TDLAS diagnostics of potassium, CO and soot in oxygen-enriched biomass combustion close to stoichiometry

Combustion facilities run on pulverized biomass often exhibit fluctuations in fuel feeding and, thus, equivalence ratio and would benefit from fast process control based on optical λ sensors installed in the reactor core. The conversion of softwood powder is investigated in an atmospheric entrained-flow reactor (EFR) operated close to stoichiometry using two different burners (swirl and jet) and three oxygen concentrations (21, 30, and 40%). Tunable diode laser absorption spectroscopy (TDLAS) is used to conduct time-resolved (0.1–1 s) in situ measurements of the gas temperature, carbon monoxide (CO), water vapor (H2O), gaseous atomic potassium [K(g)], and soot volume fraction in the lower part of the reactor core and in the exhaust of the EFR. At both locations, the measurement parameters show significant, correlating fluctuations. The local equivalence ratio is derived from a comparison of measured CO and H2O concentrations (for fuel-rich and fuel-lean conditions, respectively) to thermodynamic equilibri...