Deposition of fly ash particles onto heat-transfer surfaces is often one of the reasons for unscheduled shut-downs of coal-fired boilers. Fouling deposits encountered in convective sections of a boiler are characterized by arrival of ash particles in solidified (solid) state. Fouling is most frequently caused by condensation and chemical reaction of alkali vapors with the deposited ash particles creating a wet surface conducive to collect impacting ash particles. Hence, the amount of alkali elements present in coals, which, in turn, is available in the flue gas as condensable vapors, determines the formation and growth of fouling deposits. In this context, removal of alkali elements becomes vital when inferior coals having high-ash content are utilized for power generation. With the concept of reducing alkali elements present in a coal entering the combustor, whereby the fouling deposits can either be minimized or be weakened due to absence of alkali gluing effect, the ultrasonic leaching of alkali elements from coals is investigated in this study. Ultrasonic water-washing and chemical-washing, in comparison with agitation, are studied in order to estimate the intensification of the alkali removal process by sonication. © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Ramamurthy Nagarajan

Department Of Chemical Engineering

Sunder Balakrishnan

Acoustic streaming

BOILER DEPOSITS

cavitation

Coal deposits

COAL FIRED BOILERS

COAL PREPARATION

Condensation reactions

Fly ash

Fouling

Heat transfer

Leaching

PETROLEUM DEPOSITS

Washing

ALKALI ELEMENTS

ALKALI REMOVAL

ALKALI VAPORS

CHEMICAL WASHINGS

COAL WASHINGS

FOULING DEPOSIT

Heat transfer surfaces

ULTRASONIC WATER WASHING

Coal combustion

alkali

Coal

Water

article

Energy consumption

flue gas

priority journal

surface property

Ultrasound

vapor

Fulltext

IIT Madras is a public technical and research university located in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. Founded in 1959, it is recognised as an Institute of National Importance.

IIT Madras has been ranked as the top engineering institute in India for four years in a row by the National Institutional Ranking Framework of the MHRD

It currently offers undergraduate, postgraduate and research degrees across 16 disciplines in Engineering, Sciences, Humanities and Management. About 596 faculty belonging to science and engineering departments and centres of the Institute are engaged in teaching, research and industrial consultancy.

IIT Madras

Ultrasonics Sonochemistry

Unburnt coal in a boiler gets converted to fly ash and bottom ash. Fly ash particles travel along with flue gas and get deposited on heat transfer surfaces along the way. Fouling and slagging are phenomena associated with fly ash deposits which could potentially damage the heat transfer surface, if left unattended. Sodium and potassium are directly linked to the deposition of fly ash, as they form a molten salt film which aids in sticking of fly ash particles. Ultrasound is one of the mitigation techniques used to prevent ash deposition. This study aims at reducing the concentrations of alkali metals in coal as a pretreatment method, using ultrasound. Two modes of operation are chosen: continuous and pulsed. A solvent has been used to enhance the leaching process. In the pulsed mode, the sample is alternated between periods of exposure and nonexposure. A maximum leaching rate of 62% for potassium and 24.5% for sodium was observed in the continuous mode at 360 kHz of operation while pulsed mode of operation showed a maximum leaching rate of 91.3% and 54.4% for potassium and sodium operated at 360 kHz, respectively. The experimental data have been fit to the shrinking core model, and the rate-controlling step has been found to be surface diffusion of reactants into the core. The effect of various parameters is analyzed and compared for pulsed and continuous modes of operation. Order of the reaction, activation energy, and leaching kinetics are obtained by fitting the data into the shrinking core model. © 2018, © 2018 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

Chemical Engineering Communications

Mechanistic study of ultrasound-assisted solvent leaching of sodium and potassium from an Indian coal using continuous and pulsed modes of operation

Alkali vapors present in the flue gas generated during coal-based combustion form fouling deposits as they condense. An additive added to coal can trap alkali elements in ash, therefore suppress the growth rate of fouling deposits, and increase thermal efficiency of a coal-fired thermal power plant. Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) technique is proposed and demonstrated to screen potential additives to trap alkali elements in ash. Five additives—namely, kaolinite, alumina, silica, magnesia, and pumice—were analyzed for their effectiveness on four Indian coals for retaining/confining alkali elements in ash during coal combustion. Ratio analysis based on LIBS emission intensity values clearly shows that kaolinite and pumice are promising additives to trap sodium. Similarly, kaolinite, pumice, and silica exhibited good potassium retention. © 2016, Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.

Applied Physics A: Materials Science and Processing

Suitability of laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy in screening potential additives to mitigate fouling deposits

The aim of the present study is to develop a model to predict the outcome of a molten ash particle impacting a heat-transfer surface. The main driving force for a splat at maximum spread state to recoil is the difference in surface energies of the splat and its equilibrium sessile drop state. If the difference in surface energies is significant, a vigorous recoiling then leads to rebounding. During the travel from splat to equilibrium state, the viscous dissipation in the rim opposes the recoiling process. By overcoming the dissipation loss, the splat reaches sessile drop state. If the drop possesses energy greater than the adhesion energy, it will detach itself from the surface; otherwise, it will deposit. A bouncing potential model based on this concept is derived and compared with models and experimental data in literature. © 2015, Copyright © Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

