Deposition onto heat exchanger surfaces from the co-firing of coal and biomass

In the latter part of the 20th century, there has been a continuing global concern of the consumption of fossil fuels used in power production. There is further concern of the gaseous emissions that are created from this consumption and an awareness of climbing carbon dioxide (CO2) levels that are exhausted into the atmosphere. The concept of co-firing fossil fuel with varying levels of biomass species is not new but there is a requirement to explore its applications further in the interests of both the environment and power production. With dwindling fossil fuel resources, co-firing with biomass is a logical step forward as biomass is a generally a renewable product – whereas fossil fuels are not. More importantly, the study of effects of burning higher biomass percentages on the heat exchanger matrix of power plants requires more attention. This has been explored before in other studies that have resulted in inefficiencies within the power generation plant. The main of objectives of this research were to: co-fire coal with biomass over a wide range of mixes within a combustion environment; monitor the gaseous emissions and capture and analyse the deposits that are formed on deposit capture probes. The analysis of data obtained will enabled further research to be carried out and model deposit flux behaviour of simulated heat exchanger models and materials in the future.