<p> <p>&nbsp / </p> <p align="left">&nbsp / </p> <p>&nbsp / </p> </p> <p align="left">The aim of this study was to produce useful composite materials from fly ash, a major waste product of coal combustion from power plants. Polyaniline-fly ash (PANI-FA) composites were prepared by in situ polymerisation of aniline in the presence of Fly Ash (FA) by two slightly different methods. In one case polystyrene sulphonic acid (PSSA) was used as a stabilizer and in another case the starting materials (aniline and FA) were aged before oxidation. The aging procedure formed nanotubes that have cross-sectional diameters of 50-110 nm. The other procedure produced nanotubes with a diameter of 100-500 nm and the length of up to 10&mu / m. The presence of metal oxides and silica in FA were responsible for the formation of nanorods in PANI-PSSA-FA.. The formation of the composites was confirmed by UV-Vis and FTIR. The UV-Vis showed maximum absorbance at 330-360 nm ( due to &pi / -&pi / * transition of benzoid rings) and 600-650 nm(due to charge transfer excitons of quinoid rings), which are characteristics of emaraldine base. The electrochemical analysis of the composites showed that the composites were conductive and electroactive. The Cyclic Voltammetry of PANI-PSSA-FA showed three redox couples which are characteristics of sulphonated PANI. The morphology of the composites was studied by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and showed that our methods gave composites with improved homogeneity as compared to other reported methods. Thermo Gravimetric analysis (TGA) showed that the presence of FA in the composites improves the thermal stability of the composites by up to 100 0C.<br /> &nbsp / </p>

This thesis describes improvements on newly-discovered high-strength pozzolan-based materials fabricated via a low-cost chemical reaction that takes place between 90 and 115 ℃ for 3 to 24 hours. The reported results focus on pozzolan constituents acquired from Coal Combustion Products (CCPs) such as cenospheres, fly ash C and F, as well as bottom ash. The thesis reports on various types of these materials with specific gravity ranging from 0.5 to 1.6; compressive strength ranging from 300 to 3600 psi, and compressive modulus ranging from 50 to 240 ksi. In addition to their good mechanical properties under compression that are attractive for the building and construction industries, the materials further exhibit great potential for applications as energy absorption cores in sandwich construction that could extend their value in other industries including the automotive and aerospace industries. For example, the load-displacement curve exhibits a short elastic zone followed by a long load-plateau; while the materials crush through a controlled vertical cracking process. Additionally, an attempt was made to further decrease the manufacturing cost of the material by investigating incorporation of chemicals that accelerates dehydration of the mixture. One such successful chemical reported in this thesis is aluminum phosphate; while it is not conclusive how the chemical improves any major property.

M. Tech. Mechanical Engineering. / Discusses the economiser design to absorb as much heat as possible within the flue gases. Fly ash particles, a product of combustion, entrained in the flue gas of the furnace part of the boiler in coal fired boilers, affect economiser thermal performance by causing erosive wear and scale on the outer surface of the economiser tubes along the flow path, which in turn increases the thermal resistance characterisation of coals in relation to combustion behaviour traditionally relies on staged quenching of the reaction and subsequent gravimetric analysis of the remaining sample. Three typical steam-raising coals are compared with regard to reactivity and broadly examined relative to their petro-graphic constituents and other standard laboratory tested samples. A significant correlation was found between the ignition temperature and the hydrogen or carbon ratio determined by the ultimate analysis, inter alia, the erosion rate and the heat transfer rate.

