Innovative Production Technology of High Quality Pellets for Power Plants

The paper presents the results of studies related to the development of quality pellet production technology for the power plants. Presented results shows that the addition of sulfur and kaolinite to the biomass does not significantly affect the basic quality parameters obtained from such pellet mixtures. There is a slight increase in ash value in these pellets, but this is directly related to the fact that kaolinite is a non-combustible mineral material. It has been shown that at the expense of increased ash content in the tested pellets, kaolinite addition virtually eliminates ash slag at all tested incineration temperatures. In the case of pellets from “pure” biomass, this unfavorable phenomenon has already occurred at 1000 °C. The results clearly show that independent of the amount of added sulfur (2 and 5%), the addition of 3% kaolinite effectively prevents ash from slagging in low temperature. Granulation of biomass, supplemented with additive to prevent slagging of ashes, should be regarded as effective and innovative technology of production of granular solid biofuels, which do not cause usual risk of boiler boiler heat exchange surfaces. This technology allows the generation of safe, solid biofuels from a wide range of biomass types available on the market.