1999 ◽  
Vol 40 (11-12) ◽  
pp. 195-200 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Harila ◽  
V.-A. Kivilinna

An activated sludge process is an effective tool against effluent emissions in a pulp mill. It has only a few features which can be regarded deficiences. One of them is that effluent treatment of a modern pulp mill creates some 10-20 tonnes dry solids of biosludge per day. This sludge is difficult to burn due to its high moisture content. The most common way is to mix biosludge with primary sludge, to dewater the mixture in presses and finally to burn it in a solid fuel boiler. This type of sludge treatment incurs rather high costs and does not produce any net energy. Also combustion emissions vary depending on the boiler type. The Metsä-Botnia Kemi Pulp Mill was the first mill in the world to burn biosludge in a recovery boiler. The system start-up was in 1993 and it has been in operation ever since. Mechanically dewatered biosludge is mixed with weak black liquor and concentrated in a conventional evaporation plant equipped with a pressurized superconcentrator unit. In a modern recovery boiler, firing conditions are well controlled and monitored. Better emission control than in most bark fired boilers is achieved. Accumulation of nonprocess elements, corrosion, plugging, scaling and some other operational problems were expected. A lot of experience has been gathered during the years of operation and reviewed in this presentation. The achieved benefits of the system are discussed. Disposal of biosludge in a recovery boiler offers an economically and environmentally attractive alternative. Probably the best evidence from this is the fact that Metsä-Botnia has applied the same process solution in the recent reconstruction of the recovery departments at the Jouteno Mill.


2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (10) ◽  
pp. 6985-7000 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jun Zhou ◽  
Peter Zotter ◽  
Emily A. Bruns ◽  
Giulia Stefenelli ◽  
Deepika Bhattu ◽  
...  

Abstract. Wood combustion emissions can induce oxidative stress in the human respiratory tract by reactive oxygen species (ROS) in the aerosol particles, which are emitted either directly or formed through oxidation in the atmosphere. To improve our understanding of the particle-bound ROS (PB-ROS) generation potential of wood combustion emissions, a suite of smog chamber (SC) and potential aerosol mass (PAM) chamber experiments were conducted under well-determined conditions for different combustion devices and technologies, different fuel types, operation methods, combustion regimes, combustion phases, and aging conditions. The PB-ROS content and the chemical properties of the aerosols were quantified by a novel ROS analyzer using the DCFH (2′,7′-dichlorofluorescin) assay and a high-resolution time-of-flight aerosol mass spectrometer (HR-ToF-AMS). For all eight combustion devices tested, primary PB-ROS concentrations substantially increased upon aging. The level of primary and aged PB-ROS emission factors (EFROS) were dominated by the combustion device (within different combustion technologies) and to a greater extent by the combustion regimes: the variability within one device was much higher than the variability of EFROS from different devices. Aged EFROS under bad combustion conditions were ∼ 2–80 times higher than under optimum combustion conditions. EFROS from automatically operated combustion devices were on average 1 order of magnitude lower than those from manually operated devices, which indicates that automatic combustion devices operated at optimum conditions to achieve near-complete combustion should be employed to minimize PB-ROS emissions. The use of an electrostatic precipitator decreased the primary and aged ROS emissions by a factor of ∼ 1.5 which is however still within the burn-to-burn variability. The parameters controlling the PB-ROS formation in secondary organic aerosol were investigated by employing a regression model, including the fractions of the mass-to-charge ratios m∕z 44 and 43 in secondary organic aerosol (SOA; f44−SOA and f43−SOA), the OH exposure, and the total organic aerosol mass. The regression model results of the SC and PAM chamber aging experiments indicate that the PB-ROS content in SOA seems to increase with the SOA oxidation state, which initially increases with OH exposure and decreases with the additional partitioning of semi-volatile components with lower PB-ROS content at higher OA concentrations, while further aging seems to result in a decay of PB-ROS. The results and the special data analysis methods deployed in this study could provide a model for PB-ROS analysis of further wood or other combustion studies investigating different combustion conditions and aging methods.


2016 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 873-905 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. W. Butt ◽  
A. Rap ◽  
A. Schmidt ◽  
C. E. Scott ◽  
K. J. Pringle ◽  
...  

Abstract. Combustion of fuels in the residential sector for cooking and heating results in the emission of aerosol and aerosol precursors impacting air quality, human health, and climate. Residential emissions are dominated by the combustion of solid fuels. We use a global aerosol microphysics model to simulate the impact of residential fuel combustion on atmospheric aerosol for the year 2000. The model underestimates black carbon (BC) and organic carbon (OC) mass concentrations observed over Asia, Eastern Europe, and Africa, with better prediction when carbonaceous emissions from the residential sector are doubled. Observed seasonal variability of BC and OC concentrations are better simulated when residential emissions include a seasonal cycle. The largest contributions of residential emissions to annual surface mean particulate matter (PM2.5) concentrations are simulated for East Asia, South Asia, and Eastern Europe. We use a concentration response function to estimate the human health impact due to long-term exposure to ambient PM2.5 from residential emissions. We estimate global annual excess adult (>  30 years of age) premature mortality (due to both cardiopulmonary disease and lung cancer) to be 308 000 (113 300–497 000, 5th to 95th percentile uncertainty range) for monthly varying residential emissions and 517 000 (192 000–827 000) when residential carbonaceous emissions are doubled. Mortality due to residential emissions is greatest in Asia, with China and India accounting for 50 % of simulated global excess mortality. Using an offline radiative transfer model we estimate that residential emissions exert a global annual mean direct radiative effect between −66 and +21 mW m−2, with sensitivity to the residential emission flux and the assumed ratio of BC, OC, and SO2 emissions. Residential emissions exert a global annual mean first aerosol indirect effect of between −52 and −16 mW m−2, which is sensitive to the assumed size distribution of carbonaceous emissions. Overall, our results demonstrate that reducing residential combustion emissions would have substantial benefits for human health through reductions in ambient PM2.5 concentrations.


Author(s):  
Rod Hatt ◽  
David A. T. Rodgers ◽  
Randy Curtis

Portland General Electric’s (PGE) Boardman plant is a nominal 600 megawatt (MW) coal fired unit that burns sub-bituminous Powder River Basin (PRB) coal from Wyoming. This paper will cover the experience and results of PGE’s Boardman plant operating on 100% torrefied wood (TW) pellets at 255 MW consuming almost 5000 tons of pellets. Results were positive and include suitable handing after inclement weathering for months. Pulverizers were able to handle the TW pellets with adjustments, resulting in near 100% combustion efficiency. Particulates were controlled with an electrostatic precipitator (ESP). Topics investigated include torrefied wood production, fuel handling and storage on the front end of the test. Fuel handling, pulverization, combustion, emissions, and ESP performance were monitored during the test and are reported here. Several one mill tests were conducted prior to the 100% test to evaluate and improve mill performance. This test showed that a pulverized coal (PC) boiler can operate on 100% TW fuel with minimal operational changes.


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