The combustion characteristics of high-heating-rate chars from untreated and torrefied biomass fuels

Torrefaction of biomass is of great interest at the present time, because of its potential to upgrade biomass into a fuel with improved properties. This study considers the fundamentals of combustion of two biomass woods: short rotation willow coppice and eucalyptus and their torrefied counterparts. Chars were prepared from the untreated and torrefied woods in a drop tube furnace at 1100 °C. Fuels and chars were characterised for proximate, ultimate and surface areas. Thermogravimetric analysis was used to derive pyrolysis and char combustion kinetics for the untreated and treated fuels and their chars. It was found that the untreated fuels devolatilise faster than their torrefied counterparts. Similarly, the chars from the untreated biomass were also found to be more reactive than chars from torrefied fuels, when comparing reaction rates. However, the activation energy value (Ea) for combustion of the untreated eucalyptus char was higher than that for the torrefied eucalyptus chars. Moreover, the eucalyptus chars were more reactive than the willow char analogues, although they had seen a lower extent of burn off, which is also a parameter indicative of reactivity. Similar trends in were also observed from their intrinsic reactivities; i.e. chars from the untreated fuel were more reactive than chars from the torrefied fuel and eucalyptus chars were more reactive than willow chars. Chars were also studied using scanning electron microscopy with energy-dispersive X-ray analysis. This latter method enabled a semi-quantitative analysis of char potassium contents, which led to an estimation of potassium partitioning during char formation and burnout. Results show a good correlation between potassium release and percent burnout. With respect to the effect of torrefaction on fuel-N, findings suggest that torrefaction would be beneficial for pf combustion in terms of nitrogen emissions, as it resulted in lower fuel-N contents and ∼72–92% of the fuel-nitrogen was released with the volatile fraction upon devolatilisation at 1100 °C.     

Combustion,cofiring and emissions characteristics of torrefied biomass in a drop tube reactor

The study investigates cofiring characteristics of torrefied biomass fuels at 50% thermal shares with coals and 100% combustion cases. Experiments were carried out in a 20 kW, electrically heated, drop-tube reactor. Fuels used include a range of torrefied biomass fuels, non-thermally treated white wood pellets, a high volatile bituminous coal and a lignite coal. The reactor was maintained at 1200 °C while the overall stoichiometric ratio was kept constant at 1.15 for all combustion cases. Measurements were performed to evaluate combustion reactivity, emissions and burn-out.Torrefied biomass fuels in comparison to non-thermally treated wood contain a lower amount of volatiles. For the tests performed at a similar particle size distribution, the reduced volatile content did not impact combustion reactivity significantly. Delay in combustion was only observed for test fuel with a lower amount of fine particles. The particle size distribution of the pulverised grinds therefore impacts combustion reactivity more.Sulphur and nitrogen contents of woody biomass fuels are low. Blending woody biomass with coal lowers the emissions of SO₂ mainly as a result of dilution. NO_X emissions have a more complex dependency on the nitrogen content. Factors such as volatile content of the fuels, fuel type, furnace and burner configurations also impact the final NO_X emissions. In comparison to unstaged combustion, the nitrogen conversion to NO_X declined from 34% to 9% for air-staged co-combustion of torrefied biomass and hard coal. For the air-staged mono-combustion cases, nitrogen conversion to NO_X declined from between 42% and 48% to about 10%–14%.     

A comprehensive biomass combustion model

A combustion model for wheat straw is discussed and compared to that of a bituminous coal, Pittsburgh No. 8. The input data into the combustion model for both cases were generated using the FG-DVC pyrolysis model, which had been validated in part experimentally. The combustion behaviour of the two fuels are investigated using a laminar flow CFD model of a drop-tube furnace. The results indicate that, because of the low calorific nature of the straw volatiles, the combustion takes place at a lower temperature, but with rapid ignition and rapid devolatilisation. The straw char is highly microporous with relatively high ash and oxygen contents; consequently, the burnout is quicker than the analogous coal char burnout.     

Pyrolysis of biomass in a semi-industrial scale reactor: Study of the fuel-nitrogen oxidation during combustion of volatiles

In this work, an experimental study of the NOx-fuel formation, carried out on a semi-industrial scale reactor during combustion of volatiles of the pyrolysis, is performed. Two different biomasses with different nitrogen contents such as a mixture of organic sludge and wood were tested. Results show that the temperature of pyrolysis does not obviously affect the production of NOx-fuel because of the most active precursors (NH₃ and HCN) are already released at low temperatures (400 °C). In the case of sludge mixture, the combustion conditions play the discriminating role in the production of NOx-fuel: the higher the excess air ratio the larger the production of nitrogen oxides from N-fuel.     

