This week, in this Volume 3, we are publishing the third series of abstracts of the presentations made at the Seminar.

UK Climate Change Policy – Impact on Industry
by Matthias Krey - Cardiff

The presentation “UK Climate Change Policy – Impact on Industry” held at the Euroflam meeting during 21st and 22nd of June at Cardiff University is part of the Euroflam report “UK Climate Change Programme – Impact on Business” and outlines the interim findings of the report.

The evidence mounts that Climate Change is caused by the so-called green house gases released by human activities such as burning of fossil fuels. At the Climate Change Negotiations in Kyoto in 1997, the more than one hundred participating countries committed themselves to cut worldwide emissions by 5.2% in 2010 compared to 1990 levels to prevent an irreversible impact on the earth’s climate. The European Union (EU) set itself a common GHG emission reduction target of 8% in the same period under which the UK committed itself to a national 12.5% GHG reduction goal.

As a response, the UK Government published in November 1999 the UK Climate Change Programme, which outlines a variety of policies and measures to cut emissions for each of the main GHG emitting sectors (electricity generation, business, domestic, transports). The policies affecting the UK industry is the already implemented Climate Change Levy (CCL), a tax on energy use, and a UK carbon emissions trading scheme, proposed to start in April 2002. The presentation illustrates that in the long-term the above policies in line with proposed international trading schemes will result in GHG emissions becoming a scarce commodity. Therefore, the presentation suggests a comprehensive energy management system as a first step to assess potential for energy efficiency measures, electricity from renewable sources, Combined Heat and Power and the Kyoto Mechanisms in the UK industry as a companies agenda to adapt to this foreseeable change.

The final report due to be released in July/August 2001 covers the above issues in detail. Moreover, it examines the financial impacts in terms of transaction costs on a company level (e.g. monitoring of emissions, administration of Negotiated Agreements (CCLA), evaluation of least cost GHG abatement potentials, initiating costs of international emissions trading, etc.). Hopefully, this analysis can contribute to a better understanding of the related costs and benefits of the UK Climate Change Programme in business.

Laboratory scale experimental studies on Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons formation from coal pyrolysis
by Cécile Collantier - ENEL

Abstract

In 1987, Italians, by a referendum, decided to stop their use of nuclear power. Therefore, they had to develop other ways of producing energy. On the environmental point of view, they have agreed the Kyoto Protocol Agreement to reduce the emissions of green house effect gases by 2010. Consequently, in Italy as in many European countries, many laws have been voted to restrict pollutant emissions. That is why ENEL is very concerned about the environmental side of energy production.

Even if oil is the most utilized fuel in Italy, coal has a strategic issue: it is necessary in fuel diversification and also, it can be mixed with new combustibles as wastes and biomasses.

The main purpose of this project is to investigate the formation and destruction of trace organic pollutants under pyrolysis conditions from different types of coals. Polynuclear Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAH) represent a class of relevant environmental concerns that are regulated by laws imposing concentration limits on their emissions.

The aim of this project is to perform the pyrolysis of a coal ( a spanish lignite) and to analyse the different products after this pyrolysis. The work focuses on the evolution of PAH in function of the duration of pyrolysis. It gives information about PAH identification and quantity but also about other by-products of incomplete combustion which have environmental or technological interests.

Pyrolysis are performed under certain conditions regulated by the CDS Pyroprobe 1000. After the pyrolysis, experiments must be performed in order to determine the composition of volatile matters, tar and char. The chemical characterisation of compounds is made with the help of a Gas Chromatograph (GC) combined with a detector that can be a Flame Ionisation Detector (FID) or a Mass Spectrometer (MS).

Influence of Coal Particle Size & Char Forming Temperature on Reactivity
Stefania Ferrara - IFRF

Abstract

One of the most important target of Coal Characterisation is to get, from every coal, a series of kinetic pseudo-parameters necessary for the model that simulate the combustion behaviour.

The purpose of my research is to investigate how these parameters are influenced from two different factors: the particle size distribution and the char forming temperature.

Regarding the effect of the particle size, it is important to notice, in fact, that the model is performed to be specific for every particle diameter. Actually, the standard procedure of coal characterisation consists in getting from only one particle size distribution (generally the widest one) the kinetic parameters that must be used to simulate the combustion behaviour of all the coal particles.

So, more specifically, study the influence of the particle size distribution means test the validity of this standard procedure.

I carried out my research studying the Kellingley coal, classified from the ASTM as a high volatile bituminous A coal. I considered three different coal particle size fractions:

• 45 mm fraction (99.7% of particles with a diameter lower than 45 mm);
• 75 mm fraction (76% of particles with a diameter bigger than 75 mm);
• as fired fraction (with a wide particle size distribution).

For all the three fractions I used an Isothermal Plug Flow Reactor (IPFR) to carried out experiments of devolatilisation at different temperatures (1200°C and 1400°C) and of char burnout at various operational conditions of temperature (950°C, 1200°Cand 1400°C) and oxygen concentration (4%, 8% and 12%). Than I obtained the kinetic parameters for every fraction, associating the lab analysis with the data of burnout obtained from the collected samples from the IPFR. The last step was to compare the measured points of char burnout related to one fraction (e.g. 45 mm fraction) with the simulation curves obtained using the kinetic parameters related to another fraction (e.g. as fired).

The result is an absolute overestimation or underestimation of the real combustion behaviour of one specific coal particle fraction using in the model kinetic parameters associated with a different fraction/diameter.

Therefore my conclusion is that it shouldn’t be possible to characterise the combustion behaviour of a specific coal particle size fraction using parameters obtained from another particle size fraction.

Regarding the effect of the temperature, the goal of this second part of my research is to understand which experimental temperature of devolatilisation give us a char that better approximate the real burnout behaviour in furnaces or boilers.

Also in this case I used Kellingley coal, but only the as fired fraction, carrying out experiments of devolatilisation at three different temperature (950°C, 1200°C and 1400°C) and of char burnout at the same operational conditions as before, in order to get the kinetic parameters for all the chars.

The first results obtained comparing the curves of burnout shows that for high burnout temperature, there isn’t an effective influence of the devolatilisation temperature on char combustion behaviour, but this influence appears at low burnout temperature, at which the char made at 950°C (the lowest one) seems to be the more reactive.

The last experiment was a whole coal combustion carried out in the IPFR, in order to have some data closer to the reality. From this last trial it’s clear that the measured points of burnout are better approximated from the calculated curves of the char made at 1400°C, at the same operational conditions.

Consequently, the conclusions of this second part of my research are that the char produced at a temperature of 1400°C better approximate the real combustion of the char in furnaces or boilers.

Moreover, it’s necessary to continue the research, in compliance with the effects that the results obtained can have on the standard procedure of coal characterisation. It’s necessary to support the research work with the study of further coals and the investigation of the internal structure of the particle after devolatilisation.

 

Scientific Director of IFRF Research Station takes up new position at Clausthal: Contributed by Roman Weber BFRC Flame Days 2001 – Meeting Programme Update: Contributed by Anthony Griffiths and Lois Brett Meeting Updates - Industrial CFD Workshop: Contributed by Erik Olsson and Lois Brett Annual EuroFlam Seminar 2001, Abstracts - Vol 3: Contributed by Aristide Mbiock Environmental News: Contributed by Aristide Mbiock World Energy News: Contributed by Aristide Mbiock

 

This periodical forms part of the group of publications owned by the IFRF
The IFRF Monday Night Mail is published by:
IFRF NET, P O Box 10,000, The Netherlands
Edited: Peter Roberts
ISSN 1562-4781