Research on Co-Combustion of High-Calorific Biomass Obtained Using Gasification and Lignite for Sustainable Utilisation of Resources
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Materials and Methods
2.1. Fuels
- No. 1—Borodino lignite coal;
- No. 2—Carbonisate obtained from larch wood;
- No. 3—Carbonisate obtained from pinewood;
- No. 4—Carbonisate obtained from mixed fuel based on lignite No. 1 and common pinewood;
- No. 5—A mixture based on fuels No. 1 and 2;
- No. 6—A mixture based on fuels No. 1 and 3.
2.2. Main Characteristics of the Fuels Under Study
- The fuels were ground using a Retsch DM200 (Germany) to a grain size of about 1000 µm;
- To obtain a grain size of 140–250 μm (this fuel size is used in solid-fuel flaring combustion), a Retsch AS200 analytical sieving machine (Germany) equipped with sieves with appropriate cells (ISO 3310-1:2016) [35] was used;
- The moisture content (MC) of the samples was determined on an MA-150 (Germany) according to (ISO 18134-1:2022) [36];
- The inorganic residue content (Ad) in a dry state was measured using a Snol 7.2/1300 (Lithuania) muffle furnace (ISO 18122:2022) [37];
- The volatile matter (VCdaf) in a dry ash-free state was also determined using the Snol 7.2/1300 (Lithuania) furnace (ISO 18123:2023) [38];
- The low heat of combustion in working conditions (LHV) was determined on a C6000 (Germany) apparatus (ISO 18125:2017) [39];
- The carbon (Cdaf), hydrogen (Hdaf) and nitrogen (Ndaf) contents in a dry ash-free state were determined (ISO 16948:2015) [40];
- The sulphur content (Sdaf) in a dry ash-free state was determined (ISO 16994:2016) [41];
- Oxygen (Odaf) was determined through subtraction (ISO/TS 20048-1:2020) [42].
2.3. A Van Krevelen Diagram of the Fuels Under Study
2.4. The Surface Morphology of the Wood Particles Before and After Gasification
2.5. Methodology of Thermal Analysis (TGA)
2.5.1. Determination of the Basic Parameters of Fuel Combustion and Determination of the Synergistic Effects During Heating of the Mixtures
2.5.2. Determination of the Synergistic Effects During Heating of the Mixtures
3. Results and Discussion
3.1. The Combustion of Individual Fuels
- Coal had a lower ignition temperature compared to that of biomass carbonisate;
- The carbonisate from larch and pine had a burnout temperature approximately equal to that of coal;
- The values of the combustion index and peak mass change intensity (the combustion intensity) of pine carbonisate were only slightly lower than these values in coal, provided that the volatile content of carbonisate was 14 times lower;
- It was determined that the values of the combustion index of all of the carbonisates were higher than one, which indicated their good combustibility, even under the conditions of a low content of gaseous substances in their composition, and the peak value of the combustion intensity was 20%/min, which also confirmed their high-combustibility properties.
3.2. Combustion of the Fuel Mixtures
- The ignition temperature of mixtures No. 5 and 6 decreased in comparison with that of carbonisates No. 2–4.
- There was a decrease in the flammability of mixtures No. 5 and 6 compared to that of the individual components in these mixtures due to a decrease in the peak combustion intensity (%/min).
- The high ignition temperature of the carbonisate is due to the low content of volatile substances, which in turn can cause ignition in a lower temperature range due to the intense increase in the temperature of the carbon residue caused by the intense heat transfer from the burning gaseous substances to the carbon residue. The addition of coal with a high content of volatile substances shifts the ignition process to lower temperatures due to an increase in the volatile content of the mixture compared to the carbonisate (Table 1).
3.3. Synergetic Effects in the Combustion of the Fuel Mixtures
4. Conclusions
- Carbonisate produced from coal and pinewood has the following advantages: Its ignition temperature is lower by 7% compared to that of carbonisate produced from wood; the combustion index is higher than that of carbonisate produced from larch wood by 16%; and the lower calorific value is higher than that of coal by 86%.
- The combustion index of carbonisate made of pinewood is lower than that of coal by only 2.5%, that of carbonisate made of larch wood by 36%, that of carbonisate made of coal and that of coal by 17%.
- The ignition temperature of coal is lower than that of carbonisate by more than 100 °C, so the addition of 50% of highly reactive coal to carbonisate reduces the ignition temperature by 25%, and the LHV of the mixture is higher than the LHV of coal by 50%.
