Co-combustion coal and waste alternative fuel: thermogravimetric analysis

Abstract

Combustion of coal together with a relative small percentage of waste alternative fuel (WAF) may be a choice for the management of these wastes. Co-combustion coal and their blends of 5%, 10% and 50% (wt.%) with waste alternative fuel were tested in a thermogravimetric analyser (TGA) in the temperature range from ambient to 1000oC under the heating rate of 10 oC min-1. Combustion characteristics such as volatile release, ignition and burnout were also studied for the fuel blends. The method of direct non-linear regression was used for calculation of apparent kinetic parameters of oxidation processes from thermogravimetric (TG) curves. The coal oxidation is the first-order reaction. The study has been conducted aiming at widening the spectrum of fuels utilised by co-combustion.