Mineral Matter Study in Adaro Coal-EFB Blends to Mitigate Ash Slagging Problem in the Gasification Process

Ash is a by-product of solid fuels (eg. coal, biomass, petroleum coke) gasification, which can contribute to the gasifier performance. Continuous formation of ash slag will further accumulate and cause plant outage. hi relation to that problem, this study is conducted to mitigate the formation of ash slag in gasifier. Adaro coal from Indonesia and empty fruit bunch (EFB) were used as blends. EFB is used to promote the utilisation of renewable energy source and to reduce the Green House Gas Emission (eg. CO2). Adaro coal and EFB; and 4 blended fuels from Adaro:EFB at blending ratios of 80:20, 85:15, 90:10 and 95:5 were prepared in laboratory. Prediction of slagging tendency for Adaro:EFB blends were conducted using two slagging indices, which are slagging index, Basic/Acidic(B/A) and ratio-slag viscosity index (S-R). Mineral oxides (eg. SiO2, Al2O3, Fe2O3) from the ashes of single and blended fuels were determined using Filed-Element Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM) and were used as input for the prediction of slagging tendency. The results showed that Adaro:EFB with blend ratio of 80:20 and 85:15 had low slagging tendency based on slagging index (B/A) and SR. Therefore, these two blending ratios are suitable to be used in the gasification system to avoid the ash slagging problem.