#ARCTIC. #SIBERIA. THIS IS TAIMYR. Scientists of the Siberian Federal University (SFU) Polytechnic Institute’s Heat Engineering and Fluid Gas Dynamics department, in cooperation with specialists from the Tomsk Polytechnic University, conducted joint studies of the combustion processes of brown coal and biomass. The development will help to solve two practical problems in the field of thermal power engineering at once – resource saving and environmental safety.
The subject of research within the framework of synchronous thermal analysis was the combustion process of solid fossil fuels – Balahta brown coal, biomass – pine cones and their mixtures with different ratios of components, the SibFU said. As a result, scientists found that brown coal burns at 238–549 degrees Celsius, pine cones require a temperature of 220–503 degrees, and solid fuel mixtures based on them require 230–536 degrees, depending on the concentration of the components.
At the same time, the coke residue of pine cones ignites at a temperature of 302 degrees, which is 58 degrees lower than the ignition temperature of the coal residue, which is 360 degrees. In general, the addition of biomass to coal in a solid fuel mixture leads to a decrease by 21–56 degrees in the temperature at which the coke residue of the solid fuel mixture ignites.
According to scientists, the most optimal option is to add no more than 25 percent of biomass. If there are more pine cones, the components will unevenly affect the combustion characteristics of the fuel mixture when varying the heating source temperature.
“The study results indicate good prospects for the practical application of solid fuel mixtures based on coal and biomass, such as pine cones. They will reduce the consumption of fossil fuels, reduce environmental pollution with biomass processing waste, reduce anthropogenic emissions into the atmosphere with flue gases and biomass decomposition products, and also reduce the intensity of filling ash dumps”, Andrey Zhuikov, the Heat Engineering and Hydrogas Dynamics department’s laboratory head, explained.
Previously, scientists discovered an unknown species of diatoms that will help monitor the state of the Arctic.
Follow us on Telegram, VKontakte.
Text: Elena Popova, Photo: Olga Polyanskaya
