The Effect of Biomass Components on the Co-combustion Characteristics of Biomass with Coal

The effect of cellulose, xylan and lignin contents on the co-combustion characteristic of biomass and coal was investigated by thermogravimetric analyzer (TGA). In addition, the difference of combustion characteristic among cellulose, xylan and lignin was studied. Cellulose had the highest onset temperature of combustion among cellulose, xylan and lignin. The weight loss region was focused in a rather narrow temperature range. Xylan combusted easily compared with cellulose and the weight loss mainly occurred from 193.61 to 320"C. The weight loss of lignin was very slow and covered over a broad temperature range from 152.16 to 700 C with the solid residue left of 9% which was the highest among the three biomass components. The cellulose, xylan and lignin contents were important factors that affected the co-combustion characteristic of biomass and coal. Increasing the cellulose, xylan and lignin contents respectively can raise the devolatilization rate, reduce the ignition temperature, and promote the combustion of char correspondingly.