Emission characteristics of co-combustion of sewage sludge with olive cake and lignite coal in a circulating fluidized bed.

In this study, a circulating fluidized bed (CFB) of 125 mm diameter and 1800mm height was used to find the combustion characteristics of sewage sludge (SS) produced in Turkey. Sludge + olive cake, and sludge + lignite coal mixtures were burned separately. Various sludge-to-lignite coal and sludge-to-olive cake ratios (5/95, 10/90, 15/85, 20/80) were tried. On-line concentrations of major components (O2, SO2, CO2, CO, NOx, CmHn) were measured in the flue gas, as well as temperature and pressure distributions along the bed. Combustion efficiencies of sludge + olive cake and sludge + lignite coal mixtures were calculated, and the optimum conditions for operating parameters were discussed. The results have shown that the combustion mainly takes place in the upper regions of the main column where the temperature reaches 900 degrees C. SS + Coal burn in the CFB with an efficiency of 95.14% to 96.18%, which is considered to be quite good. When burning sludge mixed with olive cake, appreciable amounts of CO and unburned hydrocarbons are formed and the combustion efficiency drops to 92.93%. CO and CmHn emissions are lower when lignite coal is mixed with various amounts of SS than the emissions when the coal is burned alone. As the %SS is increased in the fuel mixture, the SO2 emission decreases. NOx emissions are slightly higher. When burning sludge mixed with olive cake, SO2 and NOx emissions are slightly higher. CO and CmHn emissions decrease sharply when SS is mixed with 5%wt. olive cake. With increasing sludge ratio these emissions increase due to the unburned hydrocarbons. As a result of this study, it is believed that SS can be burned effectively in a CFBC together with other fuels, especially with olive cake (OC). OC will be a good additive fuel for the combustion of lower quality fuels.