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SO2 and NOx in flue gas are serious environmental pollutants. As an excellent adsorbent, activated coke has good application potential in flue gas desulfurization and denitrification. In this study, different concentrations of NH3 and K2CO3 solutions were used to modify the activated coke made from biomass and coal, and then separate and coordinated desulfurization and denitrification experiments were carried out. The adsorption efficiency of activated coke and the adsorption capacity of SO2 and NO were compared, and the adsorption relationship between SO2 and NO was clarified. The changes of the surface functional groups of activated coke before and after adsorption and the forms of SO2 and NO after adsorption were analyzed by Fourier transform infrared spectrometer and X-ray diffractometer patterns. Results show that K2CO3 and NH3 modification can promote the adsorption of SO2 and NO in activated coke, and K2CO3 modification is more significant for improving the denitrification and desulfurization capacity. When the unmodified activated coke synergistically adsorbs SO2 and NO, there is a competitive adsorption between NO and SO2. However, when the activated coke modified with K2CO3 solution and NH3 synergistically adsorbs SO2 and NO, both have a promoting effect. After the adsorption of NH3-modified activated coke, CaSO4 and Na2SO4 crystals will appear. K2SO4 will exist after the adsorption of activated coke modified with K2CO3 solution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The air distribution system was one of the key devices that affects solid flow characteristics in circulating fluidized bed (CFB). Different air distribution systems have an influence on gas–solid flow uniformity, solids velocity, and concentration. In the conventional CFB, the air distribution system which composed of air chamber and distributor was placed on the bottom of the reactor. In this paper, an atmospheric circulating fluidized bed gasifier (AT-CFBG) was examined. The chamber and distributor of CFB was canceled and which was replaced by six nozzles with asymmetrical and symmetrical arrangement that mounted on the bottom of the furnace. A cold test was established at a scale of 1:15, the optical fiber was used to measure solids concentrations and velocities in the furnace under the asymmetrical and the symmetrical arrangement. The results showed that the asymmetrical arrangement has a better uniform velocity profile and has a higher solids concentration than those of the symmetrical arrangement. And it also has a stable solids circulation and a higher solids circulation rate (0.37 kg/h) than those of the symmetrical arrangement (0.34 kg/h). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The superheater and re-heater piping components in supercritical thermal power units are prone to creep and fatigue failure fracture after extensive use due to the high pressure and temperature environment. Therefore, safety assessment for superheaters and re-heaters in such an environment is critical. However, the actual service operation data is frequently insufficient, resulting in low accuracy of the safety assessment. Based on such problems, in order to address the issues of susceptibility of superheater and re-heater piping components to creep, inaccurate fatigue failure fracture, and creep–fatigue coupling rupture in a safety assessment, their remaining life prediction and reliability, as well as the lack of actual service operation data, multisource heterogeneous data generated from actual service of power plants combined with deep learning technology was used in this paper. As such, three real-time operating conditions' data (temperature, pressure, and stress amplitude) during equipment operation are predicted by training a deep learning architecture long short-term memory (LSTM) neural network suitable for processing time-series data and a backpropagation through time (BPTT) algorithm is used to optimize the model and compared with the actual physical model. Damage assessment and life prediction of final superheater tubes of power station boilers are carried out. The Weibull distribution model is used to obtain the trend of cumulative failure risk change and assess and predict the safety condition of the overall system of pressurized components of power station boilers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: A new over-fire air (OFA) program, which called arch-supplied OFA, is proposed for Foster Wheeler (FW) type down-fired boiler in this paper. The OFA nozzles are setting on arches near the furnace center and emitting OFA flow into the furnace at an inclined angle. Cold airflow experiments were conducted to determine the effect of the OFA ratio on the aerodynamic field in a small-scale furnace modeled for a 660-MWe down-fired boiler. As the OFA ratio increases, the penetration depth of the OFA flow increases in the level direction and the turning point from downward