SCR at bio fuel combustion

In this project the cause for and the extent of catalyst deactivation has been investigated when using 100 % wood as fuel. The trend of deactivation has been studied as a function of the flue gas temperature, the type of catalyst and the type of combustion technique used. The field tests have been performed in the CFB boiler in Norrkoeping, firing forest residues, and in the boiler in Jordbro, firing pulverized wood (PC). Samples of four different commercial catalyst types have been exposed to flue gas in a test rig connected to the convection section of the boiler. The samples have been analysed at even time intervals. The results after 2 100 hours show a large difference in deactivation trend between the two plants; when using a conventional honeycomb catalyst 80 % of the original activity remains in the CFB boiler but only 20 % remains in the PC boiler. The deactivation in the CFB boiler is about 3 - 4 times faster than what is expected for a conservative design for a coal fired boiler. The results show that the general deactivation trend is similar for the plate and the honeycomb catalyst types. With a catalyst optimised for bio fuels the deactivation rate was about 2/3 compared with a conventional catalyst. At an operating temperature of 315 deg C the deactivation was not as rapid as at 370 deg C. The amount of easily dissolved potassium increases on the surface of the catalyst, especially in the PC boiler, and this is probably the reason for the deactivation. The total amount of potassium in the flue gas is about 5 times higher in the CFB boiler compared with the PC boiler. This indicates that only a certain form of potassium attacks the catalyst and that the total alkali content of the fuel is not a good indicator of the deactivation tendency. The potassium on the catalyst dissolves easily in both water and sulphuric acid. A wash of deactivated catalyst samples with water resulted in higher activity than for the fresh samples if the washing was supplemented by sulphatisation with sulphur dioxide. After a sulphatisation procedure with 500 ppm SO2 (without washing) the activity was regained to at least 90 % even for heavily deactivated samples. The use of sulphatisation, periodic washing, lower flue gas temperature and use of an optimised catalyst are very promising measures to increase the catalyst lifetime and to reduce the operation costs for SCR in bio fuel fluidized bed based power plants. Therefore, a thorough investigation of these measures is warranted Figures and tables with text in English. 36 refs, 26 figs, 5 tabs