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FINE PARTICLE EMISSIONS FROM RESIDUAL FUEL OIL COMBUSTION: CHARACTERIZATION AND MECHANISMS OF FORMATION
Citation:
Linak*, W P., C A. Miller*, AND J. L. Wendt. FINE PARTICLE EMISSIONS FROM RESIDUAL FUEL OIL COMBUSTION: CHARACTERIZATION AND MECHANISMS OF FORMATION. Presented at 28th International Symposium on Combustion, Edinburgh, Scotland, 7/30-8/4/2000.
Description:
The paper gives results of a comparison of the characteristics of particulate matter (PM) emitted from residual fuel oil combustion in two types of combustion equipment. A small commercial 732-kW fire-tube boiler yielded a weakly bi-modal particulate size distribution (PSD) with > 99% of the mass contained in a broad coarse mode, and only a small fraction of the mass in an accumulation mode consistent with ash vaporization. Bulk samples collected and classified by a cyclone indicate that 30-40% of the total PM emissions were < about 2.5 micrometers aerodynamic diameter (PM2.5). The coarse mode PM was rich in char, indicating relatively poor carbon burnout, although calculated combustion efficiencies were >99%. This characteristic behavior is typical of this type of small boiler. Larger scale, utility unitsb firing re4sidual oil were simulated using an 82-kW laboratory-scale refactory-lined combustor. PM emissions from this unit were in good agreement with published data, including published emission factors. These data indicate that the refractory-lined combustor produced lower total but greater fine particulate emissions, as evident from a single unimodal PSD centered at about 0.1 micrometer diameter. Bulk cyclone-segregated samples indicated that all the PM were smaller than 2.5 micrometers aerodynamic diameter.