to upward of the OFA flow moves to the furnace center. At the same time, the velocity of the F-tier airflow decreases and its ability to bring the arch-injected airflow to deeper positions weakens and the turning point from downward to upward of the F-tier airflow moves to the wall. When the OFA ratio is 20%, the OFA flow could penetrate to the furnace center in the level direction and mix with the upflowing gas completely, while the arch-injected airflow have sufficient travel distance and enough residence time in the lower furnace. Thus, considering the penetration depth of arch-injected flow in the vertical direction and the OFA flow in the level direction, an OFA ratio of 20% is recommended for the new OFA arrangement according to the present work. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Industrial experiments were performed for a retrofitted 660-MWe full-scale arch-fired boiler. The ignition position of the primary air/fuel mixture flow, furnace temperature and flue gas component after the air heater were measured with different anthracite ratios at loads of 660- and 380-MWe. As the ratio of anthracite increased, the gas temperature decreased in the fuel-burning zones of the C4 and C6 burners, indicating a farther ignition position of the primary fuel/air flow under the arches, the gas temperature of the lower furnace decreased while that of the upper furnace increased, NO x emissions decreased while both the exhaust gas temperature and carbon content in fly ash increased, and the boiler efficiency decreased. At the rated load, an anthracite ratio of 35% was optimal for economical efficiency. At low load, the negative gas pressure fluctuated remarkably, which led to unstable combustion in the furnace. To ensure safe and stable operation of the boiler, a mass ratio of anthracite of 25% is advisable. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Industrial experiments were performed for a retrofitted 660MWe full-scale down-fired boiler. Measurements of ignition of the primary air/fuel mixture flow, the gas temperature distribution of the furnace and the gas components in the furnace were conducted at loads of 660, 550 and 330MWe. With decreasing load, the gas temperature decreases and the ignition position of the primary coal/air flow becomes farther along the axis of the fuel-rich pipe in the burner region under the arches. The furnace temperature also decreases with decreasing load, as does the difference between the temperatures in the burning region and the lower position of the burnout region. With decreasing load, the exhaust gas temperature decreases from 129.8°C to 114.3°C, while NO x emissions decrease from 2448 to 1610mg/m3. All three loads result in low carbon content in fly ash and great boiler thermal efficiency higher than 92%. Compared with the case of 660MWe before retrofit, the exhaust gas temperature decreased from 136 to 129.8°C, the carbon content in the fly ash decreased from 9.55% to 2.43% and the boiler efficiency increased from 84.54% to 93.66%. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

To overcome the problem of high carbon content in the fly ash of down-fired utility boilers using low-volatility coals, the combustion system of a 660 MWe full-scale down-fired boiler was retrofitted, with the direction of the secondary air under the arch being changed from horizontal to an angle of declination of 20°. Industrial experiments were performed using the boiler before and after the retrofit to determine the reconstruction effect. Data are reported for the gas temperature distribution along the primary air and coal mixture flow, furnace temperature, gas compositions, such as O2, CO, CO2, and NOx, and gas temperatures in the near-wall region. Comparisons between the two cases were made, and the results show that with the angled secondary air under the arches, ignition of the primary air and pulverized coal mixture was brought forward in the boiler. Gas temperatures rose in the fuel-burning zone, and the residence time of pulverized coal in the fuel-burning zone was extended. Thus, the quantity of unburned carbon in fly ash and the gas temperature at the furnace outlet decreased, and the boiler efficiency increased. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) has been applied to evaluate two NOx reducing schemes in a 100 MWe per hour (p/h) boiler that uses double volute burners without over-fire-air (OFA). The new schemes involve: a) changing the double volute burners for centrally fuel rich (CFR) burners, and b) using the OFA system in conjunction with a). In analyzing the results of these two schemes, various conclusions were drawn: 1) gas temperatures and related rise rates in the central zone of burners were higher, O2 and NOx concentrations were lower; and 2) cross-sectional gas temperature distributions through the burner centers in scheme employing b) is higher than that of original furnace set-up, and lower than that of scheme employing a). Comparing