OF COAL WATER FUEL-

IF COAL WATER FUELS (CWF) ARE TO BE USED WITH THE CONVENIENCE AND RELIABILITY OF LIQUID OR GASEOUS FUELS, CHOICES MUST BE MADE IN SLURRY FORMULATION, COAL RANK, DEGREE AND METHOD OF CLEANING, ATOMIZATION TECHNOLOGY, COMBUSTION PARAMETERS, AND SORBENT ADDITIVES. A LABORATORY-SCALE METHOD IS NEEDED FOR TESTING CWF WHERE THE RESULTS CAN BE RELATED TO THE FUEL'S PERFORMANCE IN FULL-SCALE DEVICES. A RECENT ADVANCE IN INSTRU- MENTATION ENABLES EXTENSIVE CHARACTERIZATION OF THE COMBUSTION PERFORMANCE OF CWF USING FOURIER TRANSFORM- INFRARED (FT-IR) EMISSION AND TRANSMISSION SPECTROSCOPY FOR ON-LINE, IN-SITU DIAGNOSTICS. THE TECHNIQUE CAN PROVIDE DATA WITHIN A FLAME FOR: (1) THE SIZE, SIZE DISTRIBUTION, NUMBER DENSITY, COMPOSITION, AND TEMPERATURE OF THE PARTICULATES (CWF DROPLETS, COAL/ CHAR PARTICLES, ASH PARTICLES, SORBENT PARTICLES); AND (2) THE TEMPERATURE, COMPOSITION, AND CONCENTRATION OF GAS SPECIES. A COAL ANALYZER THAT CAN PROVIDE DATA ON THE MINERAL COMPOSITION AND DISTRIBUTION ALSO HAS BEEN DEVELOPED. THIS INSTRUMENT WILL BE USED TO EVALUATE COAL CLEANING AND ITS EFFECT ON SLAGGING AND FOULING. IN PHASE I, THE TECHNIQUES WILL BE VALIDATED FOR A LABSCALE FLAME USING TWO CWFS FOR WHICH PILOT-SCALE DATA ARE AVAILABLE. IN PHASE II, THE CWF PERFORMANCE IN THE LABSCALE FLAME WILL BE RELATED TO ITS PERFORMANCE IN PILOT-SCALE FACILITIES.