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 ARTICLE IN PRESS
Applied Thermal Engineering ■■ (2015) ■■–■■

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Applied Thermal Engineering

j o u r n a l h o m e p a g e : w w w. e l s e v i e r. c o m / l o c a t e / a p t h e r m e n g

1 Research Paper
2
3 Thermal characterization of coal/straw combustion under air/oxy-fuel
4 conditions in a swirl-stabilized furnace: A CFD modelling
5
6 Q2 Arafat A. Bhuiyan, Jamal Naser *
7 Faculty of Science, Engineering and Technology (FSET), Swinburne University of Technology, Victoria 3122, Australia
8
9
10 H I G H L I G H T S
11
12 • A CFD based co-firing modelling is conducted in a swirl stabilized furnace.
13 • Temperature mapping in the reactor chamber is evaluated for different cases.
14 • The predicted results were agreeably validated against the experimental data.
15 • Matching between air and oxy-fuel firing is achieved for retrofitting purpose.
16 • Burnout is reduced due to higher straw share transported through the furnace.
17
18
19 A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T
20
21
22 Article history: Global warming is mainly due to increase of CO2 from fossil fuel based power generation in developed
23
24 Received 23 July 2015 countries. The level of CO2 increase in the atmosphere is alarming. International effort imposed some
25
26 Accepted 10 October 2015 strict obligations to control these emissions. To reduce the greenhouse gas emissions, shifting from coal
27 Available online
28 based production to biomass resources is a must. The present study investigates the combustion behaviour
29
30 of biomass (straw) compared with the coal combustion in air and O2/CO2 mixtures. Reference air-fuel
31
32 Keywords:
and oxy-fuel (25%, 30% and 35% O2) cases were considered maintaining a constant thermal load of 30 kW
33 CO2 emission co-firing
34
35 Swirling flow
in a semi-technical scale once-through swirl-stabilized furnace. The main objective of this study is to
36
37 Oxy-fuel illustrate the impact on the combustion characteristics including flame temperature, burnout, and emis-
38
39 CFD modelling sions for pure coal to pure biomass (straw) combusted in air and oxy-fuel atmospheres. Good agreement
40 between the results obtained in this numerical work and results reported in literature was observed. This
41 work has shown that significant changes occur to the fundamental combustion characteristics for straw
42 when burned in the O2/CO2 atmosphere compared to air firing case. Comparatively higher flame tem-
43 peratures were observed for oxy-firing case. The CO levels are predicted to decrease in the downstream
44 section during oxy-fuel combustion compared to air-firing flames due to O2 availability. The burnout is
45 reliably advanced during oxy-fuel combustion to 99.8% than air firing.
46 © 2015 Published by Elsevier Ltd.

47

48 1. Introduction abundant resource [5,6]. According to Reference 7, out of the 62 64

49 countries that produce electricity using biomass, USA leads with a 65
50 The demand of electrical power in developing countries are in- dominating 26% of world production. It is followed by Germany at 66
51 creasing day by day [1]. Available energy sources are fossil fuel, 15%, whereas Brazil and Japan both produce 7% of electricity of 67
52 wind, solar, hydro, ocean and geothermal etc. [2–4]. To keep up world production. Compared to these countries, usage of biomass 68
53 with the demand of electricity, a number of coal based power plants in Australia is in the early stage. On the other hand, global warming 69
54 are recently being constructed. This is due to the fact that com- is an issue that gained significant attention in recent years, which 70
55 pared to other fossil fuel resources, coal is a cheaper and more is very much connected to the carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. So, 71
the main reason of the shifting from a fossil fuel to renewable energy 72
56
based production is to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases, 73
57 mainly CO2. 74
58 Abbreviations: CCS, carbon capture and storage; CLC, chemical looping combus- As power plants are assumed as the main source of the gener- 75
59 tion; CFD, computational fluid dynamics; DDM, discrete droplet method; DTRM, ation of CO 2 emission, the main focus is connected to their 76
60 discrete transfer radiation modelling; EBU, Eddy Break-up model; FC, fixed carbon;
61 OF, oxy-fuel; VM, volatile matter; WSGGM, weighted-sum-of-gray-gases model.
technologies and operations. There are several technologies called 77
62 Q1 * Corresponding author. carbon capture and storage (CCS) system for power plants which 78
63 E-mail address: jnaser@swin.edu.au (J. Naser). includes pre-combustion, post-combustion and oxy-fuel (OF) com- 79

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2015.10.024
1359-4311/© 2015 Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Please cite this article in press as: Arafat A. Bhuiyan, Jamal Naser, Thermal characterization of coal/straw combustion under air/oxy-fuel conditions in a swirl-stabilized furnace: A
CFD modelling, Applied Thermal Engineering (2015), doi: 10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2015.10.024
 ARTICLE IN PRESS
2 A.A. Bhuiyan, J. Naser/Applied Thermal Engineering ■■ (2015) ■■–■■

