Stationary Power

The EMS Energy Institute has the capability to characterize and evaluate limestones as reagents in wet flue gas desulfurization systems and as sorbents in fluidized bed combustors for reducing SO₂ emissions. The Institute has particular expertise in determining the qualities of limestones that make them attractive as a reagents/sorbents in a given system as well as the ability to evaluate limestones in a variety of on-site bench- to pilot-scale units.

Determining combustion behavior is an integral part of evaluating a fuel, especially when developing new alternative fuels. The EMS Energy Institute has years of experience in conducting combustion tests firing fossil, biomass, and alternative fuels in conjunction with other fuels. Specific areas of research include:

• Fluidized-bed combustion - The Institute assists the fluidized-bed combustion industry by evaluating sorbent behavior for SO₂ capture, determining the influence of fuel properties on combustion performance and sulfur capture, assisting in materials handling issues, working with operators and regulatory agencies when developing new policies, improving combustor operation by reducing bed agglomeration, and evaluating combustion performance and emissions of alternative fuels.
• Pulverized coal combustion - The Institute assists the pulverized coal combustion industry by evaluating fuels for combustion and emissions performance, determining kinetic parameters for coal pyrolysis/combustion for pollution control and burner design, and assessing deposition and boiler tube erosion.
• Coal-water slurry fuel combustion - The Institute's CWSF research and development experience focuses on establishing acceptable formulation and preparation procedures and obtaining satisfactory combustion performance in fuel oil-designed industrial boilers, and during cofiring with pulverized coal in utility boilers. Fundamental, pilot and demonstration scale activities have provided detailed understanding of the chemical and physical phenomena involved in CWSF rheology and stability, atomization and combustion, mineral matter transformations, atomizer tip and boiler tube erosion, ash settling and deposition, boiler derating, and emissions.

The Institute’s stationary combustion emissions program encompasses the formation and control of pollutants from all types of boilers, firing a variety of fuels, and using multiple emissions control options. Areas of research include fluidized-bed, watertube, firetube, and stoker boiler systems; fossil and alternative fuels and waste products; wet and dry scrubbers; fabric and ceramic filters; low-NOx burner technology; selective and non-selective catalytic reduction; and CO₂ capture technologies. Pollutants include SO₂, NO_x, fine particulate matter, trace metals including mercury, VOCs, and dioxin/furan TEQs.