Dr. Mooktzeng Lim
Renewable Energy & Green Technology, Malaysia
Title: Development of a biomass pre-treatment technology for fuel production and combustion
Biography
Biography: Dr. Mooktzeng Lim
Abstract
A process that reduces slagging and fouling from the combustion of certain types of biomass is developed. The utilization of biomass for combustion causes several operational issues, such as slagging and fouling, particulate matter emissions, and corrosion. These issues are caused by a higher alkali metal content, especially potassium (K), which increases slagging propensity by lowering its formation temperature; and higher chlorine (Cl) content in the biomass, which causes corrosion. The above issues are especially prevalent in the combustion of empty fruit bunches (EFB), a type of biomass from the palm oil industry. Thus, this research develops a pre-treatment process for EFB to reduce the K and Cl contents. The process reduces K & Cl by 80% at an Combustion trials in a 100 kW boiler show that fouling thickness was reduced by 80% with lower K content. A further combustion trial in a 10 MW power plant with treated EFB was performed, and showed that the fuel consumption was reduced by 12% and increased net plant efficiency by 0.67%. The K content in fly ash reduced by 19% and bottom ash by 40%.