A review on thermo-chemical characteristics of coal/biomass co-firing in industrial furnace

Biomass should be considered as one of the promising sources of energy for mitigating greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Co-firing biomass with coal has become a solution for meeting the power crisis as well as to reduce the pollutant emissions. The biomass fuels typically found from woody to grassy and solid recovered fuels depending on its origin and properties. It is suggested that co-firing coal with biomass has a substantial effect on SOx and NOx emission level. The ashing process, fly ash quality depends on the conversion technology, capture technology and the properties of the biomass. In order to control the furnace efficiency and production, burnout, optimum injection of biomass sharing with specific information of particle ignition properties are also important. A number of small/laboratory scale and industrial scale experiments have been conducted by different researchers. Different experimental studies performed are reviewed, grouped and summarized based on the fuel processing technology, burnout performance, emission level, environmental aspect, ash information and deposit characteristics, effect of co-firing ratios and adoption of oxy-fuel co-firing. Overall, this paper will highlight existing technologies and emerging trends in co-firing of different types of biomass which will be helpful for future investigations.