SAACKE Pulverized fuels.

Pulverized fuels.

Although fuel dusts are a very economical alternative to natural gas or heating oil,

they are often overlooked. This is particularly unfortunate when dusts are produced

as by-products in industrial processes and could directly replace valuable

(and expensive) standard fuels.

In this context, dust is defined as a solid material with a maximum particle size of

up to 0.5 mm. Apart from this definition, however, dusts differ fundamentally in their

water and ash content, their calorific value, and their ignitability, which is directly

related to the proportion of volatile components. For example, lignite dust and hard

coal dust are not very far apart in terms of calorific value, at 20-22 MJ/kg and 25-30

MJ/kg respectively. However, lignite dust has significantly more volatile components

and is therefore more flammable overall. An extreme example is petroleum coke:

this dust contains very few volatile components and therefore places increased

demands on the combustion process despite its high carbon content.

In addition to ground coal, there are numerous biogenic dusts whose utilization

relieves the budget twice over:

• Wood dust/wood grinding dust

• Sugar beet pulp dust

• Rapeseed extraction meal

• Fermentation substrate

• Coffee husks

The SSB swirl burner series is used for all types of dust. Not only does it offer a wide

control range with maximum burnout, it can also be operated in both combustion

chambers and water tube boilers. It reliably falls below even the most stringent emission

limits and impressively demonstrates the possibilities of dust firing.