Simulation of NOx Emission in Circulating Fluidized Beds Burning Low-grade Fuels

Nitrogen oxides are a major environmental pollutant resulting from combustion. This paper presents a modeling study of pollutant NOx emission resulting from low-grade fuel combustion in a circulating fluidized bed. The simulation model accounts for the axial and radial distribution of NOx emission in a circulating fluidized bed (CFB). The model results are compared with and validated against experimental data both for small-size and industrial-size CFBs that use different types of low-grade fuels given in the literature. The present study proves that CFB combustion demonstrated by both experimental data and model predictions produces low and acceptable levels of NOx emissions resulting from the combustion of low-grade fuels. Developed model can also investigate the effects of different operational parameters on overall NOx emission. As a result of this investigation, both experimental data and model predictions show that NOx emission increases with the bed temperature but decreases with excess air if othe...