Industrial tests of co-combustion of alternative fuel with hard coal in a stoker boiler.

This paper presents the results of industrial research on co-combustion of solid recovered fuel (SRF) with hard coal in a stoker boiler type WR-25. The share of SRF in the fuel mixture was 10%. During the co-combustion of SRF, no technological disturbances of the boiler were noted. The obtained SO and NO emissions were comparable with coal combustion, but dust emissions increased. During the co-combustion of the coal mixture with 10% of alternative fuel, acceptable standards for co-incineration of waste were exceeded for NOx, dust, CO, HCl, HF, heavy metals, dioxins, and furans. The by-products of waste co-combustion with coal were non-hazardous waste. The obtained results constitute a very important contribution to the process of boiler retrofitting toward a waste co-incineration unit, and to meeting the legislative and environmental requirements.: Due to some challenges related to waste storage and transportation, combustion in incineration plants and Waste-to-Energy plants is not possible. The adaptation (formal and technical) of medium scale boilers as co-incineration plants reveals high potential. Nevertheless, the lack of experience and investigations of waste co-combustion in real industrial scale grate boilers is observed. Thus, the implication of this article results consists of the investigations using industrial scale mechanical grate boiler (different from incineration type). Moreover, the investigations were carried out in a low-capacity boiler (~50% of nominal capacity). This novel experience is very important because reduced heat dissipation into the grid caused by high ambient temperatures occurs very frequently. These tests are valuable from the point of view of retrofitting the unit to obtain technological and emission parameters that would allow obtaining the status of a waste co-incinerating unit. The results of these investigations are addressed to power plant management board and engineering staff.