Sulfur Emission from Victorian Brown Coal Under Pyrolysis, Oxy-Fuel Combustion and Gasification Conditions

Sulfur emission from a Victorian brown coal was quantitatively determined through controlled experiments in a continuously fed drop-tube furnace under three different atmospheres: pyrolysis, oxy-fuel combustion, and carbon dioxide gasification conditions. The species measured were H2S, SO2, COS, CS2, and more importantly SO3. The temperature (873–1273 K) and gas environment effects on the sulfur species emission were investigated. The effect of residence time on the emission of those species was also assessed under oxy-fuel condition. The emission of the sulfur species depended on the reaction environment. H2S, SO2, and CS2 are the major species during pyrolysis, oxy-fuel, and gasification. Up to 10% of coal sulfur was found to be converted to SO3 under oxy-fuel combustion, whereas SO3 was undetectable during pyrolysis and gasification. The trend of the experimental results was qualitatively matched by thermodynamic predictions. The residence time had little effect on the release of those species. The release of sulfur oxides, in particular both SO2 and SO3, is considerably high during oxy-fuel combustion even though the sulfur content in Morwell coal is only 0.80%. Therefore, for Morwell coal utilization during oxy-fuel combustion, additional sulfur removal, or polishing systems will be required in order to avoid corrosion in the boiler and in the CO2 separation units of the CO2 capture systems.