An exploratory study on the performance of a fluidized bed combustor using charcoal-supplemented kraft black liquor as feed-stock

Industries have come out with all sorts of fluidized bed combustor (FBC) design, that concerns mostly the combustion of feedstocks that are dry and usually solid, like peat, wood chips and agricultural wastes such as, bagasse, rice hulls, corn cobs, coffee husks etc. The combustion characteristics and the properties of the said materials are some of the major factors of consideration in the design of the FBC.The exploratory study on the performance of the FBC is the main concern, using a liquid feed stock known as black liquor (waste product of pulp and paper industry). Most studies as mentioned earlier used feed-stocks that are dry and solid in nature and this is one study that evaluates the performance of an FBC that has been designed for the combustion of a liquid industrial waste. Part of this study is to find out whether the feedstock is a good alternative source of energy.The analysis was made based on the computations of the combustion and thermal efficients. The results showed that the FBC is an effective equipment in the combustion of black liquor. Best results were obtained when using the 10 percent-90 percent and 20 percent - 80 percent (charcoal-supplemented) strong black liquor concentration operating with an air flow rate of 140 1i/min