1 bustion technology [8–10]. The main theme of these CCS systems

2 is the reduction of CO2 emissions. The characteristics and funda-
3 mentals of each CCS system are described in recent literatures
4 [6,11–16]. Among all the CCS systems available, implementation of
5 oxy-fuel combustion [6,17–20] is significant. To clarify the influ-
6 ence of the overview of such technology, more research is a must.
7 Q3 In the last two decades, many small scale and lab/industrial scale
8 demonstrations have been conducted and positive indication has
9 been pointed out to burn coal in oxy-fuel environment. Besides these
10 technologies, a number of recent technologies such as membrane
11 separation, chemical looping combustion (CLC), carbonation–
12 calcination cycles, enzyme-based systems, ionic liquids,
13 mineralization [21], etc. execute the likelihood to considerably de-
14 crease the emissions concerned with carbon capture from power
15 plants [14,22–24]. However, these technologies have not been dem-
16 onstrated at sufficient scales for industrialization.
17 In recent years, utilization of renewable fuels in industrial power
18 plants with CCS system has attracted the researchers’ attention. Co-
19 firing coal with biomass is a relatively easier way of reducing CO2
20 emissions from fossil fuel fired power plants [25]. At the same time,
21 there are some disadvantages of using biomass in a traditional power
22 plant [26,27]. However, it is suggested that the biomass share of the
23 fuel blend is typically kept low to ensure that residual products can
24 be utilized. The combination of CO2 neutral fuels with CCS opens
25 up a possibility of extracting CO2 from the atmosphere. Oxy-fuel com-
26 bustion can be applied to biomass as well as coal and the use of
27 CO2 neutral fuels induces the potential of achieving an overall neg-
28 ative CO2 emission from the power plant. In relation to that, few
29 experimental investigations have been conducted using straw as a
30 co-fired fuel under air and oxy-fuel environments. It is antici-
31 pated that advance effort on co-firing of biomass (like straw) and
32 coal in oxy-fuel environment will expose comparable changes to
33 the burning characteristics. Also, this will provide the opportunity
34 for retrofitting the plant by using biomass type fuel in a dedicated
35 coal fired furnace. However, this area of research is still relatively
36 young when considering suspension-fired boilers and research on
37 oxy-fuel combustion of pulverized biomass could thus also be ben-
38 eficial to the research within the conventional air-firing area.
39 Recently, a number of experimental and computational fluid dynamic
40 (CFD) model is developed to investigate the effect of coal combus-
41 tion in small and large scale furnace [28–34]. Compared to only coal
42 combustion, few co-firing of biomass modelling and small scale ex-
43 perimental works are attempted by several researchers [35–44]. Few
44 authors consider the low-NOx heavy-oil swirl burner developed for
45 the low-NOx heavy oil combustion in a lab-scale furnace [45]. Re-
46 cently, some authors justified the usage of biofuel as an efficient
47 energy source in different sectors [46–50].
48 The objective of this CFD study is to improve the fundamental
49 knowledge on combustion of different types of fuels in a swirl sta-
50 bilized furnace by clarifying the effect of the change in combustion
51 atmosphere on fuel burnout: flame temperatures, emissions of pol-
52 luting species when pure biomass (straw) and blends of coal and Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of the computational domain of the 30 kW swirl stabi- 67
lized furnace. 68
53 biomass are combusted in air and oxy-fuel atmospheres. The present
54 work will lead to the identification of reference operating condi- 69
55 tions which enable a direct comparison of combustion in air and
56 oxy-fuel atmospheres. AVL Fire version 2009.02 will be used for the 315 mm and a height of about 1.9 m. The experimental setup of the 70
57 modelling purpose. combustion chamber is insulated with 80 mm two-layer refracto- 71
58 ry lining and cooled with room-temperature cooling through a void 72
59 2. Physical model setup and fuel characterization between the reactor shell and an outer insulation shell. There are 73
60 a total 8 measuring ports along the furnace chamber as presented 74
61 This numerical study on the combustion characteristics of in the figure. The ports are numbered 1 to 8, starting with 1 from 75
62 biomass (straw) with coal is conducted in a semi-technical scale the top. The positioning of the ports is shown in the figure. As the 76
63 once-through 30 kWth swirl-stabilized furnace. The details of the reactor is a once-through type, there is no duct for recirculating flue 77
64 furnace have been considered from the experimental work given gas in oxy-fuel operation. 78
65 in Reference 51. The schematic diagram of the 30 kW down-fired As shown in Fig. 1, the swirled stabilized burner is mounted on 79
66 solid fuel combustor, shown in Fig. 1, has an inner diameter of top of the combustion chamber. A detailed diagram of the burner 80

