Performance of small scale boiler burner fired with blends of coal and dairy biomass

摘要

Co-firing biomass, a renewable fuel with the primary fuel coal has the potential of immediate conversion to technology. Dairy manure or re-termed Dairy Biomass (DB), is evaluated as a possible co-firing fuel with coal. It offers an environmentally sound technique of utilizing dairy waste for useful power/steam generation and minimizing groundwater contamination, and greenhouse gas concerns, providing increased financial return to dairy operators and reducing the cost of waste disposal. The effects of blending coal with DB and cofiring the fuel mixture on combustion performance have been investigated using a 30 kW (100,000 BTU/hr) boiler burner facility. Experiments were performed with Wyoming Coal as base line fuel along with blends of coal:DB. Proximate and ultimate analyses were performed on DB; the analyses reveal much higher N and ash content per GJ. The effects of blending on NO_x emission were investigated. Two types of coal were investigated: Texas Lignite and Wyoming Powder River Basin Coal. DB was found to be able to create similar emissions to burning exclusively coal. More NO_x was produced when the amount of DB in the fuel was increased. This is probably because there is more fuel bound nitrogen in DB than in coal.