Desulfurization extent in the 71MWe PFBC demonstration plant was analyzed in terms of operational parameters and morphology of the desulfurizing bed material. High removal level of SO₂ achieved in PFBC in spite of high CO₂ partial pressure was correlated not with the temperature of the bed but with the temperature of the exhaust gas (T_g), suggesting that the emission of SO₂ is governed by the decomposition of CaSO₄ flying out from the boiler. The residence time in the fluidized bed did not influence the level of SO₂ emission, indicating the saturation of desulfurization reaction in the bed within rather short time . The sorbent particles in the bed had CaSO₄ layer of 30-40μm thickness on the surface . Since the calcium minerals produced are porous in the core as well as in the skin, such observation suggests the formation of CaO at the bottom of the furnace where the CO₂ partial pressure was sufficiently low for the decomposition of CaCO₃. The skin of material was eroded to expose the active surface for further desulfurization. Such CaO of sufficient amount in the bed adsorbs SO₂ very rapidly to complete the desulfurization in the bed . Hense the concentration of SO₂ in the flue gas is determined by the reaction CaSO₄+CO→CaCO₃+SO₂ in the freeboard. This reaction appears in equilibrium since a fair linear correlation was observed between ln (P_SO2/P_CO) and 1/T_g.

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In order to investigate the influence of coal property and its slurry concentration on the operability of the preheater at the 150ton/day NEDOL coal liquefaction pilot plant, the pressure drop as well as the temperatures of tube skin and coal slurry was measured along the length of a hairpin-shaped tube (72mmφI.D.×94mmφO.D., 440m in length) of the slurry preheater. Different concentration of coal slurry was prepared for three kinds of coal by using their recycle oil. The measurement of pressure drop and temperatures were conducted under the conditions of coal slurry concentration of 40-50wt% and the gas/slurry feed ratio of 0.27-0.35Nm³-gas/kg-slurry.
The results showed that the increase in the pressure drop was observed for Ikeshima bituminous coal, probably due to the swelling of coal particle, whereas little increase was for Tanito Harum subbituminous coal and Adaro brown coal. By simplifying the flow in the tube as a two-phase flow of gas and slurry, the effective viscosity and thermal conductivity of the slurry in the preheater were analyzed.

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