In-situ measurement of combustion characteristics and potassium release concentration during torrefied biomass burning based on spontaneous emission spectroscopy

The orthogonal experiment designed in this paper investigated the effect of changes in experimental parameters such as biomass species, torrefaction temperature, torrefaction time, torrefaction oxygen concentration on the physicochemical properties and combustion characteristics of the torrefaction products. Two optical fiber spectrometers were used to capture the spontaneous emission spectra of the combustion flame of compressed pellets of torrefied biomass, and the in-situ measurement of pellet combustion temperature and K release concentration at high heating rate was realized by multi-spectral analysis algorithm. The experimental results indicate that for biomass, torrefaction will lead to a decrease of volatile and moisture content and an increase of fixed carbon and ash content in components, a decrease of O and H and an increase of C content in elements, a certain loss of biomass quality, an increase of high heat value, and each indicator move closer to coal. The effects of various experimental parameters on the volatile content, mass yield, high heat value increase rate and energy yield in biomass torrefaction products have similar laws, i.e., biomass species / torrefaction oxygen concentration > torrefaction temperature > torrefaction time. The mild torrefaction product pellets have a shorter ignition delay, increased volatile combustion flame height and peak temperature, longer volatile and char combustion duration, but lower peak char combustion temperature, among which the selected torrefaction products of rice straw and pine wood showed an increase in peak temperature of 0.56 % (11 K) and 0.61 % (12 K) for the volatile stage respectively, and a decrease of and 1.29 % (20 K) and 1.29 % (21 K) for the char stage respectively. In addition, the peak K release concentration during combustion of the mild torrefaction product pellets was reduced, among which the peak K release concentrations during the volatile and char stage were reduced by 43.22 % (3.89 ppm) and 52.93 % (51.55 ppm) of the rice straw torrefaction product respectively, and by 73.14 % (1.28 ppm) and 62.08 % (15.01 ppm) for the pine wood torrefaction product respectively. Biomass torrefaction products have fuel properties closer to coal, less K released from the combustion process, which have the potential to become an alternative to coal.

Automated summary

This study investigates the effect of various experimental parameters on the physicochemical properties and combustion characteristics of torrefaction products. The results show that torrefaction decreases volatile and moisture content, increases fixed carbon and ash content, and makes the indicators closer to coal. The parameters have similar effects on volatile content, mass yield, high heat value increase rate, and energy yield. The torrefaction products have fuel properties closer to coal and release less K during combustion.