Lignite is still one of the most important energy sources in Germany. In 2017, \SI{24.4}{\percent} of the net electricity production was generated by lignite-fired power plants. The operation of lignite-fired boilers faces challenges such as emission control and slagging and fouling issues. Slagging and fouling issues are caused by inorganic constituents in the coal, also referred to as mineral matter. Mineral matter can be associated with the coal in three different ways: A mineral grain within the coal matrix is referred to as included. A mineral grain that is not asscociated with the organic material is referred to as excluded. In addition, there are inorganic elements that are organically associated with the coal matrix. Due to the reaction front in a burning char particle included particles experience temperatures that can be much higher than what excluded particles experience. Included mineral matter particles also have the potential to coalesce or to react with organically bound elements to form new mineral species Two methods were identified to determine the included and excluded mineral matter in a given coal sample: Float-and-sink analysis and computer controlled scanning electron microscopy (CCSEM). The float-and-sink analysis uses the differences in density between minerals and coal to separate excluded mineral particles from coal particles. CCSEM is an automated SEM-EDS process that allows to analyze a large number of coal particles in a given sample. The SEM uses image analysis to identify coal and mineral particles and to determine the mineral association. Both methods are applied to seven coal samples from three major lignite mining areas in Germany. The results show that in the investgated coals the excluded mineral matter fraction consists mainly of quartz, pyrite/marcasite, clay and gypsum, whereas the included mineral matter fraction is dominated by Ca-S rich minerals. The tendency of slagging and fouling is predicted for all coals on the basis of included and excluded mineral matter. Conventional slagging and fouling indices are applied to the bulk ash composition of the included and excluded fraction determined by float-and-sink analysis. In addition, the composition of individual mineral grains determined by CCSEM-analysis is considered. The slagging indices show significant differences between the included and excluded mineral matter, whereas the fouling indices are in the same range for both fractions. The liquid-to-ash ratio is determined for all coal samples with thermochemical equilibrium calculations. The different temperatures for included and excluded mineral matter are taken into account. All investigated coals show significant liquid-to-ash ratios in both included and excluded fractions. Combustion experiments were conducted with all seven coals at a laboratory-scale test rig for pulverized fuels at TU Dresden and/or at large-scale utility boilers. Ash particle samples collected with the particle-wire-mesh method show particles with mixed-phase composition. These particles are the result of coalescence of included mineral particles or the result of reactions between included mineral grains and organically associated elements. / Mineralische Bestandteile im Brennstoff sind mitverantwortlich für Verschmutzung- und Ver\-schlack\-ungsvorgänge in mit Braunkohle gefeuerten Kraftwerken. Sie werden durch den Verbrennungsprozess freigesetzt und können sich je nach Eigenschaft der Mineralien an verschiedenen Stellen eines Feuerungsprozesses ablagern. Es wird zwischen mit dem Kohlekorn verwachsenen (internen) mineralischen Partikeln und als eigenständige Partikel vorliegenden (externen) mineralischen Partikeln unterschieden. Weiterhin können anorganische Elemente organisch an die Kohlematrix gebunden sein. Mit der Kohlestruktur verwachsene, interne Partikel sind der Reaktionsfront des brennenden Kohlepartikels direkt ausgesetzt. Sie erfahren höhere Temperaturen als externe Partikel. Höhere Temperaturen fördern das Aufschmelzen der Partikel und beeinflussen so das Ablagerungspotential. Mehrere im Kohlekorn vorliegende mineralische Partikel können beim Abbrennen des Restkokses zu einem Partikel mit neuer chemischer Zusammensetzung verschmelzen. Auch Reaktionen mit den organisch gebundenen mineralischen Elementen sind möglich. Es gibt verschiedene Methoden zur Bestimmung der Bindungsart der Mineralien in der Kohle. Die Schwimm- und Sinkanalyse nutzt die unterschiedlich großen Dichten von externen mineralischen Partikeln, Kohlekörnern mit mineralischen Einschlüssen und reinen Kohlekörnern zur Trennung in einzelne Fraktionen. Eine weitere Methode ist die computergesteuerte Rasterelektronenmikroskopie (CCSEM), mit der die Verteilung mineralischer Partikel im Kohlekorn sowie deren Zusammensetzung bestimmt werden kann. Im Rahmen dieser Dissertation werden beide Methoden auf sieben Kohleproben aus den drei größten deutschen Braunkohleabbaugebieten angewendet. Die Anwendung der Schwimm- und Sinkanalyse und von CCSEM auf die ausgewählten Kohleproben zeigen, dass die externen mineralischen Partikel in den untersuchten deutschen Braunkohlen von Quarz dominiert werden. Weitere