Rheology of fly ashes from coal and biomass co-combustion

The presence of large amounts of alkali metals, chlorine and sulphur in most biomass fuels – compared to coal – can create serious ash-related problems such as deposition, agglomeration and/or corrosion. This paper discusses the viscosity characteristics of fly ash from the co-combustion of various coal/biomass blends in a pilot scale pf-boiler. The produced data provide information on the melting of the ash and its flow characteristics, as a function of temperature, which may be used to modify the temperature profile of the boiler in order to avoid slagging. Straw co-firing lowers the ash viscosity leading to higher stickiness of the ash particles. Wood co-firing has only minor effects, due to the composition of wood ash and the low percentage of wood in the coal/biomass blend.