skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Co-combustion of refuse derived fuel and coal in a cyclone furnace at the Baltimore Gas and Electric Company, C. P. Crane Station

Technical Report ·
DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/5411546· OSTI ID:5411546

A co-combustion demonstration burn of coal and fluff refuse-derived fuel (RDF) was conducted by Teledyne National and Baltimore Gas and Electric Company. This utility has two B and W cyclone furnaces capable of generating 400 MW. The facility is under a prohibition order to convert from No. 6 oil to coal; as a result, it was desirable to demonstrate that RDF, which has a low sulfur content, can be burned in combination with coals containing up to 2% sulfur, thus reducing overall sulfur emissions without deleterious effects. Each furnace consists of four cyclones capable of generating 1,360,000 pounds per hour steam. The tertiary air inlet of one of the cyclones was modified with an adapter to permit fluff RDF to be pneumatically blown into the cyclone. At the same time, coal was fed into the cyclone furnace through the normal coal feeding duct, where it entered the burning chamber tangentially and mixed with the RDF during the burning process. Secondary shredded fluff RDF was prepared by the Baltimore County Resource Recovery Facility. The RDF was discharged into a receiving station consisting of a belt conveyor discharging into a lump breaker, which in turn, fed the RDF into a pneumatic line through an air-lock feeder. A total of 2316 tons were burned at an average rate of 5.6 tons per hour. The average heat replacement by RDF for the cyclone was 25%, based on Btu input for a period of forty days. The range of RDF burned was from 3 to 10 tons per hour, or 7 to 63% heat replacement. The average analysis of the RDF (39 samples) for moisture, ash, heat (HHV) and sulfur content were 18.9%, 13.4%, 6296 Btu/lb and 0.26% respectively. RDF used in the test was secondary shredded through 1-1/2 inch grates producing the particle size distribution of from 2 inches to .187 inches. Findings to date after inspection of the boiler and superheater indicate satisfactory results with no deleterious effects from the RDF.

Research Organization:
Maryland Environmental Service, Annapolis (USA); Teledyne National, Timonium, MD (USA)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
DOE Contract Number:
FG01-80CS24320
OSTI ID:
5411546
Report Number(s):
DOE/CS/24320-1; ON: DE82012005
Resource Relation:
Other Information: Portions of document are illegible
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English