Bromine as an ash forming element in a fluidised bed boiler combusting solid recovered fuel

Plastic materials are the main sources of chlorine in solid recovered fuels (SRF). Chlorine is attributed to be the main initiator of slagging, fouling and corrosion in biomass and waste combustion as it lowers the melting point of ash forming matter and reacts chemically with the heat transfer surface steels. SRF may also contain sources of bromine in the form of brominated flame retardants (BFRs) applied in many plastics and textiles. Results presented in this paper from an experimental campaign at an 80 MW(th) bubbling fluidised bed (BFB) boiler show that bromine is behaving in a similar manner as chlorine: bromine was found at the corrosion front in boiler membrane wall tubes, and as water soluble salts in aerosol samples collected from the furnace and electrostatic precipitator (ESP) ash. It is evident from these results and the data in the literature that most of the salts of bromine are, by both their fate and physical and chemical properties, similar to those of chlorine. It can be concluded that it if there is a source of bromine in the fuel corrosive high vapour pressure bromides can be formed analogously to chlorides.