Composition and chemistry of particulates from the Tidd Clean Coal Demonstration Plant pressurized fluidized bed combustor, cyclone, and filter vessel

In a Pressurized Fluidized Bed Combustion (PFBC)/cyclone/filter system ground coal and sorbent are injected as pastes into the PFBC bed; the hot gases and entrained fine particles of ash and calcined or reacted sorbent are passed through a cyclone (which removes the larger entrained particles); and the very-fine particles that remain are then filtered out, so that the cleaned hot gas can be sent through a non-ruggedized hot-gas turbine. The 70 MWe Tidd PFBC Demonstration Plant in Brilliant, Ohio was completed in late 1990. The initial design utilized seven strings of primary and secondary cyclones to remove 98% of the particulate matter. However, the Plant also included a pressurized filter vessel, placed between the primary and secondary cyclones of one of the seven strings. Coal and dolomitic limestone (i.e, SO{sub 2} sorbent) of various nominal sizes ranging from 12 to 18 mesh were injected into the combustor operating at about 10 atm pressure and 925{degree}C. The cyclone removed elutriated particles larger than about 0.025 mm, and particles larger than ca. 0.0005 mm were filtered at about 750{degree}C by ceramic candle filters. Thus, the chemical reaction times and temperatures, masses of material, particle-size distributions, and chemical compositions were substantially different for particulates removed from the bed drain, the cyclone drain, and the filter unit. Accordingly, we have measured the particle-size distributions and concentrations of calcium, magnesium, sulfur, silicon, and aluminum for material taken from the three units, and also determined the chemical formulas and predominant crystalline forms of the calcium and magnesium sulfate compounds formed. The latter information is particularly novel for the filter-cake material, from which we isolated the ``new`` compound Mg{sub 2}Ca(SO{sub 4}){sub 3}