Combustion characteristics of fuels - Experiment scale-up from bench scale reactors to commercial scale CFB Boiler

The equipment scale-up towards larger CFB units requires accurate knowledge of the process and combustion behavior of fuels. Unit sizes of 300 MWe are in operation and plans for larger units have been made. Shift from natural circulation to once through steam cycle requires more precise knowledge of the dynamic behavior of the fuel since there is no steam drum. The combustion of inhomogeneous fuels, as well as, special demands for dynamic process behavior poses new challenges to boiler manufactures. Nowadays, dynamic models are used to develop and analyze the dynamic behavior of the combustion process. Testing all the dynamic changes in the full-scale reactor would be both expensive and risky. Therefore, bench and pilot scale experiments, combined with dynamic models of the combustion processes, give a good basis to study behavior of larger scale units. At the same time models also increase knowledge of different process relations. The main objective of this paper is to present results of scale-up experiments from the bench scale, via pilot scale, to full-scale boilers. Further, how the combustion and reactivity of fuels in the full-scale boilers can be studied with the aid of small-scale experiments and simulations. Dynamic experiments were carried out with three reactors of different scale. Calculation and simulation models have been developed to illustrate the combustion in the reactors; e.g. heat release profiles, fuel reactivity and particle size distribution. Results from the dynamic experiments are used to adjust the computer models.