Evaluation of anthracite as a coal-water slurry fuel. Final report

Technical Report · Fri Feb 01 04:00:00 EST 1985

OSTI ID:5686193

This study evaluated the use of anthracite as a coal-water slurry fuel. The study consisted of two major activities: (1) fundamental slurry formulation experiments leading to the production and combustion characteristics investigation of suitable, anthracite slurries, and (2) analytical evaluations of the potential of anthracite slurry as a boiler fuel for new industrial and utility boiler application and for retrofit application of an industrial oil-fired boiler. The study results have shown that anthracite can be readily processed into a coal-water slurry with coal loading 70 wt % coal and 30% water plus chemical additives. Slurry viscosity, handling, and storage characteristics are similar to the bituminous coal-water slurries that are under active commercial development. Commercial anthracite-water slurry processing cost is projected to be only slightly higher than for bituminous coal-water slurry. Combustion testing in a small, industrial, water-tube boiler has shown that stable combustion of anthracite-water slurry can be achieved with high carbon conversion. The results also indicate that oxygen enrichment and secondary fuel firing can compensate for the low volatile content of the anthracite to achieve good combustion. Under the conditions assumed, anthracite-water slurry was not an economical fuel retrofit option for an existing oil-fired, industrial boiler. Contributing significantly to the economic results were the requirement for secondary fuel and oxygen to achieve good anthracite slurry combustion in the oil-designed boiler. Minimizing or eliminating the secondary fuel and oxygen requirements through a continued burner/boiler development program or more radical boiler modification to fire low-volatile fuel would greatly improve conversion economics and likely make anthracite-water slurry a candidate for industrial boiler fuel retrofit. 10 refs., 22 figs., 38 tabs.

• Research Organization: Gilbert/Commonwealth, Reading, PA (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: AC22-84PC72005
• OSTI ID: 5686193
• Report Number(s): DOE/PC/72005-T1; ON: DE85011805
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT
013000 -- Coal
Lignite
& Peat-- Transport
Handling
& Storage
014000* -- Coal
Lignite
& Peat-- Combustion
20 FOSSIL-FUELED POWER PLANTS
200104 -- Fossil-Fueled Power Plants-- Components
ANTHRACITE
BLACK COAL
BOILER FUELS
BOILERS
CALORIFIC VALUE
CAPITALIZED COST
CARBONACEOUS MATERIALS
CHEMICAL COMPOSITION
COAL
COMBUSTION PROPERTIES
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
COST
DATA
DISPERSIONS
ENERGY SOURCES
EXPERIMENTAL DATA
FOSSIL FUELS
FUEL SLURRIES
FUEL SUBSTITUTION
FUELS
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
INFORMATION
MATERIALS
MIXTURES
NUMERICAL DATA
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PERFORMANCE
PRODUCTION
RETROFITTING
SLURRIES
SUSPENSIONS
TESTING
WATER