Development and testing of commercial-scale, coal-fired combustion systems: Phase 3, Technical progress report, October 1993--December 1993

The objective of this Phase III program for the development of a commercial scale, coal-fired combustion system is to develop and integrate all system components from fuel through total system controls building upon the prior Phase I and II development accomplishments of the MTCI pulse combustion technology and to then field test the complete system in order to evaluate its potential marketability. During this 13th quarter, a steam generation cost model was developed to compare the economics of steam production in the commercial-scale, coal-fired pulse combustion system with that in a natural gas- or oil-fired system. The purpose of this model is to define the competitive capital cost range for the MTCI system under a specified set of technical and economic conditions. A current preliminary estimate of the MTCI pulse coal combustion system capital cost turns out to be about $120,000 and this is within the target range of the US commercial boiler market sector. European differential fuel costs are expected to be more favorable. Several conceptual arrangements for coal reburn and char burnout were evaluated. The arrangement was selected based on the following considerations viz. utilization of the existing pulse combustor as is, minimization of footprint and vertical space requirement, good mixing of coal, steam and combustion products in the reburn section, and adequate char residence time in the char burnout section