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Show INTRODUCTION Tests being conducted in the United States, as well as other nations, indicate the high level of interest in coal-water slurry (CWS) as a near-term replacement for fuel oil in utility and industrial boilers. To support the technical growth of this technology, Babcock & Wilcox, under contract to the Electric Power Research Institute, tested six (6) coal-water fuels supplied by five (5) potential vendors. The objectives of these tests were to: • Investigate the relationship between the chemical and physical properties of the fuels and their combustion and handling characteristics. • Develop guidelines for specifications to be used by both producers and users for procurement of CWS. • Establish laboratory procedures to be used for evaluating the quality of coal-water fuels. These objectives were accomplished by performing: • Laboratory tests using standard or modified ASTM procedures, B&W-developed analytical procedures, and newly developed procedures. • Rheology tests to characterize the flow properties of the fuels. • Atomization tests in which each fuel was tested under the same conditions and with the same atomizer to measure differences in atomization properties. • Combustion tests in a 5 x 10 Btu/hr combustor. All fuels were fired under identical conditions and using the same burner/atomizer combination. It must be recognized that the fuels for these tests were produced during 1982, and that the evaluations are based on the quality of the slurries supplied at that time. The vendors may have modified their preparation processes and quality control procedures since then, and the quantitative results reported here do not necessarily represent today's -2- |