Flue gas analysis for biomass and coal co-firing in fluidized bed: process simulation and validation

Zhakupov D. Kulmukanova L. Sarbassov Y. Shah D.
December 2022 Springer International Publishing

International Journal of Coal Science and Technology
2022 #9 Issue 1

Coal-conversion technologies, although used ubiquitously, are often discredited due to high pollutant emissions, thereby emphasizing a dire need to optimize the combustion process. The co-firing of coal/biomass in a fluidized bed reactor has been an efficient way to optimize the pollutants emission. Herein, a new model has been designed in Aspen Plus® to simultaneously include detailed reaction kinetics, volatile compositions, tar combustion, and hydrodynamics of the reactor. Validation of the process model was done with variations in the fuel including high-sulfur Spanish lignite, high-ash Ekibastuz coal, wood pellets, and locally collected municipal solid waste (MSW) and the temperature ranging from 1073 to 1223 K. The composition of the exhaust gases, namely, CO/CO₂/NO/SO₂ were determined from the model to be within 2% of the experimental observations. Co-combustion of local MSW with Ekibastuz coal had flue gas composition ranging from 1000 to 5000 ppm of CO, 16.2%–17.2% of CO₂, 200–550 ppm of NO, and 130–210 ppm of SO₂. A sensitivity analysis on co-firing of local biomass and Ekibastuz coal demonstrated the optimal operating temperature for fluidized bed reactor at 1148 K with the recommended biomass-to-coal ratio is 1/4, leading to minimum emissions of CO, NO, and SO₂.

Advanced process simulation , Aspen plus , Biomass cofiring , Flue-gas emissions , Fluidized-bed combustion , Fuel utilization

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Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, School of Engineering and Digital Sciences, Nazarbayev University, Nur-Sultan, 010001, Kazakhstan

Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering

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