Fate of Zinc during Combustion of Demolition Wood in a Fluidized Bed Boiler

Journal article, 2008

Demolition wood can be used as a fuel in heat and power plants. However, it may contain elevated amounts of zinc, originating from white paint, which can cause problems related to deposit formation and corrosion on heat transfer surfaces. In this work, combustion tests with zinc addition were carried out in a fluidized bed boiler to investigate its effect on deposit formation. Thermodynamic equilibrium calculations were performed to complement the experimental data. The results show that combustion of demolition wood only contaminated with zinc generates a modest amount of deposit. Combustion of demolition wood contaminated with both zinc and chlorine promotes the deposit formation due to the increased amount of submicron particles in the flue gas. The thermodynamic equilibrium analyses show further that reducing conditions increase the release of zinc to the flue gas. On the other hand, in the case of oxidizing conditions, the retention of zinc in the ash is strong. Zinc, in combination with chlorine, gives rise to formation of zinc chloride in the flue gas. The formation is, at reducing conditions, thermodynamically favored between 450 and 850 °C. At oxidizing conditions, the formation is initiated at 400 °C and gradually increased with the temperature.