Results of fly ash quality for disposal options from high thermal shares up to pure biomass combustion in a pilot-scale and large scale pulverized fuel power plants

This work evaluated fly ash quality from combustion of high thermal shares of biomass fuels. Woody biomass was (co)combusted in an industrial scale pulverized fuel power plant, and a herbaceous biomass was co-combusted in a pilot-scale test facility. Ashes from the electrostatic precipitator were collected and evaluated for chemical compounds, leaching behavior, and mechanical properties. Results from the large-scale industrial pulverized fuel showed the ashes still had good reactivity and mechanical properties according to EN450-1, which is a good unexpected occurrence regarding strength development. Results from the pilot-scale test facility showed that a herbaceous biomass co-fired up to 50% thermal share does not seem to have any negative impact on existing fly ash utilization routes. It is concluded that co-firing clean woody biomass at a very high thermal share and co-firing a high thermal share of a herbaceous biomass with lignite would not change current utilization practices. In practice ashes from high thermal shares are not used due to safeguards in standards form a lack of experience from enough performance testing. Thus, the findings can lead to support for standards that incorporate other assessment methods for biomass fly ash utilization requirements.