An Evaluation of Coal Water Slurry Fuel Burners and Technology

Abstract : The U.S. Army has been tasked to reduce its dependence on and consumption of petroleum fuels. Coal water slurry fuel (CWSF) is considered a feasible alternative to the heavy fuel oil currently used as a boiler fuel. At the core of CWSF technology is the burner, which is a hybrid between a pulverized coal burner and a No. 6 fuel oil burner. Private enterprise has invested heavily in burner development with the objective of achieving a design that performs as well as conventional pulverized coal burners. The study evaluates industrial research and development efforts on CWSF technology, particularly burner technology, to identify the burner systems most promising for Army CWSF conversions. Performance targets developed for the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) were compared with burner performance data reported by the manufacturers. This evaluation found that burners manufactured by the Babcock and Wilcox Company (B and W) and Combustion Engineering Inc. (CE) should receive additional consideration and laboratory testing for use in the Army's central heating plants and package fire-tube boilers.