DEVELOPMENT OF A VALIDATED MODEL FOR USE IN MINIMIZING NOx EMISSIONS AND MAXIMIZING CARBON UTILIZATION WHEN CO-FIRING BIOMASS WITH COAL

This is the second Quarterly Technical Report for DOE Cooperative Agreement No. DE-FC26-00NT40895. A statement of the project objectives is included in the Introduction of this report. Two biomass co-firing test burns have been conducted. In the first test, up to 20% by weight dry hardwood sawdust and dry switchgrass was co-milled Pratt seam coal. In the second test, also with Pratt seam coal, up to 10% by weight dry hardwood sawdust was injected through the center of the burner. Progress has continued in developing a modeling approach to synthesize the reaction time and temperature distributions that will be produced by computational fluid dynamic models of the pilot-scale combustion furnace and the char burnout and chemical reaction kinetics that will predict NOx emissions and unburned carbon levels in the furnace exhaust. Preliminary results of CFD modeling efforts have been received and Preparations are under way for continued pilot-scale combustion experiments