Effect of cellulose and lignin content on pyrolysis and combustion characteristics for several types of biomass

Fundamental pyrolysis and combustion behaviors for several types of biomass are tested by a thermo-gravimetric analyzer. The main compositions of cellulose and lignin contents for several types of biomass are analyzed chemically. Based on the main composition results obtained, the experimental results for the actual biomass samples are compared with those for the simulated biomass, which is made of the mixture of the cellulose with lignin chemical. The morphological changes before and after the reactions are also observed by a scanning electron microscope. The main compositions in the biomass consisted of cellulose and lignin. The cellulose content was more than lignin for the biomass samples selected in this study. The reaction for the actual biomass samples proceeded with the two stages. The first and second stage corresponded to devolatilization and char combustion during combustion, respectively. The first stage showed rapid mass decrease caused by cellulose decomposition. At the second stage, lignin decomposed for pyrolysis and its char burned for combustion. For the biomass with higher cellulose content, the pyrolysis rate became faster. While, the biomass with higher lignin content gave slower pyrolysis rate. The cellulose and lignin content in the biomasses was one of the important parameters to evaluate the pyrolysis characteristics. The combustion characteristics for the actual biomass depends on the char morphology produced.     

Experimental measurements for torrefied biomass Co-combustion in a 1 MWth pulverized coal-fired furnace

Biogenic residues upgraded by torrefaction are well suited for co-firing in existing thermal power plants due to their increased net calorific value, their improved grindability and their good characteristics regarding storage and transport. In this work, torrefied and pelletized biomass (coniferous wood sawdust) and hard coal (Columbian Calenturitas) were co-combusted in a 1 MW_th pulverized coal-fired furnace. The mixture of both fuels (torrefied biomass and hard coal) was co-grinded at two ratios with a thermal share of biomass of 3.8% and 7.3% using the same coal mill. For comparison purpose, experiments on pure hard coal combustion (only coal) were carried out, too. Despite torrefaction, the throughput of the mill was sharply reduced at higher biomass shares and the average grain size of pulverized fuel was increased. However, both fuel blends were co-combusted without any difficulty. Compared to mono-combustion of the hard coal, no significant differences were detected, neither in the flue gas emissions nor in the char burnout. Gas measurements in the flame profile show higher levels of released volatile matter close to the burner, resulting in a higher oxygen demand.     

Pollutants from the combustion of solid biomass fuels

This review considers the pollutants formed by the combustion of solid biomass fuels. The availability and potential use of solid biofuels is first discussed. This is followed by the methods used for characterisation of biomass and their classification. The various steps in the combustion mechanisms are given together with a compilation of the kinetic data. The chemical mechanisms for the formation of the pollutants: NOx, smoke and unburned hydrocarbons, SOx, Cl compounds, and particulate metal aerosols are outlined. Examples are given of emission levels of NOx and particulates from combustion in fixed bed combustion, fluidised bed combustion and pulverised biomass combustion and co-firing. Modelling methods for pollutants are outlined. The consequential issues arising from the wide scale use of biomass and future trends are then discussed.     

Experimental study on oxygen-enriched combustion of biomass micro fuel

The oxygen-enriched combustion of biomass micro fuel (BMF) was carried out respectively in the thermogravimetric analyzer and cyclone furnace to evaluate the effects of oxygen concentration on combustion performance. The experimental results show that with the increasing oxygen concentration, the volatile releasing temperature, ignition temperature and burnout temperature were decreasing. Oxygen-enriched atmosphere subtracts burning time and improves combustion activity of biomass micro fuel. Oxygen-enriched atmosphere improves the combustion temperature of BMF in cyclone furnace; while the improvement is weaken as oxygen concentration is above 40%.     

