Oxy-fuel combustion of solid fuels

Oxy-fuel combustion is suggested as one of the possible, promising technologies for capturing CO2 from power plants. The concept of oxy-fuel combustion is removal of nitrogen from the oxidizer to carry out the combustion process in oxygen and, in most concepts, recycled flue gas to lower the flame temperature.

The flue gas produced thus consists primarily of carbon dioxide and water. Much research on the different aspects of an oxy-fuel power plant has been performed during the last decade. Focus has mainly been on retrofits of existing pulverized-coal-fired power plant units. Green-field plants which provide additional options for improvement of process economics are however likewise investigated.

Of particular interest is the change of the combustion process induced by the exchange of carbon dioxide and water vapor for nitrogen as diluent. This paper reviews the published knowledge on the oxy-fuel process and focuses particularly on the combustion fundamentals, i.e. flame temperatures and heat transfer, ignition and burnout, emissions, and fly ash characteristics.

Knowledge is currently available regarding both an entire oxy-fuel power plant and the combustion fundamentals. However, several questions remain unanswered and more research and pilot plant testing of heat transfer profiles, emission levels, the optimum oxygen excess and inlet oxygen concentration levels, high and low-temperature fire-side corrosion, ash quality, plant operability, and models to predict NOx and SO3 formation is required.