Sulfur coal-limestone scrubbing, high

Other applications of microparticles include spray drying, stack gas scrubbing, particle and droplet combustion, catalytic conversion of gases, fog formation, and nucleation. The removal of SO2 formed in the combustion of high-sulfur coal can be accomplished by adding limestone to coal in a fluidized bed combustor. The formation of CaO leads to the reaction... 

Table II. Mass Transfer Coefficients with High Sulfur Coal—Limestone Scrubbing...

The problem of sulfur dioxide pollution is made more complicated by the energy crisis. As petroleum supplies dwindle and the price increases, our dependence on coal will probably grow. As supplies of low-sulfur coal are used up, high-sulfur coal will be utilized. One way to use high-sulfur coal without further harming the air quality is to remove the sulfur dioxide from the exhaust gas by means of a system called a scrubber before it is emitted from the power plant stack. A common method of scrubbing is to blow powdered limestone (CaC03) into the combustion chamber, where it is decomposed to lime and carbon dioxide ... 

The main purpose of magnesia addition to a limestone wet scrubbing system is to facilitate high S02 removal. For a wet scrubber that cleans flue gas from a utility coal-fired boiler, the scrubber inlet gas S02 concentration is typically about 700 ppm by volume per one weight percent sulfur in the fired coal. For sub-bituminous coal having only 0.7 weight percent sulfur content, the inlet S02 concentration is about 500 ppm, and, for example, the outlet S02 has to be less than 50 ppm to achieve 90 percent removal. In order to avoid serious inhibition of mass transfer because of S02 back-pressure, the equilibrium S02 partial pressure should be about four or more times lower than the actual S02 partial pressure in the gas. Thus, Figure 3 indicates that for this low-sulfur coal system, the scrubber inlet pH should be at least 5.5, and the outlet pH at least... 

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