- The analysis of the interaction of the fuels between themselves in the process of their joint combustion showed the presence of synergetic interactions, which led both to a decrease in the intensity of combustion and heat release and to increases.
- During the combustion of the carbon residue carbonisate obtained from a mixture of coal and pinewood (No. 4), a shift in the peak values of the combustion intensity and the heat release intensity to lower temperatures was observed.
- The results of this study may be useful for retrofitting coal-fired boilers to run on a mixture containing carbonisate and lignite. If carbonisate is produced from biomass, the resulting gas could be used as an energy fuel by burning it in a coal-fired boiler.
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Conflicts of Interest
Nomenclature
Ad | ash (%) |
Cdaf, Hdaf, Ndaf, Odaf, Sdaf | fraction of carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen and sulphur converted in a dry ash-free state (%) |
Deriv. Weightmax | value of peak mass change rate (%/min) |
DSCmax | peak heat release value (W/g) |
LHV | low heating value (MJ/kg) |
MC | moisture content (%) |
S | combustion index (min–2 °C−3) |
Tb | burnout temperature (°C) |
TDeriv. Weight | Deriv. Weightmax temperature (°C) |
TDSC | DSCmax temperature (°C) |
Ti | ignition temperature (°C) |
VCdaf | gaseous content in an ash-free dry state (%) |
peak | maximum |
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Fuels | MC | Ad | VCdaf | Cdaf | Hdaf | Ndaf | Sdaf | Odaf | LHV |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
% | MJ/kg | ||||||||
No. 1 | 11.6 | 9.2 | 47.3 | 74.8 | 5.1 | 1.0 | 0.3 | 21.1 | 16.1 |
No. 2 | 1.7 | 4.1 | 4.7 | 97.1 | 1.8 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 0.9 | 32.6 |
No. 3 | 4.7 | 3.7 | 3.4 | 98.3 | 1.1 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 31.6 |
No. 4 | 1.8 | 10.8 | 7.5 | 96.1 | 1.6 | 1.1 | 0.5 | 0.6 | 30.1 |
No. 5 | 6.7 | 6.7 | 26.0 | 86.0 | 3.5 | 0.6 | 0.2 | 11.0 | 24.4 |
No. 6 | 8.2 | 6.5 | 25.4 | 86.6 | 3.1 | 0.8 | 0.2 | 10.6 | 23.9 |
Parameters | Fuels | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
No. 1 | No. 2 | No. 3 | No. 4 | No. 5 | No. 6 | |
Ti, °C | 355 | 468 | 464 | 435 | 375 | 359 |
Deriv. Weightmax, %/min | 26.0 | 20.8 | 23.3 | 20.5 | 14.6 | 14.9 |
TDeriv. Weight, °C | 408 | 528 | 509 | 485 | 514 | 412 |
DSCmax, W/g | 6.5 | 5.1 | 5.2 | 5.7 | 3.3 | 3.6 |
TDSC, °C | 416 | 523 | 505 | 482 | 515 | 421 |
Tb, °C | 539 | 545 | 552 | 574 | 556 | 570 |
S, min–2 °C−3 | 1.67 | 1.23 | 1.63 | 1.43 | 0.69 | 0.56 |
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Zhuikov, A.; Pyanykh, T.; Grishina, I.; Chicherin, S.; Zhuikova, Y. Research on Co-Combustion of High-Calorific Biomass Obtained Using Gasification and Lignite for Sustainable Utilisation of Resources. Sustainability 2025, 17, 2845. https://doi.org/10.3390/su17072845
Zhuikov A, Pyanykh T, Grishina I, Chicherin S, Zhuikova Y. Research on Co-Combustion of High-Calorific Biomass Obtained Using Gasification and Lignite for Sustainable Utilisation of Resources. Sustainability. 2025; 17(7):2845. https://doi.org/10.3390/su17072845
Chicago/Turabian StyleZhuikov, Andrey, Tatyana Pyanykh, Irina Grishina, Stanislav Chicherin, and Yana Zhuikova. 2025. "Research on Co-Combustion of High-Calorific Biomass Obtained Using Gasification and Lignite for Sustainable Utilisation of Resources" Sustainability 17, no. 7: 2845. https://doi.org/10.3390/su17072845
APA StyleZhuikov, A., Pyanykh, T., Grishina, I., Chicherin, S., & Zhuikova, Y. (2025). Research on Co-Combustion of High-Calorific Biomass Obtained Using Gasification and Lignite for Sustainable Utilisation of Resources. Sustainability, 17(7), 2845. https://doi.org/10.3390/su17072845