Hundred years of fluidization for the conversion of solid fuels

Journal article, 2022

This is a summary of the development of conversion of solid fuels in fluidized bed during the hundred years that follow the first patent of Winkler in September 1922. The Winkler gasifiers and their followers are described first. Other fuel converters, such as boilers, appeared only in the 1960–70s and became of interest because of their expected environmental advantages. Initially, bubbling bed boilers were introduced, followed by circulating fluidized bed (CFB) boilers in the beginning of the 1980s. Now, CFB is the dominant technology. The entire development has not been conditioned by technological breakthroughs, but rather by the surrounding conditions: industrial demand, wars, environmental effects, availability and price of fuels. The recent development of the presently rather mature technology depends very much on the necessity to limit greenhouse gas accumulation in the atmosphere. Although fluidized bed technology offers solutions to reduce CO2 emissions, so far, no decisive line of application has been established for CO2 reduction, except for the use of biomass and waste.