Incineration is considered one of the most readily available techniques for sewage sludge disposal, including tannery sludge, which often contains significant amounts of volatile heavy metals. The combustion characteristics and kinetic analysis of tannery sludge were investigated using thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) at a heating rate of 30 °C/min in 50–950 °C. In addition to confirming that tannery sludge has a high content of volatile material and ash, it was further discovered that almost all the zinc (Zn) in tannery sludge is volatilized at 900 °C. The degree of volatilization for heavy metals at 900 °C followed the order of Zn>Cd>Cu>Mn>Pb>Cr. Moreover, the volatilization of these heavy metals increased with temperature. It is thus concluded that, to avoid heavy metal volatization during incineration disposal, 800 °C is a reasonable incineration temperature.
Xu-guang JIANG Chun-yu LI Zhen-wei FEI Yong CHI Jian-hua YAN
The effects of SO2,SO3 on de novo synthesis of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs) and dibenzofurans (PCDFs) were studied using model fly ashes incorporating copper oxide and activated carbon. It was found that the inhibitive effect of SO2 on PCDD/Fs formation is similar to that of SO3. To investigate the inhibition mechanism,CuSO4 formations from both CuO and CuCl2 were examined. The ability of SO3 to convert CuCl2 and CuO on a silica support into sulfate is much stronger than that of SO2. However,replacing silica by activated carbon leads to a much high conversion of CuCl2 to CuSO4 in the presence of SO2. The promotion by activated carbon is explained by the reduction of CuCl2 to Cu2Cl2 and the eventual conversion of Cu2Cl2 into CuSO4 is the main inhibition mechanism of SO2 on de novo synthesis of PCDD/Fs.
Ke SHAO Jian-hua YAN Xiao-dong LI Sheng-yong LU Mu-xing FU Ying-lei WEI
Elemental mercury capture on heat-treated activated carbon （TAC） was studied using a laboratory-scale fixed bed reactor. The capability of TAC to perform Hg0 capture under both N2 and baseline gas atmospheres was studied and the effects of common acid gas constituents were evaluated individually to avoid complications resulting from the coexistence of multiple components. The results suggest that surface functional groups （SFGs） on activated carbon （AC） are vital to Hg0 capture in the absence of acid gases. Meanwhile, the presence of acid gas components coupled with defective graphitic lattices on TAC plays an important role in effective Hg0 capture. The presence of HC1, NO2, and NO individually in basic gases markedly enhances Hg0 capture on TAC due to the heterogeneous oxidation of Hg0 on acidic sites created on the carbon surface and catalysis by the defective graphitic lattices on TAC. Similarly, the presence of SO2 improves Hg0 capture by about 20%. This improvement likely results from the deposition of sulfur groups on the AC surface and oxidation of the elemental mercury by SO2 due to catalysis on the carbon surface. Furthermore, O2 exhibits a synergistic effect on Hg0 oxidation and capture when acid gases are present in the flue gases.
This paper presents an experimental study on the emission characteristics and combustion instabilities of oxy-fuel combustions in a swirl-stabilized combustor. Different oxygen concentrations (Xoxy=25%～45%, where Xoxy is oxygen concentra- tion by volume), equivalence ratios (φ=0.75～1.15) and combustion powers (CP=1.08～2.02 kW) were investigated in the oxy-fuel (CH4/CO2/O2) combustions, and reference cases (Xoxy=25%～35%, CH4/N2/O2 flames) were covered. The results show that the oxygen concentration in the oxidant stream significantly affects the combustion delay in the oxy-fuel flames, and the equivalence ratio has a slight effect, whereas the combustion power shows no impact. The temperature levels of the oxy-fuel flames inside the combustion chamber are much higher (up to 38.7%) than those of the reference cases. Carbon monoxide was vastly produced when Xoxy>35% or φ>0.95 in the oxy-fuel flames, while no nitric oxide was found in the exhaust gases because no N2 participates in the combustion process. The combustion instability of the oxy-fuel combustion is very different from those of the reference cases with similar oxygen content. Oxy-fuel combustions excite strong oscillations in all cases studied Xoxy=25%～45%. However, no pressure fluctuations were detected in the reference cases when Xoxy>28.6% accomplished by heavily sooting flames which were not found in the oxy-fuel combustions. Spectrum analysis shows that the frequency of dynamic pressure oscillations exhibits randomness in the range of 50～250 Hz, therefore resulting in a very small resultant amplitude. Temporal oscillations are very strong with amplitudes larger than 200 Pa, even short time fast Fourier transform (FFT) analysis (0.08 s) shows that the pressure amplitude can be larger than 40 Pa.
