Relationship between circulating fluidized bed technology and air pollution in China

Circulating Fluidized Bed technology is an ideal technology to be used for large scale power
generation with a broad variety of biomass fuels. The well known benefits of CFB technology,
such as the superior fuel flexibility, inherently low emissions and high availability can be fully
utilized for this purpose.
CFB boiler for biomass
During the eighties the development of circulating fluidised bed technology was especially strong
with fossil fuels. One reason was the SO2 emission and the capture of sulphur already inthe fluid
bed boiler furnace and the avoiding a separate sulphur removal in the plant. CFB was anyhow also
introduced for the same purpose as bubbling beds during the same time.One reason was that the
process industry and the municipal power plants wanted to have the opportunity to introduce also
coal or other fossil fuels as an alternative fuel for the plants. Almost all of the plants are designed
and calculated also for simultaneous burning of coal although the main fuels were possibly bark,
other wood residues and water treatment sludge.The fuels were also relatively easy to burn with
CFB`s. With some sludges the CFB process had slight fouling problems and in this matter BFB
had certain advantages in comparison to CFB boilers.
Circulating fluidized bed technologies are characterized by unequaled fuel flexibility, high
efficiency, and the ability to employ a diversity of fuels, including fuels which are difficult to
burn.
To reduce emissions of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide (CO2), boilers for heat and
power production will be operated with increasingly high shares of biomass. Earlier, the size of
the biomass fired plants has been limited for the locally available biomass fuel sources. Today the
biomass market has changed from Local to Global. The green tariffs provided by most countries in
the EU are making it possible to procure biomass globally using large biomass resources in
America and Asia. This has created an interest for the large scale biomass fired units.
To date, biomass combustion systems use mainly forest industry biomass resources such as wood
and wood residues. As the demand for biomass fuels grows and the price for wood-based biomass
fuels increases, there is a growing interest to utilize not only wood-based fuels but also
agricultural biomass, biomass residues and biomass wastes as fuel.
The quality of biomass fuels vary considerably due to fuel supply, preparation and processing, as
well as local conditions such as soil chemistry, rainfall, and farming practices. For example,
Chlorine (Cl) and alkali contents are key parameters affecting corrosion and fouling in the boiler.
Bulk density and moisture content are examples of the physical properties having an effect on the
combustion characteristics of the fuel.
Fuel prices and fuel availability are subject to considerable market fluctuations. Supply security is
a challenge and emission limits are constantly being tightened. A major challenge for the power
generation market is how to efficiently utilize a wide range of different fuels to take advantage of
market conditions, while generating minimal emissions and ensuring high equipment availability.
Source: http://www.circulatingfluidizedbedboiler.com/
http://www.circulatingfluidizedbedboiler.com/Biomass-fired-steam-power-plants.html