Experimental approach of co-firing and anaerobic fermentation of biomass and coal, and their thermochemical properties

This article studied two sorts of biomass (corn and beech sawdust) and two varieties of coal (bituminous coal and lignite), which can produce energy using two different technologies: co-firing and anaerobic fermentation in pilot installations, in order to determine the future perspectives of those materials for large scale applications. By thermal analysis, the thermochemical characteristics of biomass (corn and beech sawdust) and of coal (bituminous coal from Jiu Valley and lignite from Oltenia basin) were determined. The co-firing tests have been achieved at a ratio of 15 % biomass, the rest being coal. At biomass–coal co-firing, the SO 2 , NO x , CO, CO 2 and fly ash concentrations in the flue gases is lower than the burning of fossil fuels. In the anaerobic fermentation of biomass, the maximum concentration of methane inside the produced biogas was 50–55 % by volume in the beech sawdust batch and 67–68 % by volume in the corn batch.