BEHAVIOUR AND TREATMENT OF METALS IN BURNING SYSTEM DURING BIOMASS COMBUSTION – LITERATURE REVIEW

• Published in: Hungarian materials and chemical sciences and engineering (Online) Vol. 45; no. 1; pp. 63 - 76
• Main Authors: Dinh, Truong Phi, Kovács, Helga, Dobó, Zsolt
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Miskolc University of Miskolc 01.01.2020
• Subjects: Alternative energy; Biomass burning; Biomass energy; Biomass energy production; Combustion; Contaminated land; Emissions; Energy sources; Flue gas; Fly ash; Fossil fuels; Literature reviews; Metal compounds; Noble metals; Rare earth elements; Soil contamination
• ISSN: 3004-0000

Biomass is a renewable energy resource and known as an excellent alternative option for the partial replacement of fossil fuels in energy production. Plants, as frequently used biomass energy sources, contain metals in a different amount. During biomass combustion, the emission of certain elements may lead to environmental pollution and health problems even if the biomass comes from a non-contaminated land. Hence, keeping the metals in the combustion system and avoid hazardous emissions is desirable. The same direction can be recognized by noble metals (NMs) and rare earth elements (REEs) as well, however, in these cases, the economic aspects are also considered. This paper briefly reviews the literature on metal contaminated biomass, phytoextraction, polluted biomass combustion, and the behavior of metals in combustion systems. Based on the literature review the fate of NMs and REEs during polluted biomass incineration has not been deeply investigated yet and requires further examination. Furthermore, capturing metals inside the burning system is also a huge challenge because a significant amount of metal compounds leaves the burning system with flue gas in solid and gaseous form. Besides, phytomining is a potential option for the extraction of NMs and REEs from the soil via plants. And, solid remains (bottom ash, fly ash) coming from contaminated biomass is a promising metal resource.