Operation and maintenance experience of the Shamokin and Wilkes-Barre fluid bed boilers

During the past 150 years, the anthracite coal industry of Northeastern Pennsylvania has deposited, above ground, approximately 1 billion tons of refuse, disfiguring the landscape and generally polluting the environment. Anthracite refuse is made up of breaker refuse or culm, silt, mine refuse and tunnel rock. Culm, containing appreciable amounts of carbon, is essentially a low quality, low cost, alternate energy source. This fuel with its high ash content, low heating value and generally high moisture content is considered to be a feasible fuel for a fluidized bed boiler.