It is the first time that in looking for a waste material use and trying to
get cheaper power with a lower consumption of fossil fuel, a coal-tire ble
nd (1:1 in organic matter) was burned in an atmospheric fluidized bed (AFB)
combustion plant with an airflow of 860 L/h and 20% excess oxygen at three
different combustion temperatures (750, 850, and 950 degrees C). The combu
stion conditions were the same as those used in AFB coal combustion in orde
r to compare the organic emissions obtained with both fuels. As the inorgan
ic components in tires are less and in lower amount than in coal, the work
was focused on organic emissions. Organic emissions from each run were trap
ped and from each sample, after extraction by sonication with dimethylforma
mide (DMF), the content in polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) was deter
mined by fluorescence spectroscopy in the synchronous mode (FS). It is conc
luded that the introduction of tire in the feeder implies an increase in to
tal PAH amount emitted with respect to coal emissions, with minim variation
s at the combustion temperatures studied in this work: the higher the tempe
rature, the lower the PAH amount emitted.