Corrosive components of nutshells and their chars

AGH University of Science and Technology, Faculty of Energy and Fuels, al. Mickiewicza 30, 31–464 Krakow, Poland

^a Corresponding author: mateusz.karczewski@agh.edu.pl

Abstract

Biomass combustion stands among various technologies pointed at fossil fuels consumption decrease. Biomass can be found in very diversified sources spread more evenly across the globe, can be burned with use of traditional combustion solutions and is more CO₂ neutral in combustion than their fossil fuel counterparts. On the other hand biomass has several problems with composition that despite its potential diversity. Problem of excess moisture can be already solved by material selection or by preliminary pyrolysis. The main problem concerns however biomass ash composition. Biomass ashes are more prone to have higher quantities of potentially corrosive components than their coal counterparts. The example of such constituents are alkali metals, sulphur and chlorine. Ash basic composition is also important due to various ash properties like its melting temperature and slagging or fouling tendencies. To address the problem, several indices for fast properties prediction and earlier problem identification can be appointed. This work concentrates on ash quality evaluation for potentially attractive biomass fuel from nutshell materials and their corresponding char obtained by pyrolysis in 300, 450 and 550 °C. Pistachio and hazelnut shells with their chars will be analysed for corrosive compounds and their potential influence on combustion process.