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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 5th International Conference on Technologies and Combustion for a Clean Environment, Lisbon, Portugal, 7/12-15/99.
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-rated fire-tube boiler yielded a weakly bimodal PM size distribution (PSD) with over 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 < approximately 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 units firing residual oil were simulated using an 82-kW laboratory refractory-lined furnace. PM emissions from this unit were in good agreement with published data including published emission factors. These data indicated that the refractory-lined combustor produced < total but > fine PM emissions, as evident from a single unimodel PSD centered approximately around a 0.1 micrometer diameter. Bulk cyclone segregated samples indicated that all the PM were < PM2.5, and loss on ignition measurements suggested almost complete char burnout.