Fossil fuel combustion produces fly-ash particles that are released into the atmosphere and deposited in the environment. A particularly characteristic kind of fly-ash is spheroidal carbonaceous particles. They are composed of an amorphous carbon matrix in which other elements are dispersed. The elemental carbon content makes them very resistant to chemical degradation and these particles can be relatively easily extracted from sediment and soil samples using a method described in this thesis. The distribution of spheroidal carbonaceous particles in lake sediment profiles, surface sediments and forest soils has been studied. Cores from several Swedish lakes have been analysed and, although the lakes are from different parts of the country, consistent trends in the deposition of the carbonaceous particles have been found. The analyses of dated cores show that the carbonaceous particle deposition in the sediments follows the same general pattern as statistics for Swedish coal and oil combustion over the last two centuries. This indicates that the sediment records reflect the history of the atmospheric deposition of particulate pollutants from fossil fuel combustion. Analysis of surface sediment samples provides an integrated picture of the deposition over the preceding few years and can be used to indicate the contemporary geographical pattern of deposition from the atmosphere. Two sets of surface sediment samples (0-1 cm) were analysed. One comprised samples from 66 lakes around Sweden's second largest city, Gothenburg, and showed very high carbonaceous particle concentrations within a distance of 50 to 100 km from the city. The second set comprised surface sediment samples from 114 lakes distributed all over Sweden. This survey of Sweden demonstrated a geographical north-south gradient with more than a hundred times higher particle concentrations in the south than in the north. This distribution is similar to the distribution of other air pollutants (data obtained from a moss survey and an air monitoring program) and suggests that carbonaceous particles in palaeolimnological investigations of air pollution, can be used as tracers for pollutants that are otherwise difficult to determine in lake sediments. Spheroidal carbonaceous particles also accumulate in soils, and forest soil samples can be used for geographical surveys of particle deposition. In Swedish podzol soils the particles mainly accumulate in the thin organic horizon and concentrations in this layer reflect the total deposition since industrialisation, although most will have been deposited during the last few decades. Since the spheroidal carbonaceous particle record in Swedish lake sediments has a characteristic temporal pattern, carbonaceous particle profiles can be used for indirect dating of recent sediment cores. Analyses of multiple sediment cores from three lakes demonstrate that carbonaceous particles can also be used for studies of sediment distribution in lake basins. Results from Gårdsjön indicate that the acidification of the lake changed sediment distribution processes from a normal sediment focusing regime to a more even distribution of sediments over the lake bottom. Liming of the lake seems to have restored normal sedimentation processes. / <p>Diss. (sammanfattning) Umeå : Umeå universitet, 1992, Härtill 8 uppsatser</p> / digitalisering@umu

<p> <p>&nbsp / </p> <p align="left">&nbsp / </p> <p>&nbsp / </p> </p> <p align="left">The aim of this study was to produce useful composite materials from fly ash, a major waste product of coal combustion from power plants. Polyaniline-fly ash (PANI-FA) composites were prepared by in situ polymerisation of aniline in the presence of Fly Ash (FA) by two slightly different methods. In one case polystyrene sulphonic acid (PSSA) was used as a stabilizer and in another case the starting materials (aniline and FA) were aged before oxidation. The aging procedure formed nanotubes that have cross-sectional diameters of 50-110 nm. The other procedure produced nanotubes with a diameter of 100-500 nm and the length of up to 10&mu / m. The presence of metal oxides and silica in FA were responsible for the formation of nanorods in PANI-PSSA-FA.. The formation of the composites was confirmed by UV-Vis and FTIR. The UV-Vis showed maximum absorbance at 330-360 nm ( due to &pi / -&pi / * transition of benzoid rings) and 600-650 nm(due to charge transfer excitons of quinoid rings), which are characteristics of emaraldine base. The electrochemical analysis of the composites showed that the composites were conductive and electroactive. The Cyclic Voltammetry of PANI-PSSA-FA showed three redox couples which are characteristics of sulphonated PANI. The morphology of the composites was studied by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and showed that our methods gave composites with improved homogeneity as compared to other reported methods. Thermo Gravimetric analysis (TGA) showed that the presence of FA in the composites improves the thermal stability of the composites by up to 100 0C.<br /> &nbsp / </p>

Coal-fired power plant boilers consist of several complex subsystems that all need to work together to ensure plant availability, efficiency and safety, while limiting emissions. Analysing this multi-objective problem requires a thermofluid process model that can simulate the water/steam cycle and the coal/air/flue gas cycle for steady-state and dynamic operational scenarios, in an integrated manner. The furnace flue gas side can be modelled using a suitable zero-dimensional model in a quasi-steady manner, but this will only provide an overall heat transfer rate and a single gas temperature. When more detail is required, CFD is the tool of choice. However, the solution times can be prohibitive. A need therefore exists for a computationally efficient model that captures the three-dimensional radiation effects, flue gas exit temperature profile, carbon burnout and O2 and CO2 concentrations, while integrated with the steam side process model for dynamic simulations. A thermofluid network-based methodology is proposed that combines the zonal method to model the radiation heat transfer in three dimensions with a one-dimensional burnout model for the heat generation, together with characteristic flow maps for the mass transfer. Direct exchange areas are calculated using a discrete numerical integration approximation together with a suitable smoothing technique. Models of Leckner and Yin are applied to determine the gas and particle radiation properties, respectively. For the heat sources the burnout model developed by the British Coal Utilisation Research Association is employed and the advection terms of the mass flow are accounted for by superimposing a mass flow map that is generated via an isothermal CFD solution. The model was first validated by comparing it with empirical data and other numerical models applied to the IFRF single-burner furnace. The full scale furnace model was then calibrated and validated via detailed CFD results for a wall-fired furnace operating at full load. The model was shown to scale well to other load conditions and real plant measurements. Consistent results were obtained for sensitivity studies involving coal quality, particle size distribution, furnace fouling and burner operating modes. The ability to do co-simulation with a steam-side process model in Flownex® was successfully demonstrated for steady-state and dynamic simulations.