Please cite this article in press as: Arafat A. Bhuiyan, Jamal Naser, Thermal characterization of coal/straw combustion under air/oxy-fuel conditions in a swirl-stabilized furnace: A
CFD modelling, Applied Thermal Engineering (2015), doi: 10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2015.10.024
 ARTICLE IN PRESS
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is presented in the next section. For all cases considered, the solid 35
fuel feeding system has been chosen at a set point corresponding 36
to a thermal load of 30 kW. The constant total thermal load is settled 37
based on the experimental study [51] considered. 38
39
3. Combustion cases and operating conditions 40
41
This numerical study has been conducted at several combus- 42
tion and co-firing conditions. A total of four different fuel 43
compositions having different co-firing ratios have been consid- 44
ered. These are 100% coal, 20% straw with 80% coal, 50% straw with 45
50% coal, and 100% straw cases. The investigated parameters for the 46
four fuel types include several combustion oxidant types such as 47
air and O2/CO2 mixtures. For the oxy-fuel combustion, oxidant O2 48
concentration values applied are 25, 30 and 35%. The operating pa- 49
rameters for the selection of reference oxy-fuel cases for coal 50
combustion are given in Table 2. The applied stoichiometric oxygen 51
excess ratios have accordingly been in the interval 1.025 to 1.3 for 52
all the cases. Based on the selected OF cases, a reference oxy-fuel 53
case will be selected for further investigation. For both air and oxy- 54
fuel cases, the primary oxidant flow is set at 20 vol% of the total 55
oxidant flow at the reference conditions. This implies that the linear 56
velocity of the primary oxidant leaving the burner will differ when 57
the combustion atmosphere is changed. A similar approach is con- 58
sidered for CFD simulation. However, the swirl number is kept 59
constant to obtain similar conditions for air and oxy-fuel model- 60
ling. The swirl number chosen for the CFD simulations in all the cases 61
was 1.8. All other flow parameters were appropriately used for the 62
selected swirl number for different fuel ratios. However, in the ex- 63
1 Fig. 2. A detailed diagram and dimensions of the burner used. perimental study [51] considered, a range of swirl number of 1.7 64
to 2.0 was tested. The boundary condition for different co-firing ratios 65
2 under air and reference oxy-firing cases is given in Tables 3 and 4 66
3 is given in Fig. 2. It is seen that the burner is mainly consist of three respectively. There was no information given related to wall bound- 67
4 tubes, two for primary and secondary oxidant and a separate natural ary condition in the experimental study considered. A constant wall 68
5 gas inlet which is used during reactor heat-up and during the tran- temperature with no-slip boundary condition (where u, v, and w = 0) 69
6 sition to the solid fuel flame. Fuel particles are supplied into the and wall emissivity were assumed for all the walls. Considering ra- 70
7 central, primary burner tube. The primary oxidant flow is given di- diative properties of the wall, the value of emissivity of 0.85 is 71
8 rectly into the central burner tube. The split between the two primary assumed for the reactor wall [52]. 72
9 oxidant flows is considered to achieve the best stability of the solid 73
10 fuel feeding. The secondary oxidant is introduced in the burner in 4. Modelling methodology 74
11 two separate streams, an axial flow and a tangential flow. The latter 75
12 is responsible for creating a swirling motion. It is mentioned in the The combustion modelling of coal and biomass has been con- 76
13 experimental procedure that the swirl number is adjusted by choos- ducted using a commercial computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code 77
14 ing the ratio between the axial and tangential flow. However, in the AVL Fire version.2009.2 coupled with user-defined subroutines. In 78
15 present CFD studies, a constant swirling flow is considered for the this study, coal and straw particles combustion modelling is con- 79
16 selected co-firing cases under air-firing and oxy-firing conditions. sidered using several processes including gas phase and particle 80
17 In this study, two different fuels have been utilized, a bitumi- phase. The gas phase is described by Navier–Stokes conservation 81
18 nous coal and pulverized straw. Proximate and ultimate analysis of equations under the Eulerian approximation/formulation. The heat 82
19 the selected fuels is summarized in Table 1. The coal and biomass transfer, particle trajectories, turbulence are coupled through the 83
20 are characterized having the heating values (LHV) of 27.09 MJ/kg source term in the general form of Eulerian transport equation used 84
21 and 16.40 MJ/kg respectively. The used particle size distribution for given in Reference 53. In particulate phase model, discrete droplet 85
22 the two fuels is taken from Reference 51. The mean particle sizes method (DDM) [54] is considered. For turbulence modelling, the k–ε 86
23 for the coal and straw are 47 μm and 330 μm respectively. The se- model [55–59] is considered in this study. This model is widely used 87
24 lected fuel mixtures have a 20 and 50 wt% content of straw which and applicable for the flow in industrial cases. In this study, straw 88
25 corresponds to approximately 13 and 38% straw on a thermal basis, particles are considered as irregular shaped and have a large aspect 89
26 respectively. The ratios of coal to straw selected for the modelling ratio. Based on the similar type of studies given in Reference 40, 90
27
28 Table 1
29 Properties of coal and straw particles used.

30 Fuel Proximate analysis (wt%, ar) Ultimate analysis (wt%, daf)

31 Fixed Volatile Moisture Ash C H N S Cl O

32 carbon (FC) matter (VM) content content

33 Coal 50.40 34.86 5.03 9.62 80.70 5.41 1.69 0.726 0.016 11.46
34 Straw 18.10 72.40 5.10 4.40 48.62 6.41 0.49 0.094 0.419 43.97