Role of Bouncing Potential in Molten Ash Impaction

In a tangentially coal-fired boiler, for locations inside and near the combustor, heat-transfer by radiation is significant, and hence, ash particles arrive in molten state. The aim of the present study is to adopt a mechanistic modeling approach which incorporates energy-conservation principles to address slag-layer growth. In order to determine the outcome of molten ash impaction, a mechanistic bouncing potential model, incorporating the phenomenon of recoiling of molten ash droplets after impaction, is employed. The bouncing potential is a representation of the excess energy possessed by the recoiling splat, and is used to determine the outcome of molten ash impaction - to stick or to bounce. Computational fluid dynamics techniques, incorporating the effect of thermophoresis, are adopted to estimate the arrival rate of ash particles, and the bouncing potential model, as a user-defined function, is incorporated in the simulation package to determine the status of the droplets after impaction. Two coals of Indian origin are simulated for slag-layer growth for a period of 100min. The simulation results, when compared with field data provided by BHEL-Trichy, indicate that the model qualitatively predicts the growth of slag-layers. It has been further inferred that smaller particles dominate deposit formation and its growth. © 2014 Elsevier Ltd.

Energy

Mechanistic modeling, numerical simulation and validation of slag-layer growth in a coal-fired boiler

The present work investigates utilization of ultrasound in reagent-based coal de-ashing and de-sulfurization. The coal under study was received from Girald mine, Rajasthan, India. Three different ultrasonic frequencies (25kHz, Dual (58/192kHz) and 430kHz) and three reagents (HCl, HNO3 and H2O2) were used. The study employed a Taguchi fractional-factorial L27 DOE. Experimental data were used to derive an empirical model for the prediction of total sulfur removal. The model incorporates cavitational intensity, reagent concentration, sonication time, coal particle size and coal concentration as key parameters. Effects of above factors on reagent-based ultrasonic coal-desulfurization are presented here. An optimum set of process parameters are identified and validated. Larger-scale trial with high-ash and high-sulfur coals is strongly recommended. © 2011 Elsevier B.V.

Chemical Engineering and Processing: Process Intensification

Feasibility of using ultrasound-assisted process for sulfur and ash removal from coal

Coal is the one of the world's most abundant fossil fuel resources. It is not a clean fuel, as it contains ash and sulfur. SOx as a pollutant are a real threat to both the ecosystem and to human health. There are numerous de-sulfurization methods to control SO2 emissions. Nowadays, online flue gas de-sulfurization is being used as one such method to remove sulfur from coal during combustion. The biggest disadvantage associated with this method is formation of by-products (FGD gypsum). A way for effective usage of FGD gypsum has not yet been found. This will lead to acute and chronic effects to humans as well as plants. Power ultrasound can be used for the beneficiation of coal by the removal of sulfur from coal prior to coal combustion. The main effects of ultrasound in liquid medium are acoustic cavitation and acoustic streaming. The process of formation, growth and implosion of bubbles is called cavitation. Bulk fluid motion due to sound energy absorption is known as acoustic streaming. In addition, coupling of an acoustic field to water produces OH radicals, H 2O2, O2, ozone and HO2 that are strong oxidizing agents. Oxidation that occurs due to ultrasound is called Advanced Oxidation Process (AOP). It converts sulfur from coal to water-soluble sulphates. Conventional chemical-based soaking and stirring methods are compared here to ultrasonic methods of de-sulfurization. The main advantages of ultrasonic de-sulfurization over conventional methods, the mechanism involved in ultrasonic de-sulfurization and the difference between aqueous-based and solvent-based (2 N HNO3, 3-volume percentage H2O 2) de-sulfurization are investigated experimentally. © 2010 Elsevier B.V.

Ultrasonic coal-wash for de-sulfurization

Ultrasonic cleaning, employing frequencies in the range of 40-200 kHz, is widely used in many industries requiring precision cleanliness in the micrometer to submicron particle size range-e.g., semiconductor wafer fabrication, hard disk drive manufacturing, and integrated circuit assembly. One overriding concern with the use of ultrasonic cleaning for delicate components and assemblies has been the specter of cavitation erosion-surface material loss and other functional degradation due to the impact of shock waves generated by collapsing bubbles and bubble clusters in an oscillating acoustic field. The simultaneous processes of surface cleaning and surface erosion in the presence of a high-frequency ultrasonic field (≥ 58 kHz) are described here mathematically, and the equations are coupled to allow conceptual optimization of parametric settings to maximize cleaning efficiency while minimizing the level of erosion damage. This theoretical analysis is presented for various ultrasonic field conditions (frequency, intensity, etc.), fluid medium properties (viscosity, density), and surface conditions (hardness, smoothness, etc.). The contribution of acoustic streaming to surface cleaning is incorporated in the model, and is shown to have minimal influence on the optimum cluster collapse pressure, but to have a significant effect on the net cleaning efficiency for the surface.

Journal of the IEST

Use of ultrasonic cavitation in surface cleaning: A mathematical model to relate cleaning efficiency and surface erosion rate

Ultrasonic coal washing to leach alkali elements from coals

Journal	Data powered by TypesetUltrasonics Sonochemistry
Publisher	Data powered by TypesetElsevier B.V.
ISSN	13504177
Open Access	No