COMBUSTION SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, 2019 (SCI-Expanded)
A comprehensive system model, previously developed for prediction of combustion behaviors of Turkish lignites, lignite/hazelnut shell, and lignite/olive residue blends in a 0.3-MWt atmospheric bubbling fluidized bed combustor (ABFBC), is extended for modeling of co-combustion of Turkish lignite and cotton residue. Cotton residue has high nitrogen content (similar to 4.1 wt% ar) unlike lignite (similar to 0.9 wt% ar), olive residue (similar to 1.6 wt% ar), and hazelnut shell (similar to 0.5 wt% ar), which leads to relatively high emissions of nitric oxides (NOx) and nitrous oxide (N2O). For accurate prediction of emissions of NO and N2O, a sufficiently detailed NO and N2O formation and reduction reaction scheme is incorporated into the existing model. The assessment of the accuracy of the model is tested by comparing its predictions with the experimental data obtained in a 0.3-MWt ABFBC where a typical Turkish lignite is co-fired with limestone and cotton residue. Reasonable agreement is obtained between the predicted and measured O-2, CO, CO2, SO2, NO, and N2O concentrations and temperature profiles. The results obtained in this study show that the addition of cotton residue increases emission of total nitrogenous species due to its high nitrogen content, but the main effect is observed in the increase of N2O formation. Furthermore, determination of the fuel nitrogen partitioning into char and volatiles and distribution of volatile nitrogen species are found to be the most important parameters for modeling of NO and N2O emissions in bubbling fluidized bed combustors.