Please cite this article in press as: Arafat A. Bhuiyan, Jamal Naser, Thermal characterization of coal/straw combustion under air/oxy-fuel conditions in a swirl-stabilized furnace: A
CFD modelling, Applied Thermal Engineering (2015), doi: 10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2015.10.024
 ARTICLE IN PRESS
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1 Table 2 Table 5 64
2 Operating parameters for selection of reference air and oxy-fuel case for coal Chemical reactions for homogeneous (1) and heterogeneous (2) processes [63,64]. Q15 65
3 combustion.
Order Process Chemical reactions Heat of 66
4 Fuel Load Fuel flow Inlet O2, λ Oxidant flow Swirl reactions, ΔH 67
5 kW kg/hr % (Nl/min) number
CH4 + 2O2 → CO2 + 2H2O + Heat
One-step (1) 802 310 68
6 Coal 30 3.99 – 1.30 620 1.8 reaction (2) Cchar + O2 → CO2 + Heat 393 520 69
7 Coal 30 3.99 25 1.21 490 1.8
3
8 Coal 30 3.99 30 1.19 390 1.8 Two-steps (1) CH4 + O2 → CO + 2H2O + Heat 307 880 70
reaction 2 71
72
9 Coal 30 3.99 35 1.15 325 1.8
1
CO + O2  CO2
1 110 190 73
10 2 74
(2) 1 – 75
Cchar + O2 → CO + Heat
11 Table 3 2 76
12 Operating parameters for coal/biomass combustion in air at different fuel ratio. 1 1 110 190 77
CO + O2  CO2
2 78
13 Fuel Load Fuel flow λ Oxidant flow Swirl
Three-steps (1) CH4 + O2 → CO + H2 + H2O + Heat 549 710 79
14 kW kg/hr (Nl/min) number
reaction CO + H2O  CO2 + H2 868 360 80
81
15 Coal 30 3.99 1.30 620 1.8
16 20% blend 30 4.33 1.30 620 1.8 O2 + 2H2  2H2O 483 660 82
17 50% blend 30 5.00 1.30 615 1.8 (2) 1 – 83
Cchar + O2 → CO + Heat
18 Straw 30 6.60 1.30 600 1.8 2 84
Cchar + CO2 → 2CO 172 464 85
19
Cchar + H2O → CO + H2 131 298 86
20 Table 4
21 Operating parameters for coal/biomass combustion in O2/CO2 at the reference 87
22 condition.

23 Fuel Load Fuel flow λ Oxidant flow Swirl exponential factor (Av) and activation energy (Ev) is important for 88
24 kW kg/hr (Nl/min) number proper combustion modelling of fuel particles. The used kinetic rates 89
25 Coal 30 3.99 1.19 390 1.8 for coal and straw particles in the present study are given in Table 6. 90
26 20% blend 30 4.33 1.19 390 1.8 A similar particulate phase (devolatilization and char oxidation) mod- 91
27 50% blend 30 5.00 1.20 390 1.8 elling was applied for both coal and straw particles combustion. The 92
28 Straw 30 6.60 1.22 390 1.8 combustion of irregular shaped biomass char is quite complex. It 93
is not only affected by the biomass composition, but also by the ir- 94
29 regular shape and size of the particles. Gera [68] developed a 95
phenomenon to consider the variation of particle shape of biomass 96
30 an aspect ratio of 1:25 is assumed for modelling purpose. Based on (cylindrical to spherical) leading to vary the overall burning rate of 97
31 the assumption, a particle shape factor (sf) is employed to permit the particles and hence a burning enhancement factor is pro- 98
32 for the possessions of non-spherical shape. The definition of shape posed. A similar approach is used in the combustion modelling of 99
33 factor is given in Reference 37. To consider these effects of larger cardoon particles co-fired with coal in a tangentially-fired furnace 100
34 deviation of shape of the straw particles, chosen shape factor is in- [69]. However, Yin et al. [40] neglected the non-spherical proper- 101
35 corporated in a user-defined drag correlation by using the Haider ties of the particle due to low char fraction and hence used the 102
36 and Levenspiel formulation [60]. The reaction rate of the combus- diffusion rate constant model without any enhancement factor. In 103
37 tion process is controlled by the Eddy Break-up (EBU) model [33]. this study, the effect of non-sphericity for the straw particles is taken 104
38 This model determines the reaction possibility based on oxidizer into account in the particulate phase modelling by using the effect 105
39 and fuel availabilities. of variation of actual surface area of the particle to that of the spher- 106
40 Modelling of homogeneous (devolatilization) and heteroge- ical equivalent [35,37]. 107
41 neous (char oxidation) chemical reactions for coal/biomass For heat transfer modelling, discrete transfer radiation model- 108
42 combustion is important. A number of developed models are avail- ling (DTRM) is considered which is normally categorized under the 109
43 able for proper chemical reaction including devolatilization and char weighted-sum-of-gray-gases model (WSGGM). This model is im- 110
44 combustion modelling. Hurt and Calo [61] developed a multi-step portant for gas radiation calculation and specific consideration is 111
45 semi global kinetics for char combustion model and recently taken into account especially in the oxy-firing cases. In modelling, 112
46 Nikolopoulos et al. [62] implemented it in numerical code. Al- proper selection of the absorption co-efficient, surface discretiza- 113
47 Abbas and Naser [63] investigated the effects of different char tion and angular discretization are important for accurate prediction 114
48 combustion model using single step and multi-step reaction mecha- of the radiation characteristics. The absorption model selected in 115
49 nisms in small scale furnace. Authors justified that compared to this study is of great importance for the radiation calculation, par- 116
50 single step modelling, multi-step modelling provides more accu- ticularly in the oxy-fuel combustion because of the higher percentage 117
51 rate results. Based on this study, three steps reaction mechanism of concentration of CO2. Hence, in this study, for air and oxy-fuel 118
52 is used in the present CFD work for the homogeneous and heter- combustion, the absorption coefficient is set to 0.24 m−1 and 0.31 m−1 119
53 ogeneous chemical reactions process. Table 5 shows the chemical
54 reactions involved for homogeneous and heterogeneous processes. 120
55 Reaction model proposed by Badzioch and Hawksley [65] is con- Table 6 121
56 sidered for devolatilization. In this model, volatile production rate Kinetic parameters for devolatilization (1) and char combustion (2) of different fuels 122
57 is largely dependent on the temperature history of the fuel par- [38,67]. 123
58 ticles and the kinetic rate constant. This phenomenon is taken into Fuel type Processes Activation energy, Pre-exponential 124
59 account using the Arrhenius equation [33]. After devolatilization, E (J/kmol) factor, A (1/s) 125
60 rest amount of coal and biomass particles are assumed to be char Coal (1) 1.559 × 1008 4.68 × 1011 126
61 and ash. A steady reaction occurred between the char and the sur- (2) 1.2 × 1008 9.48 × 104 127
62 rounding gases. This char combustion process is modelled with global Straw (1) 1.3800 × 1008 1.56 × 106 128
(2) 1.3225 × 1008 1.7238 × 107 129
63 power-law [66]. Selection of different rate constant such as pre-

