Experimental Study and Design of Biomass Co-Firing in a Full-Scale Coal-Fired Furnace with Storage Pulverizing System

Co-firing coal and biomass in existing power plants facilitates influential advancement in the use of renewable energy resources and carbon emissions reduction. Biomass is intended as a CO2-zero net emission because, during its rise, it uses the same fraction of CO2 from the air as that released during its combustion. In addition, the content of nitrogen and sulfur in biomass is lower than in coal. Therefore, the emissions of NOx and SOx can be minimized by co-firing it with coal. In general, the effect of biomass direct co-firing on safety, pulverizing system performance, furnace efficiency, and NOx emission in full-scale furnaces is rarely studied. In this study, biomass direct co-firing was carried out in a 55 MW tangentially fired pulverized coal furnace. The effects of biomass co-firing on safety, the performance of the pulverizing system, furnace efficiency, and pollutant emissions (unburned carbon and NOx) are studied. The results show that the blending of biomass fuel with less than 20% of coal has no issue with respect to auto-ignition and safety. The performance of the pulverizing system is affected up to a certain limit due to the difficulty of grinding the biomass particles into required fineness. The biomass co-firing up to 20% is feasible, but greater than this percentage will severely affect the furnace efficiency. The co-firing of biomass enhanced the NOx reduction significantly and further improved the performance of the SNCR process. This study could provide guidance for the application of biomass co-firing in industrial furnaces.

Automated summary

Co-firing coal and biomass in existing power plants can lead to significant advancements in utilizing renewable energy and reducing carbon emissions. However, the blending ratio of biomass and coal, as well as factors affecting the performance of the pulverizing system and furnace efficiency, need to be carefully considered in practice.