System Integration/Burner Development
As a consequence of the system integrations, the Energy Institute identified special considerations for transporting, storing, and handling coal-based fuels that are being utilized in industrial boilers that have been designed for fuel oil. These are especially crucial in an one-burner boiler system.A major element of the system integration was burner development. The Energy Institute is actively involved in the development and evaluation of low-NOx burners for industrial boilers. This includes burner and boiler modeling, burner performance evaluation, and new burner development. Low-NOx burner evaluation and development activities have been conducted in conjunction with ABB Combustion Engineering (High Efficiency Advanced Coal Combustor and Radially Stratified Fuel Core burner) and Energy and Environmental Research Corporation (FlamemastEERTM burner), and Foster Wheeler Development Corporation (low NOX burner) using the Demonstration Boiler.
Another crucial component in the system integration is coal micronization and transport to the burner. The Energy Institute works closely with TCS, Inc., a mill manufacturer for on-line micronization applications in industrial boilers.
The Energy Institute also works closely with manufacturers of auxiliary components. Energy Institute assisted ABB Air Preheater, Inc. in evaluating its heat pipe heat exchanger, which is installed on the demonstration boiler system, for use as a combustion air preheater. The results from this activity were used to assist in future preheater designs.
Pollution Control
The Energy Institute assists in developing pollution control technologies. Currently, the Energy Institute is demonstrating the removal of ultrafine particulate matter with increased particulate collection efficiency through the use of a ceramic filter. A ceramic filtering device is operated in parallel with the fabric filter baghouse to evaluate this new technology, contrast it with conventional filtration, and demonstrate a smaller, more efficient filtering device for boiler retrofit applications.
The Energy Institute is actively participating in the identification/development of a NOx reduction catalyst that is compatible with the typical operating conditions and the economic constraints of industrial boilers. The catalyst is being developed as a coating on a ceramic filter in collaboration with Corning, Inc.. The Energy Institute is collaborating with Englehard Corporation, CeraMem Corporation, and Babcock & Wilcox on this activity.
Boiler Retrofits
The viability of future oil-to-coal boiler retrofits has been assessed, starting with the conversion of two package boilers, 1,000 lb steam/h (research boiler-add link here) and 15,000 lb steam/h (industrial-scale boiler), from oil to CWSF and pulverized coal. The boilers were used to: determine the effect of boiler operating parameters (i.e., atomization quality, fuel particle size, level of combustion air preheat temperature) on combustion performance; automate the firing system, particularly with respect to start up and shutdown procedures but also to optimize boiler performance; evaluate fuels; determine the level of boiler derating (less than 15%); determine the maximum ash level (~5 wt.%) tolerable; and determine the ideal coal particle size distribution (D(v,0.5) = ~18 µm).
The system and operating knowledge (e.g., level of combustion air and CWSF temperature, proper flow meters, gauges, and piping geometries, mixer types and tank dimensions, coal silo dimensions, and proper coal transport equipment) gained from the demonstration boiler was used to design the retrofit of an oil-designed boiler located on a military base to fire dry, micronized coal and CWSF. The conversion was engineered by the Energy Institute and Energy and Environmental Research Corporation.