Please cite this article in press as: Arafat A. Bhuiyan, Jamal Naser, Thermal characterization of coal/straw combustion under air/oxy-fuel conditions in a swirl-stabilized furnace: A
CFD modelling, Applied Thermal Engineering (2015), doi: 10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2015.10.024
 ARTICLE IN PRESS
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1 Fig. 3. Grid sensitivity analysis for only coal and straw combustion under (a) air- Fig. 4. Comparison of predicted radial gas-phase temperature profiles with exper- 32
2 firing and (b) oxy-firing case. imental data [51] between air and oxy-fuel cases. 33
3 34
4 respectively. More detailed information for the radiation model-
higher heat capacity of CO2. Compared to the experimental data, a 35
5 ling is given in References 29, 32, 33, 63, 70, and 71. Total three grid
close temperature profile is observed throughout the port for the 36
6 sizes having number of cells of 128 788, 257 576 and 386 364 are
simulated result. 37
7 considered. A comprehensive analysis is presented in Fig. 3. The figure
8 shows the grid sensitivity test for only coal and straw combustion 38
9 under air and oxy firing cases. It can be concluded that the grid size 6. Result and discussion 39
10 having number of cell 257,576 is optimum for further investiga- 40
11 tion with minimum computational time. The objective of this study is to illustrate the impact on the com- 41
12 bustion characteristics including flame temperature, burnout, and 42
13 5. Validation of the modelling emissions when pure biomass (straw) and blends of coal and biomass 43
14 are combusted in air and oxy-fuel atmospheres. All modelling in 44
15 This numerical study is validated by comparing the predicted the following have been performed with equal thermal input 45
16 temperature data with the experimental data given in Reference 51. (30 kW). To set a reference oxy-fuel case, a comprehensive analy- 46
17 For the validation, only coal combustion is chosen under air-firing sis is conducted using three different oxidizer (O2) concentrations. 47
18 and oxy-fuel (OF30%) conditions. This will build up confidence for Oxy-fuel combustion can be applied to biomass as well as coal and 48
19 further modelling. Temperature profile data were compared with the use of CO2 neutral fuels induces the potential of achieving an 49
20 the measured data at a position through port 2 and port 4. It is seen overall negative CO2 emission from the power plant. The follow- 50
21 in Fig. 1 that port 2 and port 4 are located approximately 12.3 cm ing section will demonstrate the investigated outcome of the present 51
22 and 39.8 cm from the burner end, respectively. Fig. 4 represents the computational study. 52
23 comparison of the temperature mapping of the gas phase at the 53
24 chosen conditions (air and OF-30% oxy-fuel) between numerical pre- 6.1. Differences in air to oxy-fuel combustion environment 54
25 diction and experimental measurement to validate the code. It is 55
26 seen from the figures that near the furnace wall, comparatively lower Variation of combustion environment plays a significant role in 56
27 temperatures were observed for both the cases. For oxy-fuel case, the performance of power plant output. When transforming air to 57
28 slightly higher temperatures are predicted compared to air-firing oxy-fuel environment, the difference can be observed in terms of 58
29 in port 2. When comparing numerical to experimental data, vari- flow variations, species concentration. This study will distinguish 59
30 ation is below 10% error range. In port 4, oxy-fuel flue gas maintains among the various cases considered. This section will investigate 60
31 a higher average temperature. This is owing to a permutation of the the differences in the combustion process between air and 61

Please cite this article in press as: Arafat A. Bhuiyan, Jamal Naser, Thermal characterization of coal/straw combustion under air/oxy-fuel conditions in a swirl-stabilized furnace: A
CFD modelling, Applied Thermal Engineering (2015), doi: 10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2015.10.024
 ARTICLE IN PRESS
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1 Fig. 5. Axial flow (m/s) distribution for pure coal combustion under different combustion environments.