Experimental study of torrefied pine as a gasification fuel using a bubbling fluidized bed gasifier

Torrefied biomass has higher C/O ratio, resulting in improved heating value and reduced hygroscopic nature of the biomass, thus enabling longer storage times. In the southeastern United States, pine is has been identified as a potential feedstock for energy production. The objective of this study was to understand the performance of torrefied pine as a gasification fuel in a bench-scale bubbling fluidized bed gasifier. The gasification of torrefied pine was carried out at 790, 935 and 1000 °C and three equivalence ratios (ERs: 0.20, 0.25 and 0.30). The effect of process variables were studied based on i) products yield, ii) syngas composition iii) syngas energy content, and iv) contaminants. The mean concentration of CO increased with an increase in temperature, but was not statistically significant. On the other hand, H₂ concentration increased whereas CH₄ concentration decreased significantly with an increase in temperature from 790 to 935 °C. Further, with an increase in ER from 0.20 to 0.30, only CO₂ concentrations increased in the syngas. Results from torrefied pine were compared with raw pine gasification, and it was observed that torrefied pine gasification led to much higher char yield (more than twice) than pine; however, it produced less than half as much tar.     

Engineered pellets from dry torrefied and HTC biochar blends

Dry torrefaction and hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) are two thermal pretreatment processes for making homogenized, carbon rich, hydrophobic, and energy dense solid fuel from lignocellulosic biomass. Pellets made from torrefied biochar have poor durability compared to pellets of raw biomass. Durability, mass density, and energy density of torrefied biochar pellets decrease with increasing dry torrefaction temperature. Durable pellets of torrefied biochar may be engineered for high durability using HTC biochar as a binder. In this study, biomass dry torrefied for 1 h at 250, 275, 300, and 350 °C was pelletized with various proportions of biomass HTC treated at 260 °C for 5 min. During the pelletization of biochar blends, HTC biochar fills the void spaces and makes solid bridges between torrefied biochar particles, thus increasing the durability of the blended pellets. The engineered pellets' durability is increased with increasing HTC biochar fraction. For instance, engineered pellets of 90% Dry 300 and 10% HTC 260 are 82.5% durable, which is 33% more durable than 100% Dry 300 biochar pellets, and also have 7% higher energy density than 100% Dry 300 biochar pellets.     

我国生物质直燃发电区域成本及发展潜力分析

明确生物质直燃发电优先发展区域是落实国家生物质能中长期发展规划的重要环节。以25 MW装机规模的秸秆直燃电厂为例,采用优化的发电成本计算方法,对我国生物质直燃发电成本进行分省区域研究。结论表明,我国中部与东北部地区直燃发电成本居中,生物质资源丰富,具有生物质直燃发电规模化发展的潜力;同时技术的成熟与碳排放收费等政策的建立将有助于提高直燃发电的经济性,促进其迅速发展。     

Explosion characteristics of pulverised torrefied and raw Norway spruce (Picea abies) and Southern pine (Pinus palustris) in comparison to bituminous coal

Pre-treatments, such as torrefaction, can improve biomass fuels properties. Dedicated and coal co-firing plants, in which pulverised biomass and torrefied biomass can be used, are exposed to explosion hazards during handling, storage and transport from the mills to the boiler. Data on the explosion characteristics of biomass and torrefied biomass are scarce. This study presents explosion characteristics (maximum explosion pressure, deflagration index and minimum explosible concentration) of two torrefied wood samples and compares their reactivity to that of their corresponding untreated biomass materials and to a sample of Kellingley coal. Torrefied biomass samples showed higher reactivity, overpressures were around 9 bar (0.9 MPa, 1 bar = 10⁵ Pa) for all biomass samples irrespective of size or sample composition. Derived laminar burning velocities ranged between 0.1–0.12 m s⁻¹, and were therefore similar to that of coal (0.12 m s⁻¹). The differences in explosion reactivity influence the design of explosion protection measures and can be used to introduce suitable modifications for safe operations with torrefied biomass.     

The study of optimal parameters of oxygen-enriched combustion in fluidized bed with optimal torrefied woody waste

The study explored the oxygen-enriched combustion behavior of torrefied waste wood pellets in a fluidized bed. For biomass torrefaction, three indexes, namely energy yield index (EY), proximate analysis-based index (PA), and effective comprehensive combustion index (S_mix), are used to present the optimal conditions from each viewpoint. Four operating parameters, incorporating torrefaction temperature, residence time and nitrogen flow rate, were taken into consideration in this study. The signal-to-noise ratios of each parameter were evaluated to examine the influencing impact of different factors. The optimal results were employed in the investigation of biochar combustion using a laboratory-scale fluidized-bed reactor with oxygen lancing. Oxygen was injected into different zones of the fluidized bed to investigate its influence on combustion efficiency. The parameters of biochar combustion optimization include torrefied materials, fluidized-bed temperature, oxygen inlet position, and oxygen concentration. The total fluidized-bed efficiency and the volatile combustion ratio were evaluated.     

