CFD simulation and experimental validation of co-combustion of chicken litter and MBM with pulverized coal in a flow reactor

The influence of co-combustion of solid biomass fuels with pulverized coal on burnout and CO emissions was studied using a flow reactor. The thermal input on a fuel feeding basis of the test rig was approximately 7 kW. Accompanied with the measurements, a reactor model using the CFD code AIOLOS was set up and first applied for two pure coal flames (with and without air staging). Reasonable agreement between measurements and simulations was found. An exception was the prediction of the CO concentration under sub-stoichiometric conditions (primary zone). As model input for the volatile matter release, the HTVM (high temperature volatile matter as defined by IFRF [IFRF, www.handbook.ifrf.net/handbook/glossary.html. [1]]) was used. Furthermore, a relatively slow CO oxidation rate obtained from the literature and the ERE (Extended Resistance Equation) model for char combustion were selected. Furthermore, the model was used for simulating co-firing of coal with chicken litter (CL) and meat and bone meal (MBM). The conditions applied are relevant for future co-firing practice with high thermal shares of secondary fuels (larger than 20%). The major flue gas concentrations were quite well described, however, CO emission predictions were only qualitatively following the measured trends when O2 is available and severely under-predicted under substoichiometric conditions. However, on an engineering level of accuracy, and concerning burnout, this work shows that co-combustion of the fuels can reasonably well be described with coal combustion sub-models.