FUEL MINERALS, FOULING, AND SLAGGING

Thrust Area 2, Fuel Minerals, Fouling, and Slagging, is focused on obt aining a clear understanding of the role of fuel inorganic components in combustion processes. During the combustion process, the inorganic components are transformed to ash. The principal problems associated w ith ash are deposition on heat-transfer surfaces, erosion, corrosion, and formation of fine particulate that is difficult to collect. In add ition, catalytic inorganic components impacts are noted in a number of coal combustion processes, e.g., burnout and devolatilization. The sp ecific objectives of Thrust Area 2 are the following: (1) to character ize the chemical and physical transformations of inorganic components, (2) to characterize the catalytic role of inorganic components on oxi dation and devolatilization, (3) to establish submodels for mineral be havior, (4) to perform key experiments to define model parameters, (5) to incorporate submodels into comprehensive code, and (6) to evaluate models.