Simulation of combustion process of a single biomass pellet based on heterogeneous-dimension discretization

Abstract

In this paper, one-dimensional intra-pellet solid model combined with multi-dimensional extra-pellet environment model were used to simulate the combustion processes of a biomass pellet in a furnace. The combustion processes of the solid phase were calculated using a self-written MATLAB code, and the processes of the extra-pellet fluid environment were calculated using the commercial CFD code. The two codes were coupled together by exchanging the data of source terms and boundary conditions in real-time. Experiments on combustion of a single corn-stover pellet in a tube furnace were implemented to validate the calculation method and acceptable agreements were obtained, and the main errors are within 10%. The heterogeneous-dimension discretization method made the updating and debugging of the physical and chemical mechanism of the solid phase very easy. Compared with constant environment conditions, the average error of coupling calculation method is decreased by about 5%. The calculation method can be extended to deal with many other problems.     

Forest biomass waste combustion in a pilot-scale bubbling fluidised bed combustor

Combustion experiments of forest biomass waste in a pilot-scale bubbling fluidised bed combustor were performed under the following conditions: i) bed temperature in the range 750-800 °C, ii) excess air in the range 10-100%, and iii) air staging (80% primary air and 20% secondary air). Longitudinal pressure, temperature and gas composition profiles along the reactor were obtained.The combustion progress along the reactor, here defined as the biomass carbon conversion to CO₂, was calculated based on the measured CO₂ concentration at several locations. It was found that 75-80% of the biomass carbon was converted to CO₂ in the region located below the freeboard first centimetres, that is, the region that includes the bed and the splash zone.Based on the CO₂ and NO concentrations in the exit flue gas, it was found that the overall biomass carbon conversion to CO₂ was in the range 97.2-99.3%, indicating high combustion efficiency, whereas the biomass nitrogen conversion to NO was lower than 8%.Concerning the Portuguese regulation about gaseous emissions from industrial biomass combustion, namely, the accomplishment of CO, NO and volatile organic compounds (VOC) (expressed as carbon) emission limits, the set of adequate operating conditions includes bed temperatures in the range 750°C-800 °C, excess air levels in the range 20%-60%, and air staging with secondary air accounting for 20% of total combustion air.     

Characterization and prediction of biomass pyrolysis products

In this study some literature data on the pyrolysis characteristics of biomass under inert atmosphere were structured and analyzed, constituting a guide to the conversion behavior of a fuel particle within the temperature range of 200-1000 °C. Data is presented for both pyrolytic product distribution (yields of char, total liquids, water, total gas and individual gas species) and properties (elemental composition and heating value) showing clear dependencies on peak temperature. Empirical relationships are derived from the collected data, over a wide range of pyrolysis conditions and considering a variety of fuels, including relations between the yields of gas-phase volatiles and thermochemical properties of char, tar and gas. An empirical model for the stoichiometry of biomass pyrolysis is presented, where empirical parameters are introduced to close the conservation equations describing the process. The composition of pyrolytic volatiles is described by means of a relevant number of species: H₂O, tar, CO₂, CO, H₂, CH₄ and other light hydrocarbons. The model is here primarily used as a tool in the analysis of the general trends of biomass pyrolysis, enabling also to verify the consistency of the collected data. Comparison of model results with the literature data shows that the information on product properties is well correlated with the one on product distribution. The prediction capability of the model is briefly addressed, with the results showing that the yields of volatiles released from a specific biomass are predicted with a reasonable accuracy. Particle models of the type presented in this study can be useful as a submodel in comprehensive reactor models simulating pyrolysis, gasification or combustion processes.     

