Atmospheric chamber study of oil shale fly ash particles from circulating fluidized bed and pulverized firing processes

Abstract

Oil shale combustion fly ash collected to electric precipitators from pulverized firing (PF) and circulating fluidized bed combustion (CFB) processes was investigated in atmospheric chamber experiments. The aim of the work was to detect differences in the atmospheric behaviour of the fine particles from CFB and PF boilers of the Estonian Power Plant (PP), located close to Narva, Estonia. One series of experiments was performed in a dual outdoor Teflon film smog chamber (270 m(3)) at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (USA) under normal weather conditions (temperature, humidity, sunlight). Parallel tests were carried out in an outdoor smog chamber (108 m(3)) at Tuulna, Harju County, Estonia, where the experiment was made under meteorological conditions similar to those at the location of the PP. The size distribution and number concentration of particles in the chamber were monitored during the experiment. The fractional distribution results demonstrate that the CFB aerosol in the chamber air had more fine particles than the PF aerosol. Approximately 2 h after injection the fly ash particles larger than 4 mu m had settled out from both samples. The initial fly ash aerosol had a trimodal fractional distribution. Both PF and CFB fly ash formed stable aerosols 1-3 mu m in diameter during the 6 h experiment and are therefore prone to long-range transport.