Fire-Tube Boiler Test Burn on Coal-Water Fuel

The Energy and Environmental Research Corporation (EER), in cooperation with the University of Alabama (UA) and the Mining Division of Jim Walter Resources, Inc. (JWRI), was awarded a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) contract to retrofit an existing fire-tube boiler to burn coal-water fuel (CWF) A fire-tube boiler on the UA campus was retrofitted, and the CWF was made from Blue Creek Coal fines produced by the Mining Division of JWRI, which is located 45 min from the UA campus. The boiler was successfully operated for 800 hours on CWF. Operating with CWF required a boiler derating of 20% and natural gas as a support fuel. This article describes the test burn on CWF, including combustion characteristics of JWRI CWF, boiler efficiency, combustion temperatures, boiler derating, and emission quality of the flue gas. Also reported is a brief summary of the economic analysis of conversion from natural gas to CWF.