature (K/ °C)

VM:

Volatile matter

β :

Heating rate (K min−1)

b:

Burnout

i:

Ignition

max:

Maximum

p:

Peak

∆:

Increment

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under No. 51376017.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Thermal Engineering, School of Mechanical, Electronic and Control Engineering, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing, 100044, China

    Shibo Niu, Meiqian Chen & Yang Li

  2. Beijing Key Laboratory of Flow and Heat Transfer of Phase Changing in Micro and Small Scale, Beijing, 100044, China

    Shibo Niu, Meiqian Chen & Yang Li

  3. Guohua Electric Power Branch, China Shenhua Energy Company Limited, Beijing, 100025, China

    Jianjun Song

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  1. Shibo Niu
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Correspondence to Meiqian Chen.

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Niu, S., Chen, M., Li, Y. et al. Co-combustion characteristics of municipal sewage sludge and bituminous coal. J Therm Anal Calorim 131, 1821–1834 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10973-017-6716-3

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