Pyrolysis pretreatment of biomass for entrained-flow gasification

The biomass for entrained-flow gasification needs to be pretreated to significantly increase its heating value and to make it more readily transportable. The pyrolysis pretreatment was conducted in a lab scale fixed-bed reactor; the reactor was heated to elevate the temperature at 5 °C/min before holding at the desired pyrolysis temperature for 1.5 h a fixed time. The effects of pyrolysis temperature on the yield, composition and heating value of the gaseous, liquid and solid products were determined. The pyrolysis removed most oxygenated constituents of rice straw while significantly increased its energy density. Meantime, it changes the physical properties of biomass powders. The results show that the angle of repose, the angle of internal friction of semi-char decrease obviously; the bulk density of semi-char is bigger than that of biomass. This could favor the feeding of biomass. Considering yield and heating value of the solid semi-char product and the feeding problem, the best pyrolysis temperature was 400 °C. The results of this study have confirmed the feasibility of employing pyrolyzed biomass for entrained-flow gasification; they are useful for the additional studies that will be necessary for designing an efficient biomass entrained-flow gasification system.     

Determination and comparison of combustion kinetics parameters of agricultural biomass from olive trees

Thermogravimetric curves in air, measured for the different types of agricultural residues from olive trees (leaves, pruning and wood) at different heating rates (5, 10, 20, 40, 100 K/min), are subjected to kinetic evaluation by model-based and model-free methods. It is shown that the combustion process in the samples analyzed can be divided into three stages: water removal, roasting phase and char decomposition. At every stage, the activated energy varies with the mass conversion for the kinetic models considered. Its value was determined by the model-free methods, of which Flynn–Wall– Ozawa and Kissinger–Akahira–Sunose were the most appropriate for this purpose and resulted in similar values of activated energy. Once the activation energy was determined, the order of the reactions and the frequency factors of each stage were calculated by means of the Coats–Redfern model-based method in order to complete the determination of the kinetic triplet. From the results obtained, it was deduced that the most feasible reaction order was one.     

Gasification of torrefied oil palm biomass in a fixed-bed reactor: Effects of gasifying agents on product characteristics

Gasification represents an attractive pathway to generate fuel gas (i.e., syngas (H₂ and CO) and hydrocarbons) from oil palm biomass in Malaysia. Torrefaction is introduced here to enhance the oil palm biomass properties prior to gasification. In this work, the effect of torrefaction on the gasification of three oil palm biomass, i.e., empty fruit bunches (EFB), mesocarp fibres (MF), and palm kernel shells (PKS) are evaluated. Two gasifying agents were used, i.e., CO₂ and steam. The syngas lower heating values (LHV_syngas) for CO₂ gasification and steam gasification were in the range of 0.35–1.67 MJ m⁻³ and 1.61–2.22 MJ m⁻³, respectively. Compared with EFB and MF, PKS is more effective for fuel gas production as indicated by the more dominant emission of light hydrocarbons (CH₄, C₂H₄, and C₂H₆) in PKS case. Gasification efficiency was examined using carbon conversion efficiency (CCE) and cold gas efficiency (CGE). CCE ranges between 4% and 55.1% for CO₂ gasification while CGE varies between 4.8% and 46.2% and 27.6% and 62.9% for CO₂ gasification and steam gasification, respectively. Our results showed that higher concentration of gasifying agent promotes higher carbon conversion and that steam gasification provides higher thermal efficiency (CGE) compared to CO₂ gasification.     

More efficient biomass gasification via torrefaction

Wood torrefaction is a mild pyrolysis process that improves the fuel properties of wood. At temperatures between 230 and 300 °C, the hemicellulose fraction of the wood decomposes, so that torrefied wood and volatiles are formed. Mass and energy balances for torrefaction experiments at 250 and 300 °C are presented. Advantages of torrefaction as a pre-treatment prior to gasification are demonstrated. Three concepts are compared: air-blown gasification of wood, air-blown gasification of torrefied wood (both at a temperature of 950 °C in a circulating fluidized bed) and oxygen-blown gasification of torrefied wood (at a temperature of 1200 °C in an entrained flow gasifier), all at atmospheric pressure. The overall exergetic efficiency of air-blown gasification of torrefied wood was found to be lower than that of wood, because the volatiles produced in the torrefaction step are not utilized. For the entrained flow gasifier, the volatiles can be introduced into the hot product gas stream as a ‘chemical quench’. The overall efficiency of such a process scheme is comparable to direct gasification of wood, but more exergy is conserved in as chemical exergy in the product gas (72.6% versus 68.6%). This novel method to improve the efficiency of biomass gasification is promising; therefore, practical demonstration is recommended.