Combustion characteristics of high ash Indian thermal, heat affected coal and their blends

Onsite mine fire generates large volumes of heat-affected coal in Jharia coalfields, India. Direct utilization of such heat-affected coal in thermal utilities is not feasible as such coal does not have the desirable volatile matter required for combustion. In the present work, experimental studies have been carried out to investigate the possible utilization of such heat-affected coal in thermal utilities by blending with other coal. Heat-affected coal (31% ash and 5300 kcal/kg GCV) collected from Jharia coalfield were blended with thermal coal (28% ash and 5650 kcal/kg GCV) in different ratios of 90:10, 80:20, 70:30 and 60:40 to identify the desirable blend ratio for burning of blended coal in thermal utilities. Burning characteristics of all the coals were carried out using TGA. Various combustion parameters such as ignition temperature, peak temperature, burnout temperature, ignition index, burnout index, combustion performance index, rate and heat intensity index of the combustion process and activation energy were evaluated to analyse the combustion process. Experimental and theoretical analysis shows the blend ratio of 90:10 can be used in place of only thermal coal in utilities to reduce the fuel cost.

Ash analyses of bio-coal briquettes produced using blended binder

The behaviour of ash of fuel affects its thermal efficiency when in use. The ash analyses of bio-coal briquettes developed from lean grade coal and torrefied woody biomass have received limited intensive study. Therefore, the present study aims at analysing the ashes of briquette made from lean grade coal and torrefied woody biomass using blended coal tar pitch and molasses as the binder. Bio-coal briquettes were produced from coal and torrefied biomass in various hybrid ratios. Ashing of various briquettes was done in a muffle furnace at 850 °C for 3 h. Mineral phases of the ash were identified using an X-ray Diffractometer (XRD), while the mineral oxides were obtained using an X-ray Fluorescence Spectrometer. The AFT700 Furnace was used with its AFT700 software to evaluate the ash fusion temperatures of the ashes. The XRD patterns look similar, and quartz was found to be the dominant mineral phase present in the raw coal and bio-coal briquettes. The SiO2 (57–58%), Al2O3 (19–21%), and Fe2O3 (8–9%) were the major oxides observed in the ashes. The final fusion temperatures of the ashes range from 1300–1350 °C. The compositions of the ashes of the bio-coal briquettes are classified as detrital minerals. It was concluded that the addition of torrefied biomass (≤ $$10\%)$$ 10 % ) and blended binder ($$\le $$ ≤ 15%) to coal gave a negligible impact on the ashes of the resultant bio-coal briquettes.

Computational modeling of flow field in boiler before and after urea injection under different conditions

In order to achieve ultra-low NOx emissions, the effects of total excess air coefficient, air coefficient in main combustion zone, blended-coal combustion and ammonia nitrogen molar ratio on a 330 MW coal-fired boiler combustion were studied by numerical simulation. The results show that the velocity field and temperature field in the furnace have synergy, the better the synergy is, the faster the temperature rises, and the more NOx it generates. Compared before and after urea spraying, the NOx concentration decreased with the decrease of the total excess air coefficient, the optimum total excess air coefficient is about 1.15, and the denitrification rate is as high as 76.2%. The smaller the air coefficient in the main combustion zone is, the smaller the NOx concentration is. The optimum air coefficient in the main combustion zone is about 0.92, and the denitrification rate is 85%. After urea injection, the denitrification rate of high volatile coal combustion is higher than that of low volatile coal combustion, and the reasonable blending mode of coal can reduce NOx emissions. The larger the ammonia-nitrogen molar ratio is, the lower the NOx concentration is. When the ammonia-nitrogen molar ratio is greater than 2, the amount of ammonia escape at the flue outlet exceeds the standard. When the ammonia-nitrogen molar ratio is less than 1, the NOx concentration at the flue outlet is greater than that before urea injection. The optimal ammonia-nitrogen molar ratio is about 2.