2nd World Conference on Biomass for Energy, Industry and Climate Protection, 10-14 May 2004, Rome, Italy EVALUATION OF THE COMBUSTION CHARACTERISTICS OF FOUR PERENNIAL ENERGY CROPS (ARUNDO DONAX, CYNARA CARDUNCULUS, MISCANTHUS X GIGANTEUS AND PANICUM VIRGATUM) Jonas Dahl & Ingwald Obernberger Institute of Resource Efficient and Sustainable Systems, Graz University of Technology, Inffeldgasse 25, A - 8010 Graz, Austria, Tel.: +43 (0)316 481300, Fax: +43 (0)316 481300 4; E-mail:
[email protected] ABSTRACT: The perennial crops giant reed, switchgrass, miscanthus and cardoon were investigated in laboratory- scale and pilot-scale combustion test runs. Laboratory-scale test runs were conducted in a fixed bed pot reactor monitoring the temperature in the fuel bed and the release of gaseous components while pilot-scale test runs where conducted in a 150 kWth rotating grate fired combustion plant measuring formed emissions of CO, NOX, SO2, HCl, and particulates as well as performing deposit probe measurements. The results revealed that the high concentration of ash and slag forming elements such as Si, K and Ca cause severe problems regarding slagging if not specially considered during combustion. Moreover, high concentrations of N are another challenge regarding measures in order to avoid high emissions of NOx. Moreover, also HCl and SO2 emissions are considerably higher compared to wood fuels due to the higher concentrations of Cl and S in these fuels. Keywords: biomass characteristics, biomass conversion, cynara cardonculus, giant reed, switchgrass, miscanthus 1 INTRODUCTION combustion unit (nominal boiler capacity 150 kWth) were carried out with larger amounts (2-4 tons) of Due to the limited availability of wood fuels, in pelletised switch grass and chopped giant reed and southern Europe, high yield energy crops could give an chopped miscanthus (MI).