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Testing facilities
1 MWth combustion test rig, drop tube furnace, high pressure thermo balance, spontaneous combustion reactor, selective catalic reduction test rig
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Testing facilities
KEMA has several testing facilities available for investigating
issues relevant to bio-energy.
These are:- 1 MWth combustion test rig
- Drop Tube Furnace
- High-pressure thermobalance
- Test reactor for spontaneous heating and combustion
- SCR DeNOX test rig.
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1 MWth combustion test rig
KEMA has acquired extensive experience with the combustion of coal blends and co-combustion of secondary fuels in its 1 MWth test rig.
KEMA’s experiences range from test trials with coal blends (battle coals) and plastics to direct co-combustion trials with waste wood, RDF and chicken poultry up to 30 energy percentage.
The trials provide valuable information on:- combustion properties (burn-out, reactivity)
- ash properties, melting behavior
- the technical feasibility of co-firing high percentages of secondary fuel
- the fate of inorganic constituents in biomass and the quality of the ashes and emissions produced in relation to the choice of fuel.
The 1 MWth pulverised coal-fired test rig is installed at one of the KEMA laboratories. The simplified flow diagram of this facility is shown. The experimental boiler installation basically consists of:- a pulverized coal silo and transport system
- a pulverized secondary fuel silo and transport system
- a pulverized coal burner and combustion chamber
- a flue gas cooler
- a fabric filter with ash disposal system
- a low and high-pressure water cooling system
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Drop tube furnace
In the KEMA drop tube furnace (DTF) particles of a wide variety
of materials (coal, plastic, biomass, RDF, sludge etc.) can by fed
up to a particle diameter of 2 mm. Upon introduction, these
particles enter a pyrolysis, combustion or gasification environment
at temperatures up to 1,700 °C, with heating rates of 104 to 105 K
per second. The residence time in this reacting environment can be
varied from 0.2 to 4 seconds.
Applications for which the drop tube furnace is used at KEMA
are:- combustion reactivity
- char properties
- agglomeration
- slag properties
- flash pyrolysis
Characteristics of the drop tube furnace| Temperature tube | 25 – 1,700 °C | | Pressure | 0.1 MPa | | Fuel dosing capacity | 0.5 - 500 g/h | | Particle size | 0.01 – 2 mm | | Residence time | 0.2 – 4 s | | Gas flow rate | 0.5 – 20,000 l/h |
Gas phase composition specific to pyrolysis, combustion or
gasification.
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High pressure thermo balance
The Thermo Gravimetric Analyzer (TGA) – or thermobalance - is extremely well-suited to study the characteristic properties of solids, such as reactivity, kinetics, and adsorption and desorption phenomena. The sample weight is continuously monitored while temperature, pressure and gas phase composition can be set and changed according to the client’s specific wishes. Fast screening of materials and parameters can be achieved.
A special feature of the TGA at KEMA is its capability to operate at up to 5.0 MPa and 1,100 °C.
TGA applications with respect to biomass and waste fuels:- combustion and gasification reactivity and burn-out
- devolatilization and pyrolysis behavior
- residual carbon content of fly-ash and bottom-ash
With this TGA equipment KEMA has characterized and studied a wide variety of fossil fuels and various biomass and waste fuels.
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Spontaneous combustion reactor
KEMA possesses an adiabatic test reactor – with a height of 2
meters and an internal diameter of 0.5 meter - in which heat
development within a fuel storage can be simulated and
monitored.
Parameters that can be varied and investigated are:- fuel type
- moisture content
- particle size
- storage density
- amount and type of ventilation in the
storage
During this process the temperature (at different positions in
the storage), the pressure drop and the composition of the outlet
gas are constantly monitored.
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[download] Spontaneous combustion of biomass (.pdf 383 kb)
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Selective catalic reduction (SCR) and DeNOx
KEMA has available a test installation in which the activity of SCR DeNOx catalyst can be determined under well-defined and uniform conditions. A selected part of the catalyst element is exposed to a simulated flue gas mixture (N2, O2, H2O, NO, NH3 and possibly SO2). Consequently, the conversion of NO with NH3 is measured as a function of the ingoing NH3/NOx ratio.
On basis of these - or already existing – measurements with a validated mathematical KEMA tool (NOxEye), the remaining catalyst life time, together with the optimal strategy to replace individual catalyst layers can be determined. This will result in an optimal operation of your SCR installation and in many cases substantial cost savings.
For more information please contact us.
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[download] Co-firing and SCR-performance (.pdf 76 kb)
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