Commercialization Task Force on industrial atmospheric fluidized bed combustion

It was concluded that: AFBC has the potential for making a substantial near-term impact on direct utilization of coal, and can enhance replacement of oil/gas as a boiler fuel. A large potential market exists for AFBC in the large boiler (100 million Btu/h) market segment; an even larger market exists in small boilers, process heaters and other combustors, but this latter market has not been explored in detail. AFBC is cost-competitive with conventional boilers, and appears to be about 15% cheaper than conventional boilers, plus flue gas scrubbers. At today's fuel prices, neither AFBC nor conventional coal fired boilers can compete with oil/gas, in many areas. AFBC can meet existing environmental standards, and it is expected that future revised standards will be attainable by AFBC units, but operating cost impact is not yet known, and could pose problems. Such problems could well be equally, or more severe, with conventional boilers. Adequate technical and manufacturing capability exists to supply anticipated AFBC markets. AFBC has been demonstrated at small scale, only. Additional commercial-scale demonstration is required to accelerate and insure industrial use, in the near term. In summary, AFBC provides an environmentally and economically attractive alternative to flue-gas scrubbers.