2
3 oxy-fuel combustion cases. Matching air to oxy-fuel combustion and 7 respectively. While transforming air to oxy-fuel combus- 38
4 flame temperature is important for the purpose of retrofitting. Three tion, the input of O2 and CO2 is significantly varied. According to the 39
5 different oxy-fuel cases such as OF25% (25% O2 and 75%CO2), OF30% Eddy Break-up (EBU) model, stream of O2 in the reaction burner area 40
6 (30% O2 and 70%CO2) and OF35% (35% O2 and 65%CO2) were inves- contributes to the flame characteristics and the ignition environ- 41
7 tigated with respect to flow and species distributions, flame ment. Based on the combustion environment, it is observed that for 42
8 temperature profiles, and emissions. air-firing case and OF-25 case, a similar type of O2 distribution is 43
9 predicted. The distribution is comparatively wide due to higher oxi- 44
10 6.1.1. Flow distributions dizer flow. In case of OF-30 and OF-35, significant increase in the 45
11 Fig. 5 represents the velocity (m/s) distributions for air-firing and concentration is observed compared to air and OF-25 cases. This Q4 46
12 different oxy-fuel cases. For air and oxy-fuel cases, the primary explains that accessibility of O2 is much enhanced and hence O2 con- 47
13 oxidant flow is set at 20 vol% of the total oxidant flow conditions sumption is faster. This will lead to better ignition condition providing 48
14 as given in Table 2. Secondary flow combines tangential and axial higher flame temperature in the reaction area. According to chem- 49
15 distributions based on swirl number and total oxidant flows. The ical possessions [72], CO2 has advanced specific heat characteristics 50
16 burner is characterized with swirl stabilization to increase the mixing, related to nitrogen (N2). This property is accountable for absorb- 51
17 stabilize the flame shape and to provide enough time to the oxi- ing more heat. That is why the rise in CO2 in oxy-fuel cases has 52
18 dizers for complete burning of fuel. A constant swirl number of 1.8 noteworthy meaning in combustion environment compared to air 53
19 is considered for all the cases. The primary oxidizer and the fuel fired case. It is predictable that in developed OF cases with en- 54
20 particles are served into the boiler through primary inlet and swirled hanced O2 level; the effect of CO2 on the radiative property will 55
21 secondary oxidizers are fed through secondary air inlet as shown reduce. The variation of CO2 in the vertical plane in the upper portion 56
22 in Fig. 2. The axial flow distributions on the vertical plane of the boiler of the furnace is presented in Fig. 7 for all the selected cases. 57
23 for all the cases are presented in Fig. 5. Two recirculation zones are 58
24 observed in the upper portion of the furnace. Internal recircula- 6.1.3. Residence time for different combustion cases 59
25 tion is pointed out in the burner area where external recirculation To retrofit between air-firing and oxy-fuel combustion, it is im- 60
26 is predicted in the upper portion near the wall of the furnace. It is portant to consider the residence time of the fuel particles under Q5 61
27 also seen from the figure that the velocity is decreasing with the different. An estimate of the average residence time of fuel par- 62
28 increase of oxy-fuel cases. As the flow is decreased, the residence ticles in the reactor is determined and compared with the 63
29 time significantly improves leading to better opportunity for com- experimentally measured data. A similar analogy was considered 64
30 bustion reaction, better ignition environment which will definitely to predict the residence time as a function of temperature profile 65
31 enrich the flame temperature. and the flue gas flow rate. The average temperature (reactor centre 66
32 values) in all the ports along the furnace is used for each combus- 67
33 6.1.2. Species distributions tion cases. Table 7 shows the residence times predicted for all the 68
34 Species such as O2 and CO2 mass fraction distributions for all the cases. It is seen that average residence time increases with the in- 69
35 cases on the same plane as flow distributions is presented in Figs. 6 crease of oxy-fuel cases. An increase of about 33.4%, 42.0% and 60.0% Q6 70

36

37 Fig. 6. Oxygen mass fraction (%) distribution for pure coal combustion under different combustion environments.

Please cite this article in press as: Arafat A. Bhuiyan, Jamal Naser, Thermal characterization of coal/straw combustion under air/oxy-fuel conditions in a swirl-stabilized furnace: A
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1 Fig. 7. Carbon dioxide mass fraction (%) distribution for pure coal combustion under different combustion environments.

