Nitric oxide reduction over biomass and coal chars under fluidized bed combustion conditions: the role of thermal annealing

The de-NOx potential of biomass-and waste-derived fuels candidate for cofiring with coal is assessed. The experimental procedure is based on operation of a bench scale fluidized bed reactor where NO-doped nitrogen is contacted with batches of the fuel. A second type of experiment has been purposely designed to assess the extent of thermodeactivation of biogenous fuels, i.e. the loss of reactivity toward the NOx-char reaction as char is annealed for pre-set times at temperatures typical of fluidized bed combustion. A simple phenomenological model is developed to shed light on the basic features of the interaction between heterogeneous char-NOx reaction and thermal annealing of the char. Results are discussed in the light of the potential exploitation of synergistic effects on NOx emission associated with cofiring with coal.