Die Arbeit befasst sich mit der Flamelet Modellierung für die Verbrennung von Kohlenstaub. Dabei liegt der Fokus sowohl auf der detaillierten Betrachtung der Gasphasenchemie als auch auf der Interaktion der Kohle mit der Gasphase. Ziel der Arbeit ist die Entwicklung einer Methode für die Simulation großtechnischer Kohlestaubfeuerungen. Die energetische Umsetzung von Kohle läuft in drei wesentlichen Schritten ab: Verdampfung der Feuchtigkeit, Ausgasung der Kohle (Pyrolyse) und schließlich der Koksabbrand. Da die Struktur der Kohle als fossiler Brennstoff hoch komplex ist, existieren viele prädiktive, rechenaufwändige Modelle zur Beschreibung dieser Prozesse [1–4]. Diese Modelle können nicht direkt in numerischen Strömungssimulationen genutzt werden, dienen aber zur Kalibrierung einfacherer kinetischer Modelle. Diese in der Arbeit angewendete Prozedur wird in [5] beschrieben. Zur detaillierten Beschreibung des Abbaus der entstehenden höheren Kohlenwasserstoffe werden in der Simulation große Reaktionsmechanismen benötigt. Die Benutzung solcher Mechanismen ist mit großen Rechenzeiten verbunden und daher bleibt deren Anwendbarkeit auf einfache Anwendungsfälle beschränkt. Der Vorteil der Flamelet Modellierung besteht darin, dass unter bestimmten Voraussetzungen der komplette thermo-chemische Zustand, bestehend aus Temperatur, Druck und Zusammensetzung, mit nur wenigen charakterisierenden Kontrollvariablen abgebildet werden kann. Durch Vorgabe und Variation der Kontrollvariablen können diese Zustände mittels kanonischer Flammenkonfigurationen vorberechnet und in sogenannten Flamelettabellen abgespeichert werden. Für das klassische Flamelet / Fortschrittsvariablen Modell [6] wird der thermo-chemische Zustand über Mischungsbruch und Fortschrittsvariablen parametriert, dabei bestimmt der Mischungsbruch den Anteil an Brenn- stoff im Gemisch und die Fortschrittsvariable den Fortschritt der chemischen Reaktion. Die Kontrollvariablen werden in der numerischen Simulation transportiert, an Stelle der Energie- und Speziesgleichungen. Dies stellt für große Mechanismen eine dramatische Reduktion der zu lösenden Gleichungen dar. Der thermo-chemische Zustand ergibt sich per Look-up aus den Flamelettabellen. Im Zuge der Verbrennung trockener Kohle werden zwei Brennstoffe durch Pyrolyse und Koksabbrand freigesetzt. Für die Flamelet Modellierung bedeutet dies entsprechend je einen Mischungsbruch für Pyrolysegas und Produkte aus dem Koksabbrand. Neben der Fortschrittsvariablen wird ebenfalls die Enthalpie der Gasphase als Kontrollvariable benötigt aufgrund des intensiven Wärmeaustauschs zwischen Kohle und Gasphase. In der Arbeit erfolgt die Vorstellung der benötigten Transportgleichungen sowie die Beschreibung verschiedener Methoden zur Integration nicht-adiabater Zustände in Flamelettabellen. Dabei unterscheiden sich die vorgestellten Tabellierungstrategien hauptsächlich in der betrachteten Verbrennungsart. IV Erfolgt die Mischung von Brennstoff und Oxidationsmittel erst in der untersuchten Flammenkonfiguration, spricht man von Diffusionsflammenstrukturen; sind beide schon gemischt, so entstehen Vormischflammenstrukturen. Die Detektion solcher Strukturen erfolgt in der Arbeit anhand einer Flammenstrukturanalyse mittels Flammenmarker. Die prinzipielle Übertragbarkeit des Flamelet / Fortschrittsvariablen Modells auf turbulente Kohlestaubfeuerung wurde von Watanabe [7] gezeigt, jedoch ist die Bewertung der eingesetzten Flamelet Modellierung in Grobstruktursimulationen nicht ohne weiteres möglich. Deshalb werden zur Verifizierung der entwickelten Tabellierungstrategie in der Arbeit einfache Flammenkonfigurationen betrachtet, die es erlauben, direkte Chemielösungen mit den Lösungen der tabellierten Chemie zu vergleichen. Für den entsprechenden Vergleich erfolgt die Vorstellung zweier Analysen. Bei der a priori Analyse wird der thermo-chemische Zustand der detaillierten Lösung mit dem tabellierten Zustand verglichen. Für den Look-up werden dabei die Kontrollvariablen der direkten Chemiesimulation benutzt. Die a posteriori Analyse ist der Vergleich einer voll gekoppelten Rechnung unter Benutzung der Tabellierungstrategie mit der zugehörigen detaillierten Rechnung. Die erste untersuchte Konfiguration stellt eine Gegenstromanordnung mit vorgewärmter Luft und Kohlebeladung dar. Die Hauptergebnisse dieser rein numerischen Studie wurden bereits veröffentlicht [8] und es konnte die erfolgreiche Applikation der vorgestellten Tabellierungstrategie in dieser Anordnung für Tabellen basierend auf Diffusionflammenstrukturen gezeigt werden. Für die Validierung der detaillierten Rechnungen erfolgt die Nutzung experimenteller Daten [9, 10] für magere Methan-Sauerstoff-Stickstoff Mischungen in Staupunktströmungen. Es zeigt sich, dass diese Konfigurationen stark von den vorgemischten Gasflammen dominiert werden und somit Tabellen basierend auf Vormischflammenstrukturen einzusetzen sind. Die entwickelte Tabellierungsmethode ist in der Lage, auch diese Flammenstrukturen abzubilden. Abschließend wird numerisch eine Parametervariation hinsichtlich Einlassgeschwindigkeit und Kohlebeladung vorgestellt, um die Robustheit und breite Anwendbarkeit der entwickelten Tabellierungstrategie aufzuzeigen. Zusammenfassend konnte mittels Flammenstrukturanalyse für jede vorgestellte Konfiguration der zu verwendende Typ der Tabelle bestimmt werden. In den untersuchten Konfigurationen führte deren Anwendung zu einer guten Übereinstimmung mit den detaillierten Rechnungen. Damit legt diese Arbeit den Grundstein für weiterführende Betrachtung zur Simulation großtechnischer Kohlestaubfeuerungen.

