Coal Combustion:

Last Class
Isaac Hunsaker
Laurie Marcotte
 1. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of
making electricity from the following coal-fired
processes: Entrained Flow
• Entrained flow (pulverized) combustion
– Advantages:
• Fully automated and highly reliable – less shut downs and start ups = continuous electricity generation
• Adaptable to all coal ranks
• Capacity for increasing unit size – Grows with energy need of the population
– Disadvantages:
• High energy consumption – high electricity cost to consumer
• High particulate emissions – higher electricity cost due to higher emission control
• SOx and NOx emissions – Increased electricity cost due to emission control

• Entrained flow (pulverized) gasification

– Advantages:
• Adaptable to all coal types regardless of caking characteristics and the amount of fines – can choose lowest
cost fuel
• Little to no NOx formation – lower electricity cost
– Disadvantages:
• High temperature and pressure – increased operating costs = increased electricity cost
• Slagging – maintenance shut down of units
• Requires extra feed as steam – operating costs for steam production
 1. Continued: Fluidized Bed
• Fluidized bed combustion
– Advantages:
• SOx are reduced during combustion – Less gas cleanup
– NOx also slightly reduced
• Requires smaller furnaces and heat exchangers due to high heat transfer rates – less capital
costs
• Low running temperature means lower amounts of slagging and fouling – less operating costs
– Disadvantages:
• High solid loading leads to increased corrosion – Increased capital costs down the line
• Refractory fails in circulating fluidized beds – Increased capital costs down the line
• Large solid waste due to sorbent – disposal costs
• Increased emissions of N2O – emissions control
• Fluidized bed gasification
– Advantages:
• High char recycling rate
• Uniform and moderate temperature – moderate operating costs
– Disadvantages:
• Moderate oxygen and steam requirements – increased operating costs
• Difficulty in handling caking coals – increased maintenance
• Difficult to obtain high conversion rates for high rank coals – increased disposal costs
 1. Continued: Fixed Bed
• Fixed bed combustion
– Advantages:
• Flow of solids is independent of the flow of gas
• Simple, oldest design
– Disadvantages:
• Reaction rates have an increased dependence on diffusion
• Fixed bed gasification
– Advantages:
• Minimal pretreatment of feed coal
• High thermal efficiency
• Low oxidant requirements
– Disadvantages:
• High methane content in product gas
• Tars, oils, and heavy hydrocarbons in product gas
• Difficulties in handling caking coals and fines
 2. Postulate on the advantages and disadvantages of wall-fired
entrained flow boilers (WFEFB) versus tangentially-fired entrained flow
boilers (TFEFB).
• Both methods are amenable to N0x reduction by air staging.
• Both have no moving parts in the hot combustion chamber
• TFEFB has lower excess oxygen, creating greater efficiency.
However, it has high investment costs, so would probably only be
suitable for very large operations (>30MW)
• Wall fired entrained flow boilers are most efficient for highly
reactive (lower rank, high volume volatiles) coals, whereas
tangentially-fired entrained flow boilers are better suited for less
reactive coals.

S.J Goidich, SUPERCRITICAL BOILER OPTIONS TO MATCH FUEL COMBUSTION CHARACTERISTICS

3. Figure 1.10: Entrained flow furnace
• 256 MW subcritical Tangentially
fired furnace:
drum-style boiler for Flow Pattern
burning subbituminous
coal
– Tangentially fired jet
burners at five different
heights in the four
corners
• Entrained flow
combustion system
– Dry-ash furnace
 Figure 1.12-13 NOx control strategy

• Distributed mixing concept

– Reduce oxygen concentration
in fuel NOx formation zones
– Reduce flame temperature in
formation zones for thermal
NOx
• Distributed mixing burner
– Employs the distributed
mixing concept
• Coal plus primary air for
entrainment
• Two secondary air streams
– Increase oxygen in close to
burner region
• Tertiary air stream
– Reduce temperature in far
from burner region
Figure 1.18: Entrained flow gasifier
• Combustion engineering
IGCC Repowering Project
– Dry feed, air-blown, two-
stage, entrained flow
gasifier
– Limestone injection,
moving bed, hot gas
cleanup
• Gasses coming off are
combusted
– Some combusted gas
then sent back to gasifier
– Rest sent to steam
generator and then
turbine to generate
electricity
Figure 1.20: Fluidized bed combustion
• Bubbling bed
• Burns mix of Illinois #6
(hvbit) and low sulfur
(subbit) coals
– To meet sulfur limits
• Retrofit with bubbling
bed to raise the rating
to 130 MW keeping low
emissions
 Figure 1.22: Fluidized bed combustion
• PFBC combined cycle
– Pressurized fluidized bed combustion
• Air supplied by gas turbine
compressor
• Coal fed to bed of
dolomite/limestone and ash
• Combustion gases go through cyclone
to remove 98% of particles
– Run through turbine
– Expend rest of heat by running through
heat exchanger to heat the boiler
feedwater
• Gasses are clean in ESP before
discharge
• Feedwater converted to steam by
boiler to pass through the steam
turbine to generate electricity
Figure 1.26-1.27: Spreader-stokers
• Traveling grate spreader
stoker used in fixed bed
combustion
– Works for wide range of coals
– High operating efficiency
– High fly-ash carry over and
heat loss
• Traveling grate overfeed
spreader-stoker
– Coal depth is adjustable by a
gate
– Low fly-ash carry over
– Have problems with high
coking coals
– Slower response time
Figures 1.29: Lurgi gasfier

• Dry-ash, oxygen-blown, fixed bed

gasifier
• Coal enters the top
– Distributed fall on the grate by the rotary
distributor
• Ash falls through the grate
• Steam and oxygen enter through the
bottom
– Large steam required to reduce
Temperature below ash fusion limit
• Some steam generated in jacket around
the gasifier
• Non-uniform temperature distribution
due to counter-current flow
– Low temperature results in liquid tars, oils,
and phenols
• Product gas is condense to remove these
Figure 1.30: Slagging Lurgi gasifier

• Slagging, oxygen-blown,
pressurized, fixed-bed
• Operates at high
temperatures
– Ash melts to form slag
– Fluxing agents
sometimes added to
reduce viscosity
• Requires 15% steam of
other gasifier
 Figure 1.31: fixed bed gasification
• Air blown, Integrated
gasification combined cycle
• Coal is gasified in a
pressurized system
• Product gas runs through
hot gas cleanup
• Then combusted to
generate electricity in gas
turbine
• Run through a steam
generator to recover heat
• Steam turns turbine to
generate electricity
 4. Please discuss ash disposal.

• There are 3 primary destinations for ash

– Landfill: viable option for every kind of coal, including high
C ash, highly corrosive ash, and high radiation ash.
However, it is the least economical, and is becoming more
expensive as landfill space is limited.
– Cement: Requires low C ash. Economically viable (can
produce a small amount of money)
– Road fill: Requires low radiation ash. Economically
neutral. (Shipping costs are barely offset by the sale of the
ash)
5. The BYU Heating Plant is currently burning coal in a spreader-
stoker. Dr. Baxter has tried to convince them to add biomass to
cut down on fuel costs. Please discuss the issues involved.

Advantages:
• Low fuel costs
• Low investment costs for plant materials
• Low dust in flue gas
Disadvantages:
• Decreased efficiency due to increased excess air
• Increased NOx removal costs
• Can’t mix biomasses due to different combustion properties
• Combustion conditions not as homogeneous as fluidized beds
• High capital costs