signifikante Bestandteile sind Pyrit/Markasit, Tone und Gips. Die internen Minerale werden von Ca-S-haltigen Mineralien dominiert. Das Verschmutzungs- und Verschlackungspotential der untersuchten Kohlen wird u.a. mit Hilfe von Kennzahlen bewertet. Die Kennzahlen zur Bewertung des Verschlackungspotentials zeigten deutliche Unterschiede zwischen der internen und externen mineralischen Fraktion. Die Verschmutzungskennzahlen liegen in ähnlichen Größenordnungen für beide Fraktionen. Ein weiteres Bewertungskriterium ist der Flüssigphasenanteil bei der maximalen Partikeltemperatur. Dieser wird auf der Basis des thermochemischen Gleichgewichts berechnet. Dabei wird berücksichtigt, dass interne und externe mineralische Partikel unterschiedliche maximale Temperaturen erfahren. Sowohl der interne mineralische Anteil, als auch der externen Anteil aller untersuchten Kohlen zeigt signifikante Flüssigphasenanteile. Mit allen in der Arbeit untersuchten Kohlen wurden Verbrennungsexperimente in einer Technikumsanlage zur Verbrennung staubförmiger Brennstoffe sowie in Großkraftwerken durchgeführt. Mit der Methode der Partikelgitternetzsonde gesammelte Aschepartikelproben zeigen, dass beim Verbrennungsvorgang Partikel mit einer Mischphasenzusammensetzung entstehen. Diese Partikel sind durch das Verschmelzen verschiedener interner Mineralien bzw. aufgrund von Reaktionen von internen Mineralien mit organisch gebundenen anorganischen Elementen entstanden.

One major aspect of environmental pollution affecting human life and climate is air pollution. The harmful pollutants in the air include mostly hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxides as well as soot and other particulate matter. These pollutants result in several damaging effects on environment and living beings which include acid rain, photochemical smog, global warming and various health hazards in human beings even cancer. Major contribution of these pollutants is from man-made sources such as industrial and automotive emissions that employ fossil fuels. In our country, diesel constitutes more than 40% of the fossil fuel consumption. Studies show that diesel engine emissions contribute to 80% of nitrogen oxides amongst other air pollutants. In the context of stringent emission regulations being implemented all over the world, exhaust emission control, in general and nitrogen oxide emission in particular, is gaining significant importance. A review of recent literature indicates the significance and popularity of electrical discharge based non thermal plasma for exhaust cleaning applications in general, and NOx cleaning in particular. While the existing pre-combustion and catalyst based post-combustion nitrogen oxides (NOx) abatement techniques have inherent disadvantages owing to short shelf life, saturated engine modifications, cost concerns etc., the electrical discharge based non- thermal plasma techniques offer certain advantages in terms of cost and life factors. Several non-thermal plasma techniques viz., pulsed plasma, surface plasma, dielectric barrier discharge plasma etc., have been studied under different laboratory conditions. Interestingly, due to the high oxidizing environment that prevails in the discharge plasma zone, complete reduction of NOx by the plasma alone is becoming a challenging task. This has led the researchers to utilize additional processing techniques in cascade with discharge plasma. This additional gas cleaning technique may involve the use of adsorbents, catalysts or some other secondary treatment for eliminating the nitrogen oxides produced due to oxidizing reactions in the plasma chamber. One such additive can be an adsorbent, which can be commercially obtained or prepared from industrial wastes. In this thesis the adsorption properties of two industrial wastes were explored for the first time in conjunction with discharge plasma. The synergistic effect of plasma combined with an adsorbent shows promising results in NOx removal thus offering an effective solution to two environmental issues namely air pollution and open waste dumping. While the plasma, generally, refers to direct plasma treatment of exhaust, it can also be used for generation of ozone in a separate reactor which can subsequently be injected into the exhaust stream resulting in indirect plasma treatment. The current work focuses on both direct and indirect dielectric barrier discharge plasma treatment for NOx reduction in diesel engine exhaust cascaded with either oyster shells, a mariculture waste or lignite ash from lignite coal fired plant. Instead of conventional petro-diesel, biodiesel produced from the seeds of pongamia pinnata is used as the fuel. This biofuel, on one hand, causes considerable reduction in volatile organic compounds, particulate matter, soot, oil mist etc., but on the other hand may have higher concentrations of nitrogen oxides, an aspect that has motivated us to take up the research work envisaged in this thesis. It was observed in the laboratory environment that for a given power, both direct and indirect plasma treatments have resulted in NOx removal to the tune of 85 to 95% when cascaded with the adsorbents studied.