3 in the average residence time of fuel particles in the chamber for increase of oxy-fuel cases. Although temperature profile deviates 32
4 air-firing, OF25%, OF30% and OF35% respectively. This can be jus- for different cases, the peak temperature for air and all oxy-fuel 33
5 tified with the lower flow rate of the oxidant as can be seen from flames are observed at a position of 0.25 m from the burner 34
6 Table 2. The increases in the residence time have direct impact on exit. A similar observation is noted in the experimental study 35
7 the combustion performance as well as the efficiency of the reactor considered. Comparatively higher flame temperature is predicted 36
8 during retrofitting a coal based power plant. in the upper portion of the furnace compared to the downstream 37
9 section of the model. A good agreement is found for all the Q7 38
10 6.2. Matching of air to oxy-coal combustion using flame cases when compared with the experimental data. This study 39
11 temperatures indicated that a similarity of flame profile could be attained 40
12 with an inlet O 2 concentration between OF25% and OF30% 41
13 To present the flame temperatures for different combustion en- cases. In OF-30, comparatively higher temperature profile is ob- 42
14 vironments, centreline temperature profiles were predicted for coal served compared to OF25%. Also, a critical analysis in the 43
15 combustion in air firing and three different oxy-fuel firing environ- experimental study suggests that an inlet oxygen concentration of 44
16 ments as presented in Fig. 8. Also, a comparison of the numerically 27–28% would yield a match between air-firing case and different 45
17 predicted data with the experimental value is demonstrated. It is oxy-fuel cases. Hence, based on the numerical possibility and ex- 46
18 seen from the profile that the temperature is increasing with the perimental suggestions, OF30% was selected as the reference oxy- 47
fuel case for further study. 48
19 49
20 Table 7 6.3. Temperature mapping for different coal/biomass co-firing cases 50
21 Predicted average residence time for different 51
22 combustion environments.
Co-firing coal with biomass is considered as a relatively easy 52
23 Oxidizer Residence way of reducing CO2 emissions from fossil fuel fired power plants. 53
24 time, T (s)
However, the biomass share of the fuel blend is typically kept low 54
25 Air-firing 2.60 utilized to reduce superheater corrosion risks. Based on the co- 55
26 25% O2/CO2 3.47 firing ratios of coal and straw given in Tables 3 and 4, simulations 56
27 30% O2/CO2 3.70
have been carried out for all the cases under air-firing and refer- 57
28 35% O2/CO2 4.20
ence oxy-firing cases. A comparison of the temperature profile along 58
the radial direction at different ports for air firing case is pre- 59
sented in Fig. 9. Near the burner, due to flame front, a temperature 60
gradient is predicted. With further down the reactor, almost con- Q8 61
stant temperature profiles across the reactor predicted. 62
Comparatively lower temperatures were found near the furnace 63
wall. While comparing with the experimental data provided, the 64
profiles in port 1 are only shown for one half of the reactor per- 65
formed at positive values of radial direction and is generally seen 66
to be significantly varied for only straw combustion. But the nu- 67
29 merical data presented a symmetrical distribution from the furnace 68
centreline. To enhance the understanding of numerical prediction 69
variation for future similar cases, 5% error bars are added for all 70
the cases. 71
As the study is conducted considering four different fuel com- 72
positions, there is an obvious difference in fuel characteristics 73
between 100% coal, 20% and 50% coal/straw blends, and 100% straw. 74
Based on these, a variation is observed in the ignition behaviour, 75
flame shape, and temperature profiles. Compared to coal, straw par- 76
ticle always possesses higher volatile matters (VM) and less fixed 77
30 Fig. 8. Comparison of temperature distribution along the reactor centreline for dif- carbon (FC) as can be seen from Table 1. Also the particle size of 78
31 ferent combustion cases using only coal. the straw is irregular and larger compared to coal used. This will 79

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1 Fig. 9. Comparison of temperature mapping for four different fuel compositions under air-firing case.

3 play a significant role in the performance of the combustion. Fig. 10 served for selected combustion cases. It was found that with the 12
4 represents a comparison of the flame between experimentally re- increase of straw contribution, peak flame temperature leads to a 13
5 corded and numerically predicted. Typical visualization of lower value. This can be explained on the basis of higher volatile 14
6 experimental representation of flame temperature is taken from Ref- content and lower heating value. With the increase of straw sharing, 15
7 erence 51 where the flame is not axisymmetric due to the swirling volatile fraction increases. The dominant effect of the lower calo- 16
8 motion of the oxidant; however, typical qualitative flame distribu- rific value of straw depresses the effect of volatile content. Thus the 17
9 tion is compared with the CFD simulation. The CFD visualization principal effect of the lower calorific value of straw is to lower the 18
10 is shown at a position of 0.5 m from the burner exit. For different flame temperature. But compared to air-firing case, a distinct ob- 19
11 co-firing cases, distribution of flame temperature variation is ob- servation is predicted for selected oxy-fuel case (OF30%). As OF30% Q9 20

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CFD modelling, Applied Thermal Engineering (2015), doi: 10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2015.10.024
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1 Fig. 10. Typical flame temperature comparison for different coal/straw ratios under air to oxy-firing cases.

3 case provides better flow mixing compared to air-firing case pro- For the selected fuel ratios, a comparison of the reactor centre 10
4 viding presence of high concentration of O2 at lower flow rate. That line temperature profiles under air and oxy-fuel cases were pre- 11
5 is why in oxy-fuel cases, comparatively higher flame temperature sented in Fig. 11(a) and (b) respectively. It is seen for both the cases 12
6 is observed. Also, the characteristic of heat capacity of CO2 contrib- that near the burner, temperature variation is not significant for in- 13
7 utes to the flame emissive properties. When oxygen (O 2 ) creasing straw share in the fuel supply. This difference is increased 14
8 concentration is decreased, the higher heat capacity of CO2 tends along the reactor centre line position. The temperature difference 15
9 to keep the flame temperature comparatively low. among the four cases of fuel ratios under air-firing is significant. It 16

