Influence of biomass thermal pre-treatment on the particulate matter formation during pulverized co-combustion with lignite coal

8th International Conference on Renewable Fuels, Combustion and Fire, Ankara, Türkiye, 5 - 07 Mart 2021, ss.223-227

This work investigated the particulate matter formation during co-combustion of biomass with coal.

Olive residue in 212-300 μm was chosen as agricultural waste biomass, and Tunçbilek lignite in 106-125

μm as the coal. The biomass was thermally pretreated to assess the influence of the pretreatment

temperature on particulate matter formation during co-combustion. Specifically, the olive residued was

torrefied (at 275 ºC) and pyrolyzed (at 500 ºC) using a tubular oven. The biomass-coal blends in a 50:50

wt.% ratio were co-fired in a drop tube furnace operated at 1200 ºC, heating rate of ~104 ºC/s, residence

time of ~3 s, and dry air atmospheric conditions. The results showed that co-combustion resulted in

clear reduction of PM2.5 emission to values close to those of the biomass fuel, and below the predicted

values. Specifically, combustion of olive residue – Tunçbilek lignite, torrefied olive residue – Tunçbilek

lignite, and olive residue char – Tunçbilek blends resulted in 646, ORT-TL in 408, and 559 mg / MJ input,

respectively. Moreover, the mechanisms responsible for the formation of PM2.5 during biomass and coal

combustion were found applicable to biomass-coal blends.