Co-firing coal and biomass blends and their influence on the post-combustion CO₂ capture installation

¹ Central Mining Institute, Department of Risk Assessment in Industry, Katowice, Poland
² Central Mining Institute, Department of Energy Saving and Air Protection, Katowice, Poland

^⁎ Corresponding author: awieckol@gig.eu

Abstract

Co-firing of biomass with coal for energy production is a well-known technology and plays an important role in the electricity sector. The post-combustion capture integrated with biomass-fired power plants (Bio-CCS) seems to be a new alternative for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

This study refers to the best known and advanced technology for post-combustion CO₂ capture (PCC) based on a chemical absorption in monoethanolamine (MEA). The co-firing of hard coal with four types of biomass was investigated using a laboratory fixed bed reactor system. The comparison of gaseous products emitted from the combustion of coal and different biomass blends were determined using gas chromatography.

Research proved that co-firing of biomass in fossil fuel power plants is beneficial for PCC process. It may also reduce the corrosion of CO₂ capture installation. The oxygen concentration in the flue gases from hard coal combustion was comparable with the respective value for a fuel blend of biomass content of 20% w/w. It was also noted that an increase in biomass content in a sample from 20 to 40 % w/w increased the concentration of oxygen in the flue gas streams. However, this concentration should not have a significant impact on the rate of amine oxidative degradation.