Group Separation of Water-soluble Organic Carbon Fractions in Ash Samples from a Coal Combustion Boiler

Abstract

The chemical characterization of water-soluble organic carbon in ash emitted from a coal combustion boiler has not been reported yet. A total of 5 ash samples were collected from the outlet of an electrostatic precipitator in a commercial 500 MW coal-fired power plant, with their chemical characteristics investigated. XAD7HP resin was used to quantify the hydrophilic and hydrophobic water-soluble organic carbons (WSOC), which are the fractions of WSOC that penetrate and remain on the resin column, respectively. Calibration results indicate that the hydrophilic fraction includes aliphatic dicarboxylic acids and carbonyls (4-5 carbons), phenols, aromatic acids, cyclic acid and humic acid. The average mass of the WSOC in the ash samples was found to depend on the bituminous coal type being burned, and ranged from 163 to 259 μg C/g of ash, which corresponds to 59-96 mg C of WSOC/kg of coal combusted. The WSOC mass accounted for 0.02-0.03 wt% of the used ash sample mass. Based on the flow rate of flue gas produced from the combustion of the blended coals in the 500 MW coal combustion boiler, it was estimated that the WSOC particles were emitted to the atmosphere at flow rates of 4.6-7.2 g C/hr. The results also indicated that the hydrophilic WSOC fraction in the coal burned accounted for 64-82% of the total WSOC, which was 2-4 times greater than the mass of the hydrophobic WSOC fraction.

Keywords

• coal combustion
• ash
• wsoc
• xad7hp resin