Book Description

The work reported here is aimed at understanding the initiation of upper wall slag deposits in pulverized coal fired utility boilers, and characterizing pulverized coals for the mineral elements of significance. A scanning electron microscope with x-ray fluorescence capability, under computer control, has been used to analyze individual coal particles for the elements Si, Al, Ca, Fe and S. The required software for these analyses has been developed, as have suitable sample preparation techniques. The results show many different types of particles to exist in pulverized coal, some of which are likely to be bad-acting in terms of slagging. A test has been developed to study the sticking of melted pellets of ash or mineral matter dropped onto a metal substrate held at a controlled temperature. It was found that for a given drop composition and substrate material there is a substrate temperature below which the drop will not adhere. At higher substrate temperatures the strength of adhesion increases logarithmically. Sticking appears to be a function of the oxidation of the surface or of alkalies deposited on the surface. If the drop composition is such that material absorbed from the substrate fluxes the drop-substrate interface, then the apparent contact angle is reduced and sticking is enhanced, and vice-versa. A small-scale pulverized coal furnace designed to give a uniform temperature-time history for each particle was reconstructed and tested. Water-cooled probes were found to give the most accurate control of initial probe temperature. Deposits initiate on the probe in a few minutes, and the fall of probe temperature can be used to indicate the growth of deposit. Systematic investigation of the particles initiating the deposit have not yet been performed.