Optimum temperature for sulphur retention in fluidised beds working under oxy-fuel combustion conditions

Oxy-fuel combustion is one of the leading options for power generation with CO2 capture. The process consists of burning the fuel with a mixture of nearly pure oxygen and a CO2-rich recycled flue gas, resulting in a product flue gas from the boiler containing mainly CO2 and H2O. Among the possible boiler types, fluidised bed combustors are very appropriate for the oxy-fuel process because they allow the in situ desulphurisation by feeding Ca-based sorbents into the combustor.In this work, the effect of the temperature of the combustor on the retention of the SO2 generated in the combustion of two coals with very different sulphur content (a lignite and an anthracite) has been studied. The experimental facility used was a bubbling fluidised bed (BFB) combustor of ∼3 kWth. Tests were conducted under oxy-fuel combustion mode and also under enriched-air combustion mode for comparison reasons. A Spanish limestone “Granicarb” was used as Ca-based sorbent for sulphur retention. The temperatures tested were between 800 and 970 °C using Ca/S molar ratios between 0 and 3.It was found that in BFB combustors operating under oxy-fuel combustion conditions the optimum temperature to achieve the highest sulphur retention was 900–925 °C, whereas operating with enriched air the optimum combustion temperature was 850–870 °C. Working at the optimum temperature, the SO2 retentions were lower in oxy-fuel combustion than in enriched air combustion conditions. It was also observed that working with lignite there was 10–15% of sulphur retention by coal ashes, however, working with anthracite the sulphur retention by coal ashes was negligible. This finding was independent of the combustion mode used, oxy-fuel or enriched air.