Combustion characteristics of biomass and bituminous coal co-firing in non-isothermal and isothermal conditions

A thermogravimetric method was used to study the combustion of bituminous coal (BC), diverse biomass (wood chips: WC, chaff: CH), and their blends under non-isothermal conditions and isothermal conditions. A higher blending amount of WC or CH under non-isothermal conditions resulted in a lower ignition temperature, burnout temperature, and a greater comprehensive combustion characteristic index. Meanwhile, the co-combustion of BC, WC, and CH all showed inhibiting effects. The inhibition effect was prominent when the blending ratio of WC was below 30%. Under isothermal conditions, with the increase of oxygen concentration and blending amount, the combustion performance of BC improved gradually. The synergistic effect between BC and biomass dominated, and the interaction was more distinct when WC content exceeded 50%. Under both non-isothermal and isothermal conditions, the interaction between CH and BC did not vary at diverse blending ratios. The dynamic results suggested that the chemical reaction model O1 was suitable for stage 1 of the co-combustion of WC and BC, the model diffusion controlled D4 controlled the co-combustion of CH and BC and stage 2 of the co-combustion of WC and BC. The blending ratio of WC or CH with the lowest activation energy was 50%.