Meat and bone meal as secondary fuel in fluidized bed combustion

Meat and Bone Meal (MBM) was co-fired in a laboratory scale fluidized bed combustion (FBC) apparatus with two coals. Several fuel blends were combusted under different conditions to Study how primary fuel substitution by MBM affects flue gas emissions as well as fluidized bed (FB) agglomeration tendency. MBM, being a highly volatile fuel, caused significant increase of CO emissions and secondary air should be used in industrial scale applications to conform to regulations. The high N-content of MBM is moderately reflected on the increase of nitrogen oxides emissions which are reduced by MBM derived volatiles. The MBM ash, mainly containing bone material rich in Ca, did not create any noteworthy desulphurization effect. The observed slight decrease in SO2 emissions is predominantly attributed to the lower sulphur content in the coal/MBM fuel mixtures. The SEM/EDS analysis of bed material samples from the coal/MBM tests revealed the formation of agglomerates of bed material debris and ash with sizes that do not greatly exceed the original bed inventory and thus not problematic. (C) 2006 The Combustion Institute. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.