Abstract
This study is aimed to investigate changes of combustion characteristics and heat efficiency when syngas from gasification process using low-rank fuel such as waste and/or biomass is applied partially to an industrial boiler. An experimental study on syngas co-combustion was performed in a 0.7 MW (1 ton steam/hr) water tube boiler using heavy oil as a main fuel. Three kinds of syngas were used as an alternative fuel: mixture gas of pure carbon monoxide and hydrogen, syngas of low calorific value generated from an air-blown gasification process, and syngas of high calorific value produced from an oxygen-blown gasification process. Effects of co-combustion ratio (0~20%) for each syngas on flue gas composition were investigated through syngas injection through the nozzles installed in the side wall of the boiler and measuring $O_2$, $CO_2$, CO and NOx concentrations in the flue gas. When syngas co-combustion was applied, injected syngas was observed to be burned completely and NOx concentration was decreased because nitrogen-containing-heavy oil was partially replaced by the syngas. However, heat efficiency of the boiler was observed to be decreased due to inert compounds in the syngas and the more significant decrease was found when syngas of lower calorific value was used. However, the decrease of the efficiency was under 10% of the heat replacement by syngas.