RADIOGRAPHY INSTRUMENTATION FOR CHARACTERIZATION AND IMPROVEMENT OF FLUIDIZED BED COMBUSTION PERFORMANCE

THE BEHAVIOR OF SUSPENDED PULVERIZED COAL DURING TRANSPORT AND COMBUSTION PROCESSES IS NOT EASILY PREDICTABLE. THE DIFFICULTIES ARE COMPOUNDED BY SCALING UP AVAILABLE DATA TO THE SIZE DEMANDS OF COMMERCIAL PROCESSES. A MAJOR PREDICTABILITY ADVANCE CAN BE ACHIEVED BY USING REAL-TIME RADIOGRAPHY (RTR) TO ACQUIRE AND SIMULTANEOUSLY EVALUATE PERFORMANCE OF FIELD FLUIDIZED-BED COMBUSTION (FBC) SYSTEMS. THIS STUDY WILL DEFINE THE DESIGN REQUIREMENTS FORAN APPROPRIATE RTR SYSTEM, DEMONSTRATE HOW THEY CAN BE ACHIEVED, AND INDICATE THE BENEFIT TO SOLIDS-HANDLING RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT. RTR OF LARGE SCALE EQUIPMENT OUTSIDE OF SHIELDED TEST CELLS BECAME A REALITY WITH THE DEVELOPMENT OF PORTABLE, HIGH ENERGY LINAC SYSTEMS. RECENT IMPROVEMENTS IN LIGHT EMITTING X-RAY DETECTORS SHOULD PROVIDE DYNAMIC, LABORATORY QUALITY DATA ON COAL-FLUID-SURFACE INTERACTIONS FROM WITHIN FIELD FBC UNITS. IMAGE DATA PRESENTATIONS THAT RANGE FROM STANDARD TVTO THREE-DIMENSIONAL TOMOGRAPHY CAN BE CONSIDERED. THE FEASIBILITY OF RTR IN THIS ENVIRONMENT WILL BE DETERMINED, AND ITS IMPLEMENTATIONS WILL BE DEFINED AND DEMONSTRATED FORFBC PERFORMANCE INTERESTS IDENTIFIED BY EXPERTS.