the b) scheme with those of the a) scheme and the original set-up, which is 277 mg/m3 (at 6% O2) at the furnace outlet, the peak value of NOx concentration has decreased 571 mg/m3 (67.4%) and 436 mg/m3 (61.2%), respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A flue gas turbine is the main energy recovery equipment in a heavy oil catalytic cracking unit. Blade erosion and fracture are the main reasons for gas turbine failure. In this study, the characteristics of the flow field and rotor stress in the gas turbine under different fume volumes are simulated and analyzed by simulation software (ANSYS). The influences of fume volume on the high-temperature fume flow field, temperature, velocity, catalyst particle movement rotor stress in the gas turbine, as well as the influence law of flue gas flow on temperature gradient, pressure gradient, velocity distribution, and the main position of blade erosion were studied. The stress distribution and maximum stress position of the impeller were also determined. It was found that the variation trends of the pressure gradient in the calculation domain of the gas turbine under different fume volumes are similar. The pressure on the working face of the rotor blade decreases gradually along the flow direction of the high-temperature fume. The highest pressure appears near the sharp corner with the large radius of the front edge of the rotor blade. The variation of the fume flow rate has little influence on the temperature field of the entire machine. The erosion wear of the rotor blade mainly occurs in the leading edge and tail. The maximum stress point of the blade is located at the large fillet of the first pair of tenon teeth. The maximum stress point of the disc is located at the large fillet of the third pair of tenon teeth. It is believed that these research results have reference help for analyzing the typical failure causes of flue gas turbine, optimizing the actual operating conditions and the reconstruction design of flue gas turbine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Air-surrounding-fuel is a well-known concept used within tangential and wall-fired boilers. Here, we report for the first time on industrial experiments performed to study the effects of this concept on a 660 MWe full-scale down-fired boiler. Data are reported for the gas temperature distributions along the primary air and coal-mixed flows, furnace temperatures, gas compositions, for example O2, CO and NO x , and gas temperatures in the near-wall region. The influence of concentration control valve (CCV) opening on combustion and NO x emission in the furnace were determined. The results show that the flame stability, temperature distribution, unburnt carbon are influenced by both concentration ratios and fuel-rich flow velocities. As CCV opening increases, NO x emissions decrease from 2594 mg/m3 to 1895 mg/m3. Considering altogether economic benefits and environmental protection issues, 30% is the optimal value for the CCV opening. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: We measured various operational parameters of a 200-MWe, wall-fired, lignite utility boiler under different loads. The parameters measured were gas temperature, gas species concentration, char burnout, component release rates (C, H and N), furnace temperature, heat flux, and boiler efficiency. Cold air experiments of a single burner were conducted in the laboratory. A double swirl flow pulverized-coal burner has two ring recirculation zones that start in the secondary air region of the burner. With increasing secondary air flow, the air flow axial velocity increases, the maximum values for the radial velocity, tangential velocity, and turbulence intensity all increase, and there are slight increases in the air flow swirl intensity and the recirculation zone size. With increasing load gas, the temperature and CO concentration in the central region of burner decrease, while O2 concentration, NO x concentration, char burnout, and component release rates of C, H, and N increase. Pulverized-coal ignites farther into the burner, in the secondary air region. Gas temperature, O2 concentration, NO x concentration, char burnout and component release rates of C, H, and N all increase. Furthermore, CO concentration varies slightly and pulverized-coal ignites closer. In the side wall region, gas temperature, O2 concentration, and NO x concentration all increase, but CO concentration varies only slightly. In the bottom row burner region the furnace temperature and heat flux increase appreciably, but the increase become more obvious in the middle and top row burner regions and in the burnout region. Compared with a 120-MWe load, the mean NO x emission at the air preheater exits for 190-MWe load increases from 589.5mg/m3 (O2 =6%) to 794.6mg/m3 (O2 =6%), and the boiler efficiency increases from 90.73% to 92.45%. