Comparison of entrained metal aerosol emissions from conventional fuel combustion

Supervisors: Professor Mohamed Pourkashanian, Professor Lin Ma, Dr Kevin Hughes and Dr Karen N Finney.

Metal/inorganic impurities in fuels can have detrimental impacts on combustion and downstream systems. These vary widely between fuels and there are distinct differences between conventional coal and biomasses used for UK power generation.

This project will compare emissions from these fuels throughout the combustion/capture plants at the UKCCSRC PACT Facilities. This will be monitored via state-of-the-art diagnostics, using ICP-OES to generate data concerning quantitative simultaneous multi-elemental detection of metal aerosols.

The research will focus on a range of volatile/non-volatile species (major to ultra-trace elements), including alkali (K, Na), transition (Fe, V, Zn) and heavy (Cd, Hg, Cr) metals, as well as acidic elements (S), which are of interest as they are toxic, easily vaporised and/or cause operational issues.

Coupled with data for ash residue analysis, mass balances will enable the determination of element partition/the fate of specific species, aiding in the development of gas cleaning methods tailored for individual fuels and operation conditions.

For further information contact Professor Derek B Ingham (d.ingham@sheffield.ac.uk).