Influence of Peat Addition to Woody Biomass Pellets on Slagging Characteristics during Combustion

Upgraded biofuels such as pellets, briquettes, and powder are today commonly used in small as well as large scale appliances. In order to cover an increasing fuel demand new materials such as bark, whole tree assortments, and peat are introduced. These materials have higher ash content which is why they are potentially more problematic compared with stem wood. In general, few studies can be found regarding cocombustion of peat and biomass and in particular where the slagging tendencies are discussed. The overall objective of this study was therefore to determine the influence of peat addition to woody biomass pellets on slagging characteristics. Two different peat assortments (peat A and B) were copelletized separately in four different dry matter levels (0–5–15–30 wt %) into stem wood and energy wood, respectively. Peat A was a traditional Scandinavian fuel peat, with a high ash and Si content (carex), and peat B had a low ash content and relatively high Ca/Si ratio (sphagnum) chosen for its special characteristics. The produced pellets were combusted in a commercial underfed pellet burner (15 kW) installed in a reference boiler. The collected deposits (bottom ash and slag) from the combustion experiments were chemically characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) combined with energy-dispersive X-ray analysis (EDS) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) regarding the elemental distribution and morphology and phase composition, respectively. In addition, the bottom ashes were characterized according to inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP-AES). To interpret the experimental findings chemical equilibrium model calculations were performed. The slagging tendency increased when adding peat into the woody biomasses. Especially sawdust with its relatively low ash and Ca content was generally more sensitive for the different peat assortments. Cofiring with the relatively Si and ash rich peat A resulted in the most severe slagging tendency. A significant increment of the Si, Al, and Fe content and a significant decrement of the Ca content in the slag could be seen when increasing the content of peat A in both woody biomasses. The slagging tendency increased when adding peat A because high temperature melting Ca–Mg oxides react to form more low temperature melting Ca/Mg–Al–K silicates. The slagging tendency was significantly lower when adding the more ash poor peat B, with relatively high Ca/Si ratio, into the woody biomass fuels compared with the peat A mixtures. The slag from the peat B mixings had a slightly higher Ca content compared with the Si content and a clearly higher content of Ca compared with the peat A mixtures. There were still Ca–Mg oxides left in the bottom ash i.e. a less amount of sticky low temperature melting K-silicate rich melt was formed when peat B was added to the woody biomasses.