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The oxy-fuel temperature profiles show comparatively higher 12

peak flame temperature than air. Also, in each position the tem- 13
perature is generally higher than air for all the fuel cases. The 14
outcome of changing environments from air to oxy-fuel is notice- 15
able for 100% straw combustion. This similarity is observed for coal 16
and straw burning as comparatively higher temperature is always 17
found for reference oxy-firing case. It is also observed for the entire 18
combustion environment that 100% coal always produces higher 19
temperatures than blends in oxy-firing case. In the downstream 20
section of the reactor, blends of the straw content seem to have an 21
insignificant effect on temperature. Compared to air combustion case, 22
less difference between coal-containing fuels and pure straw in the 23
oxy-fuel cases was observed. 24
25
6.4. Effects of CO for different co-firing under oxy firing 26
27
Fig. 13 displays the radial summaries of CO concentration pro- 28
files through all the ports for the oxy-fuel case. It is expected that 29
the burnout is improved for oxy-fuel combustion than when using 30
air as oxidant. The difference between the two atmospheres seems 31
to increase with increasing fuel straw share. This indicates the rel- 32
atively higher importance of the combined effect of the higher inlet 33
O2 concentration, increased maximum flue gas temperature, and in- 34
creased residence time during oxy-fuel combustion for the burnout 35
of large straw char particles. It is illustrated that the change in CO 36
profile is found with the change of fuel compositions. In the down 37
side of the reactor, CO level is comparatively low. This can be ex- 38
plained with the availability of sufficient O2 level. Accessibility of 39
oxidizing O2 level contributes to the transformation of CO to CO2. 40
In port 1, near the burner exit, concentration of CO level is very low. 41
For 100% coal combustion case, the concentration of CO is very close 42
to zero in the distant port. In all the ports, higher level of CO is ob- 43
served for 100% straw burning case. This is due to increasing 44
1 Fig. 11. Comparison of centreline temperatures for different fuel ratios under air to importance of increased residence time on the burnout for increas- 45
2 oxy-firing cases.
ing fuel straw share. 46
47
3
6.5. The effects of burnout for different fuel ratios 48
4 is seen that 20% sharing of straw does not significantly change the 49
5 temperature profile compared to 100% coal firing. Based on these Fig. 14 shows the analysis results between calculated and pre- 50
6 two plots, a direct comparison of the flame temperature profiles dicted carbon burnout efficiency for each case as function of the 51
7 for air to oxy-firing for different co-firing ratios were presented in fuel straw share. Burnout is dependent on several factors such as 52
8 Fig. 12. particle size, combustion environment and residence time. For both 53
combustion atmospheres increasing the fuel straw share leads to 54
reduced burnout. It is evident that with the increase of biomass 55
sharing, burnout is decreased in most of the cases. It can be de- 56
scribed that with the increase of straw sharing, an increasing number 57
of large straw particles are transported through the furnace without 58
being burned. The reduced burnout is due to an increased amount 59
of straw char particles being transported through the furnace with 60
limited conversion of the fixed carbon content. Similar findings have 61
been observed in the experimental data. Comparatively, improved 62
burnout under oxy-fuel firing conditions is observed compared to 63
9 air combustion for different biomass sharing cases. The increase in 64
burnout efficiency is due to improved combustion conditions which 65
favour fuel particles. 66
67
7. Conclusion 68
69
This study presents a computational fluid dynamics modelling 70
for the combustion of coal and straw under air to oxy-firing com- 71
bustion environments using a commercial code AVL Fire ver.2009.2. 72
Combustion environments were varied by changing the oxidant con- 73
10 Fig. 12. Variation of reactor centreline temperatures for coal to straw against air to centration and matching of air to oxy-fuel combustion flame 74
11 oxy-fuel cases. temperature is conducted for the purpose of retrofitting. Three 75

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CFD modelling, Applied Thermal Engineering (2015), doi: 10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2015.10.024
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1 Fig. 13. Comparison of CO concentrations in radial direction for combustion different coal/straw blend in oxy-fuel conditions.

3 different oxy-fuel cases such as OF25%, OF30% and OF35% were in- change the temperature profile compared to 100% coal firing. With 10
4 vestigated with respect to flow and species distributions, flame the increase of straw contribution, flame temperature is de- 11
5 temperature profiles, and emissions. A critical analysis suggests that creased. The higher level of CO is observed for 100% straw burning 12
6 an inlet oxygen concentration of 30% would yield a match between case. This is due to increasing importance of increased residence 13
7 air-firing case and oxy-fuel cases. The effect of fuel switching from time on the burnout for increasing fuel straw share. Improved 14
8 coal to straw was evaluated by comparing the co-firing cases con- burnout under oxy-fuel firing conditions is observed compared to 15
9 sidered. It is seen that 20% sharing of straw does not significantly air combustion for different biomass sharing cases. 16

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CFD modelling, Applied Thermal Engineering (2015), doi: 10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2015.10.024
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Please cite this article in press as: Arafat A. Bhuiyan, Jamal Naser, Thermal characterization of coal/straw combustion under air/oxy-fuel conditions in a swirl-stabilized furnace: A
CFD modelling, Applied Thermal Engineering (2015), doi: 10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2015.10.024