Chang Wen

Ash Formation and Fouling during Combustion of Rice Husk and Its Blends with a High Alkali Xinjiang Coal

Limited data from fluidized bed combustion tests have shown that rice husk, a silicon-rich residual biomass, has the potential to be cofired with coal while not inducing unacceptable ash-related problems. However, there is great concern regarding the behavior of rice husk ash under pulverized fuel combustion conditions, where the temperatures are much higher and expected to facilitate fuel interactions. This work, to the authors’ knowledge, is the first to investigate both ash formation and fouling behavior in rice husk firing and its cofiring with coal at a high temperature relevant to pulverized fuel combustion. A Chinese rice husk and a high alkali Xinjiang coal were selected. Combustion tests of individual fuels and their blends (with the share of rice husk being 10% and 20%, respectively) were performed at 1573 K on a laboratory drop tube furnace. Both bulk ash and fouling deposit samples were collected in each test. Techniques including X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy with ener...