Biomass combustion
equipment is often susceptible to ash deposition
due to the relatively significant quantities of potassium, silicon,
and other ash-forming elements in biomass. To evaluate the propensity
for ash deposition resulting from biomass combustion, a biomass combustion
model was integrated with a chemical equilibrium model to predict
the fate and occurrence of ash-forming elements in a pilot-scale entrained-flow
burner. The integrated model simulated the combustion of white wood
(virgin wood) and recycled wood (treated wood) previously combusted
in the burner. The key advantage of this model in comparison to a
model with general equilibrium assumed is that it was able to consider
the rate of release of trace and minor species with time, the local
equilibrium in the particles, and separately, that in the continuum
phase (which also included any solid or liquid materials nucleating).
The simulation generated the fate and occurrence profiles of each
ash-forming element along the burner. The qualitative comparisons
between the modeled profiles and the previous experimental findings
under similar operating conditions show reasonable agreement. The
concentrations of ash-forming elements released from the burner were
also compared with the experimental online inductively coupled plasma
readings. However, the latter comparison shows overestimation using
the modeled results and might suggest that further considerations
of other parameters such as ash nucleation and coagulation are required.
Nonetheless, based on the ongoing performance of the integrated model,
future use of the model might be expanded to a broader range of problematic
solid fuels such as herbaceous biomass or municipal solid waste.