KAGAKU KOGAKU RONBUNSHU, Vol.25, No.5, 735-741, 1999
Characteristics of in-bed sulphur removal and staging of combustion gas in fluidized-bed coal combustion by a mixture of oxygen and recycled flue gas
The influences of limestone addition and staging of combustion gas on the emission reductions of SO2, NOx and N2O are experimentally examined for coal combustion in a bubbling fluidized-bed where CO2/O-2 combustion system is applied. An Australian bituminous coal was burnt by a mixture of a recycled flue gas and oxygen in a 0.158 m i. d. and 3 m high combustor. Tsukumi limestone crushed to sizes 1 to 3 mm was used for sulphur removal. The results obtained in CO2/O-2 combustion are compared with those in conventional once-through air combustion. Sulphur removal efficiencies in CO2/O-2 combustion at a bed temperature ranging from 1090 to 1150 K are much higher than those in air combustion. It is confirmed from a model analysis based on mass balance that such higher SO2 removal efficiency in CO2/O-2 combustion is mainly produced by extension of mean contacting/reaction time between limestone particles and SO2 due to flue gas recycling into the combustor. Two-stage combustion depressed NOx and N2O emissions in CO2/O-2 combustion, as well as in air combustion. Compared with single-stage combustion, emissions are reduced to less than 2/3 when the ratio of primary/total oxygen flow rate is approximately 0.8. Thus, we can say that CO2/O-2 combustion is an excellent system not only for CO2 recovery, but also for emission reductions of SO2, NOx and N2O.