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Quantitative Measurement of Atomic Potassium in Plumes over Burning Solid Fuels Using Infrared-Diode Laser Spectroscopy

Weng, Wubin LU ; Gao, Qiang LU ; Wang, Zhihua ; Whiddon, Ronald LU ; He, Yong ; Li, Zhongshan LU ; Aldén, Marcus LU and Cen, Kefa (2017) In Energy and Fuels 31(3). p.2831-2837
Abstract

Solid fuels, such as coal and biomass, comprise a large portion of the current annual world energy supply, roughly equal to the annual oil consumption. During solid fuel combustion, certain species, though they are fairly benign outside of the combustion system, can cause damage in and around the combustion chamber. Alkali release from coal and biomass is known to cause severe problems in solid fuel fired boilers, such as fouling and corrosion of the heat transfer surfaces. In this work, the amount of atomic potassium in the plume of burning single coal, wood, and straw pellets (∼170 mg/piece) was measured using tunable diode laser absorption spectroscopy (TDLAS) of the potassium D1 line at 769.9 nm. The sample pellets were... (More)

Solid fuels, such as coal and biomass, comprise a large portion of the current annual world energy supply, roughly equal to the annual oil consumption. During solid fuel combustion, certain species, though they are fairly benign outside of the combustion system, can cause damage in and around the combustion chamber. Alkali release from coal and biomass is known to cause severe problems in solid fuel fired boilers, such as fouling and corrosion of the heat transfer surfaces. In this work, the amount of atomic potassium in the plume of burning single coal, wood, and straw pellets (∼170 mg/piece) was measured using tunable diode laser absorption spectroscopy (TDLAS) of the potassium D1 line at 769.9 nm. The sample pellets were burned in an environment with stable temperature and gas composition provided by a laminar flame burner. More atomic potassium existed in the plume of burning biomass pellets compared with coal pellets, and the two temporal concentration profiles were dissimilar. This was attributed to the difference in the respective combustible components, ash compositions, potassium concentrations, and potassium compound state found in the two fuels. A high proportion of fixed carbon in coal induces potassium release mostly during the char-burnout period. In contrast, biomass has its strongest release during the devolatilization stage since its potassium presents mostly in a water-soluble form. Measurements of atomic potassium concentration during wood pellet gasification were performed in an oxygen deprived hot flue gas environment. The concentration of atomic potassium was found to be halved relative to combustion. The distribution of atomic potassium in the plume at different height above the pellets was also measured and is discussed in brief.

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author
; ; ; ; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Energy and Fuels
volume
31
issue
3
pages
7 pages
publisher
The American Chemical Society (ACS)
external identifiers
  • scopus:85017403322
  • wos:000396970400074
ISSN
0887-0624
DOI
10.1021/acs.energyfuels.6b02638
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
41fd60e0-d5f5-4e7c-b0a5-5107fc6d3d26
date added to LUP
2017-05-03 08:41:14
date last changed
2024-04-14 10:21:35
@article{41fd60e0-d5f5-4e7c-b0a5-5107fc6d3d26,
  abstract     = {{<p>Solid fuels, such as coal and biomass, comprise a large portion of the current annual world energy supply, roughly equal to the annual oil consumption. During solid fuel combustion, certain species, though they are fairly benign outside of the combustion system, can cause damage in and around the combustion chamber. Alkali release from coal and biomass is known to cause severe problems in solid fuel fired boilers, such as fouling and corrosion of the heat transfer surfaces. In this work, the amount of atomic potassium in the plume of burning single coal, wood, and straw pellets (∼170 mg/piece) was measured using tunable diode laser absorption spectroscopy (TDLAS) of the potassium D<sub>1</sub> line at 769.9 nm. The sample pellets were burned in an environment with stable temperature and gas composition provided by a laminar flame burner. More atomic potassium existed in the plume of burning biomass pellets compared with coal pellets, and the two temporal concentration profiles were dissimilar. This was attributed to the difference in the respective combustible components, ash compositions, potassium concentrations, and potassium compound state found in the two fuels. A high proportion of fixed carbon in coal induces potassium release mostly during the char-burnout period. In contrast, biomass has its strongest release during the devolatilization stage since its potassium presents mostly in a water-soluble form. Measurements of atomic potassium concentration during wood pellet gasification were performed in an oxygen deprived hot flue gas environment. The concentration of atomic potassium was found to be halved relative to combustion. The distribution of atomic potassium in the plume at different height above the pellets was also measured and is discussed in brief.</p>}},
  author       = {{Weng, Wubin and Gao, Qiang and Wang, Zhihua and Whiddon, Ronald and He, Yong and Li, Zhongshan and Aldén, Marcus and Cen, Kefa}},
  issn         = {{0887-0624}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{03}},
  number       = {{3}},
  pages        = {{2831--2837}},
  publisher    = {{The American Chemical Society (ACS)}},
  series       = {{Energy and Fuels}},
  title        = {{Quantitative Measurement of Atomic Potassium in Plumes over Burning Solid Fuels Using Infrared-Diode Laser Spectroscopy}},
  url          = {{https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/files/51780125/paper7_Li.docx}},
  doi          = {{10.1021/acs.energyfuels.6b02638}},
  volume       = {{31}},
  year         = {{2017}},
}