Soot in coal combustion simulations is often ignored due to its computational complexity, despite significant effects on flame temperature and radiation. In this research, a 40 kW oxy-coal combustion system is modeled using Large Eddy Simulations (LES) and a semi-empirical monodisperse coal soot model. Simulation results are compared to experimental measurements of temperature, species concentrations, and soot concentration. Cases where soot is modeled are compared with cases where soot is neglected to determine the accuracy benefits of modeling soot. The simulations were able to replicate experimental results within an acceptable level of error. Including soot in the simulations did not consistently increase accuracy for the simulation setup and modeling assumptions used in this research.

No description available.

We investigate several aspects of the numerical solution of the radiative transfer equation in the context of coal combustion: the parallel efficiency of two commonly used opacity models, the sensitivity of turbulent radiation interaction (TRI) effects to the presence of coal particulate, and an improvement of the order of temporal convergence using the coarse mesh finite difference (CMFD) method. There are four opacity models commonly employed to evaluate the radiative transfer equation in combustion applications; line-by-line (LBL), multigroup, band, and global. Most of these models have been rigorously evaluated for serial computations of a spectrum of problem types [1]. Studies of these models for parallel computations [2] are limited. We assessed the performance of the Spectral-Line- Based weighted sum of gray gasses (SLW) model, a global method related to K-distribution methods [1], and the LBL model. The LBL model directly interpolates opacity information from large data tables. The LBL model outperforms the SLW model in almost all cases, as suggested by Wang et al. [3]. The SLW model, however, shows superior parallel scaling performance and a decreased sensitivity to load imbalancing, suggesting that for some problems, global methods such as the SLW model, could outperform the LBL model. Turbulent radiation interaction (TRI) effects are associated with the differences in the time scales of the fluid dynamic equations and the radiative transfer equations. Solving on the fluid dynamic time step size produces large changes in the radiation field over the time step. We have modifed the statistically homogeneous, non-premixed flame problem of Deshmukh et al. [4] to include coal-type particulate. The addition of low mass loadings of particulate minimally impacts the TRI effects. Observed differences in the TRI effects from variations in the packing fractions and Stokes numbers are difficult to analyze because of the significant effect of variations in problem initialization. The TRI effects are very sensitive to the initialization of the turbulence in the system. The TRI parameters are somewhat sensitive to the treatment of particulate temperature and the particulate optical thickness, and this effect are amplified by increased particulate loading. Monte Carlo radiative heat transfer simulations of time-dependent combustion processes generally involve an explicit evaluation of emission source because of the expense of the transport solver. Recently, Park et al. [5] have applied quasidiffusion with Monte Carlo in high energy density radiative transfer applications. We employ a Crank-Nicholson temporal integration scheme in conjunction with the coarse mesh finite difference (CMFD) method, in an effort to improve the temporal accuracy of the Monte Carlo solver. Our results show that this CMFD-CN method is an improvement over Monte Carlo with CMFD time-differenced via Backward Euler, and Implicit Monte Carlo [6] (IMC). The increase in accuracy involves very little increase in computational cost, and the figure of merit for the CMFD-CN scheme is greater than IMC. / Graduation date: 2012