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Turbulence intensities at the exit of a centrally fuel rich (CFR) burner were measured employing a probe with hot-film sensors. In addition, using glycol as a smog tracer, optical images of the highlighted primary airflow were taken with a CCD camera and contrast-enhanced by computer. Profiles of the interface between primary and secondary air were obtained from which fractal dimensions (FDs) of the primary air boundary were estimated. Results indicate that FDs of this air boundary are in the range of 1.10–1.30 depending on burner conditions. As the FD and mean turbulence intensities of the primary air boundary have uniform distributions, they can be used to analyze coal combustion and NO x formation characteristics of the burner. When either decreasing the outer secondary air vane angle or increasing either the inner secondary air vane angle or total mass flow rate of the secondary air, the burner swirl number increases which subsequently shows up as an increase in the FD and mean turbulence intensities of the primary air boundary. Increasing the ratio of the mass flow rate of inner to outer secondary air decreases the burner swirl number, but increases the FD and mean turbulence intensities of primary air boundary. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: We measured various operational parameters of a 200-MWe, wall-fired, lignite utility boiler under various outer secondary air vane angles. The parameters measured were gas temperature, gas species concentrations, char burnout, and component release rates (C, H and N). Cold air experiments of a single burner were conducted in the laboratory. A double swirl flow pulverized-coal burner has a single ring recirculation zone that forms in the secondary air region in the burner. By decreasing vane angles, maximum values of radial velocity, tangential velocity and turbulence intensity all increase. Moreover, swirl intensity of air flow and recirculation zone size increase. Concomitantly, in the central region of the burner, decreasing the vane angles of outer secondary air increases gas temperatures, CO concentrations, char burnout and component release rates of C, H, and N, while O2 and NO x concentrations decrease, and an early ignition of pulverized-coal occurs. Meanwhile, in the secondary air region of the burner, conditions are similar except that NO x mean concentrations are reversed showing instead an increase. In the side wall region, gas temperatures increase, O2 and NO x concentrations decrease, but CO concentrations vary only slightly. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Industrial experiments were performed on a down-fired pulverized-coal 300MWe utility boiler with swirl burners. Gas temperature, concentrations of gas components (O2, CO, CO2 and NO x ) in the burning region and carbon content in the fly ash were measured with outer secondary-air vane angles of 25°, 32.5° and 50°. Results indicate that with increasing vane angle, NO x emission and boiler efficiency decrease. Overall evaluation boiler efficiency and NO x emission, the vane angle of 32.5° is optimum. Using an IFA300 constant-temperature anemometer system, cold air experiments on a quarter-scaled burner model were also carried out to investigate the influence of various outer secondary-air vane angles on the flow characteristics in the burner nozzle region. No central recirculation zone appeared for vane angles of 25° and 32.5°. Most of the pulverized-coal was ignited in the external recirculation zone. For vane angles of 45° and 55°, a central recirculation zone could be observed, and air flow rigidity and axial velocities decreased rapidly. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

High chromium martensitic heat-resistant steel is considered as a candidate material for pressure components of the next generation of incinerators of the subcritical level or above in China due to its excellent high-temperature and corrosion resistance, but in the long-term service, aging will significantly affect the service safety of materials. So, accurate identification of its aging state is important to enhance the safety of a power plant. In this paper, an automatic aging grading model of high chromium martensite heat-resistant steel based on the depth residual network is proposed according to different scales of metallographic data. A multiscale data set is constructed by image reduction to verify the accuracy of the model in identifying microstructure images of high chromium martensitic heat-resistant steel with different scales. The experimental results show that the model using multiscale data sets performs well, and then, through feature pyramid network model training, the accuracy rate is further improved, and a relatively good prediction accuracy model is obtained. The validity of the deep learning method for the classification of damage and aging of P91 steel with different scales is verified., Competing Interests: The authors declare no competing financial interest., (© 2023 The Authors. Published by American Chemical Society.)

