Partitioning behavior of Arsenic in circulating fluidized bed boilers co-firing petroleum coke and coal

The emission of Arsenic from coal-fired power plants has generated widespread environmental and human health concerns. This paper discusses Arsenic partitioning from three 440 t/h circulating fluidized bed (CFB) boilers co-firing petroleum coke and coal. All the boilers were equipped with electrostatic precipitator (ESP) or fabric filter (FF), and wet flue gas desulfurization (WFGD). Flue gas was sampled simultaneously both up- and down-stream of the ESP/FF and at the outlet of the WFGD based on EPA Method 29. Concurrent with flue gas sampling, feed fuel, bottom ash, ESP/FF ash, WFGD gypsum, WFGD wastewater, limestone slurry and flush water were also collected. The results show that, for three tested CFB boilers, the overall mass balance ratios of As ranged from 80.0%–114.2%, which can be considered to be acceptable and reliable. Most of the As was distributed in the bottom ash and ESP/FF ash with the values of 17.4%–37.5% and 55.6%–77.5%, respectively. Speciation analysis suggests that As5 + was the major water-soluble species in the feed fuel, bottom ash and fly ash, while As3 + was found to be the dominant species in WFGD wastewater. For three CFB boilers, the concentrations of total As in the stack emission were 0.97, 0.32 and 0.31 μg/m3, respectively. The CFB boiler equipped with ESP/FF + WFGD was shown to be able to provide good control of the emission of As emitted into the atmosphere.