Laboratory of Solid Fuels Beneficiation and Technology

Laboratory objective:

The Laboratory of Solid Fuels Beneficiation and Technology was founded in 1993 and belongs to the Division Exploitation of Minerals and at the Department of Mineral Resources Engineering in the Technical University of Crete.

The aim of the laboratory is the qualitative upgradement of solid fuels in order to increase their efficiency for energy production, to lower the cost of production and to protect the environment from pollutant emissions, as well as the development of new clean technologies for the exploitation of solid fuels. The main research activities of the laboratory are:

1. New clean technologies for solid fuels. Pyrolysis, combustion and gasification in fixed and fluidized bed.
2. Kinetic studies of pyrolysis, combustion and gasification by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA/DTG) and product analysis.
3. Mathematical modeling of pyrolysis, combustion and gasification processes.
4. Development of methods for the reduction of slagging and fouling in boilers (ash reduction, desulphurization, ash constituents’ extraction, use of absorbent materials, use of additives, solid fuels mixtures).
5. Development of methods for the reduction of pollutant emissions from pyrolysis, combustion and gasification processes (ash reduction, desulphurization, use of absorbent materials, use of catalysts, use of active carbon, solid fuels mixtures).
6. Characterization via physicochemical and chemical analyses (proximate analysis, ultimate analysis, calorific value measurement, chemical and mineralogical analysis of ash, trace element analysis, fluid temperatures of ash, petrographic analysis, specific area measurements, in cooperation with other laboratories).
7. Qualitative upgradement by physical and chemical beneficiation methods (selective grinding, heavy liquids, flotation, spherical agglomeration, chemical leaching, chemical comminution).
8. Exploitation of residues from pyrolysis, combustion and gasification processes (absorbent materials, additives for cement industries, catalysts).