Sewage sludge and waste biomass are unavoidable byproducts of municipal and industrial processes. Both materials have significant carbon contents. Activated coke with a developed pore structure can be obtained after its physical activation. In this study, sewage sludge and waste poplar bark were used as precursor materials to prepare activated coke by steam, carbon dioxide gas, and their mixtures. The effects of different concentrations of activation gas on the activated coke product were investigated. Through nitrogen adsorption analysis, it was found that activated coke has a higher specific surface area and better pore structure when activated in gas containing 20% steam. The activated coke prepared by carbon dioxide gas activation has higher microporosity than that prepared by steam activation. Infrared spectrum analysis shows that steam activation is beneficial to the formation of free hydroxyl functional groups. Through scanning electron microscopy analysis, the pores of activated coke prepared by steam activation appeared to extend deeper in the structure of the coke, while the pores of activated coke prepared by carbon dioxide activation appeared to have fine circular structures. The activated coke prepared by the activation of mixed gas appeared to have ablated particles on the surface due to the ablation of the pore structure. In order to prepare activated coke with excellent adsorption performance, the physical and chemical properties of activated coke under different activation conditions were studied in detail., Competing Interests: The authors declare no competing financial interest., (© 2021 The Authors. Published by American Chemical Society.)

Coal combustion is a major energy provider but also a serious pollutant emitter worldwide. Biomass has attracted increasing research attention due to its carbon neutral and other advantages during co-pyrolysis of coal. Therefore, pyrolysis of corn straw, lignite coal, and their mixed fuel was investigated using a horizontal tube furnace at a temperature range of 300-900 °C in this study by concentrating on emissions of nitrogen- and sulfur-bearing gases. Emissions of HCN, NH 3 , COS, and SO 2 were monitored, and char yield was calculated during pyrolysis. Results showed that char yield decreases with increasing temperature due to the decomposition of heterocyclic aromatic hydrocarbon. Sulfur (42.45 wt %, 900 °C) and nitrogen (73.23 wt %, 600 °C) were released from the mixed fuel during pyrolysis. The synergistic effect between corn straw and coal was evaluated and their experimental and calculated values were compared. The synergistic effect on emissions was remarkable at a temperature range of 600-800 °C due to high biomass content and desynchronization of volatile matter emissions between the coal and biomass. Volatiles in the biomass, which are released before coal, stimulated the volatilization of coal. Several conventional gases, such as CH 4 and C 2 H 6 , were also analyzed to investigate emission patterns at different temperatures., Competing Interests: The authors declare no competing financial interest., (© 2020 American Chemical Society.)

Down-fired boilers used to burn low-volatile coals have high NO(x) emissions. To find a way of solving this problem, an overfire air (OFA) system was introduced on a 300 MW(e) down-fired boiler. Full-scale experiments were performed on this retrofitted boiler to explore the influence of the OFA ratio (the mass flux ratio of OFA to the total combustion air) on the combustion and NO(x) emission characteristics in the furnace. Measurements were taken of gas temperature distributions along the primary air and coal mixture flows, average gas temperatures along the furnace height, concentrations of gases such as O(2), CO, and NO(x) in the near-wall region and carbon content in the fly ash. Data were compared for five different OFA ratios. The results show that as the OFA ratio increases from 12% to 35%, the NO(x) emission decreases from 1308 to 966 mg/Nm(3) (at 6% O(2) dry) and the carbon content in the fly ash increases from 6.53% to 15.86%. Considering both the environmental and economic effect, 25% was chosen as the optimized OFA ratio.

A new technique combining high boiler efficiency and low-NO(x) emissions was employed in a 300MWe down-fired boiler as an economical means to reduce NO(x) emissions in down-fired boilers burning low-volatile coals. Experiments were conducted on this boiler after the retrofit with measurements taken of gas temperature distributions along the primary air and coal mixture flows and in the furnace, furnace temperatures along the main axis and gas concentrations such as O(2), CO and NO(x) in the near-wall region. Data were compared with those obtained before the retrofit and verified that by applying the combined technique, gas temperature distributions in the furnace become more reasonable. Peak temperatures were lowered from the upper furnace to the lower furnace and flame stability was improved. Despite burning low-volatile coals, NO(x) emissions can be lowered by as much as 50% without increasing the levels of unburnt carbon in fly ash and reducing boiler thermal efficiency.