Modelling of fluidized bed combustion using metal as fuel

Abstract

This study focuses on investigating the performance of a circulating fluidized bed power plant when iron is used as fuel. This is achieved by developing a simulation model in EBSILON Professional, based on a 90 MWth circulating fluidized bed power plant, that uses coal as fuel, and validating the process values against this reference power plant. The developed model was subjected to changes to facilitate the combustion of metal-based fuel, both for the combustion of air and oxyfuel. In addition, the study investigates the performance of the power plant in various partial load cases to meet the low energy demand of the plant. Lastly, the performance of the metal fuel is compared with the performance of the coal fuel to assess whether iron can be a carbon-neutral fuel solution to coal.