FUEL MINERALS, FOULING, AND SLAGGING

Thrust Area 2, Fuel Minerals, Fouling, and Slagging, is focused on obtaining a clear understanding of the role of fuel inorganic components in combustion processes. During the combustion process, the inorganic components are transformed to ash. The principal problems associated with ash are deposition on heat-transfer surfaces, erosion, corrosion, and formation of fine particulate that is difficult to collect. In addition, catalytic inorganic components impacts are noted in a number of coal combustion processes, e.g., burnout and devolatilization. The specific objectives of Thrust Area 2 are the following: (1) to characterize the chemical and physical transformations of inorganic components, (2) to characterize the catalytic role of inorganic components on oxidation and devolatilization, (3) to establish submodels for mineral behavior, (4) to perform key experiments to define model parameters, (5) to incorporate submodels into comprehensive code, and (6) to evaluate models.