Performance analysis of biomass gasification coupled with a coal-fired boiler system at various loads.

The utilization of agricultural wastes in existing pulverized coal power plants is an attractive option to alleviate environmental pollution and reduce over-exploitation of fossil fuels. A coupled system model of biomass gasification coupled to a coal-fired boiler is established in Aspen Plus and successfully validated by experimental data. A 20 t/h straw gasifier operates at the rated capacity and the straw gas is introduced to the boiler running at different loads. The co-firing ratio increases with the reduction of boiler load. Results indicate that the main parameters, such as furnace combustion temperature, flue gas temperature, and NO and SO emission decrease with the reduction of boiler load. Compared to pure coal combustion, co-firing can reduce the furnace combustion temperature and increase the flue gases temperature. More importantly, the coal consumption, and NO and SO emissions are reduced at all loads, especially at lower loads. The excess air ratio should be adjusted to obtain the optimum combustion performance in the furnace, but there is still a slight drop of around 0.2% in boiler efficiency when co-firing. Meanwhile, the coupled system efficiency at various loads can reach slightly more than 84% under optimum conditions.