Decarbonization of the energy sector is a necessary but long-term process. It includes at least partial substitution of fossil fuels using renewable and alternative fuels. However, this substitution, apart from not always being possible, is often accompanied by limitations and unknowns. Those unknowns are dominantly related to the possibility of establishing stable, highly efficient and low-waste combustion as a fundamental process of primary energy conversion from fuel. Such situations are very common considering the necessity of decarbonization in a very large number of fossil fuel-based energy plants, especially coal-based ones. The possibility of establishing an energetically, economically and environmentally acceptable combustion process is a function of a number of variables, of which the collective properties of the fuel, including the ash from that fuel, are dominant in this sense. With the motive of a scientific contribution to the energy transition, and with the aim of obtaining new knowledge about the characteristics of the combustion of lignite coals with different types of biomass, a set of laboratory research was carried out. Various mixtures of lignite, waste woody biomass and Miscanthus as a fast-growing energy crop were subjected to combustion. With a change in the composition of the fuel mixture, the tests were performed at a process temperature of 1250 °C and with a staged supply of combustion air.  With these combustion conditions, the emission of undesirable components into the environment, the efficiency of combustion and the ash estimated tendency of fouling of the boiler heating surfaces were determined. It has been shown that even with co-firing at a temperature of 1250 °C, it is possible to establish a efficient process with an acceptable content of unburnt carbon in the slag (unburnt carbon content, UBC<4%) as well as CO emissions (eCO≤340 mg/mn3), a relatively low emission of nitrogen oxides eNOx≤670 mg/mn3. Also, the process proved to be well controlled from the aspect of possible ash slagging in the furnace. The net emission of CO2 decreases in proportion to the share of biomass in the mixture, while the emission of SO2 is high, at the level of eSO2≤2500 mg/mn3.  

It is a continuous imperative to establish the most efficient process of conversion of primary energy from fuel through combustion, which also has the least possible harmful effect on the environment. In this time of expressed demands for decarbonisation, it also means the affirmation of the use of renewable fuels and the indispensable application of appropriate primary measures in the combustion furnace. At the same time, the efficiency of the combustion process depends on several factors, from the type and properties of the fuel to the ambient and technological settings for the process. In this regard, with the aim of determining the static characteristics of combustion, experimental laboratory research was carried out on the combustion of mixtures of brown coal with low heating value and a high ash content with waste woody biomass and different process conditions: temperature, staged combustion air supply (air staging) and in conditions of application of a third or additional fuel (natural gas, reburning technology). Applied experimental methods included the analysis of the combustion process on the basis of input (reactants) - output (products), including the analysis of the composition of flue gases, i.e. the determination of the emission of the key components of flue gases CO2, CO, NOx and SO2, as well as the analysis of the composition of slag, ash and deposits ash, i.e. assessment and evaluation of the behaviour of ash from fuel in that process. Based on the obtained research results, this paper shows the significant positive effects of the application of primary measures in the furnace - compared to conventional combustion: air staging - reduction of net CO2 emissions during co-firing with biomass and reduction of NOx emissions by up to 30%; reburning technology - additional reduction of CO2 and NOx emissions in proportion to the share of natural gas, e.g. at a combustion process temperature of 1350 °C and at a 10% energy share of natural gas during the co-firing of a mixture of brown coal and waste woody biomass, compared to the emission without the use of natural gas, a reduction of NOx emissions by 185 mg/mn3 or by almost 30% was recorded. It was concluded, at the same time, the application of these primary measures in the furnace does not negatively affect the behaviour of ash from the fuel in the given settings of the combustion process.

The thermal energy sector is very important at this time of global energy transition. From the aspect of stable energy independence, this is especially important in countries whose energy system is based on fossil fuels, especially coal. This is why decarbonisation of the energy sector is necessary, with a partial and gradual substitution of coal with renewable fuels. However, the use of these fuels is not always possible in existing plants. This refers to the establishment of energy, economic and environmentally acceptable proportion of the co-firing of these fuels, i.e. a mixture of coal and renewable fuels. The success of the establishment of this process is a function of several variables, the dominant of which are the aggregate properties of the fuel, basic and their mixtures, including the ash properties of those fuels. With the motive of contributing to a more successful implementation of the energy transition in the thermal energy sector, and with the aim of obtaining new scientific knowledge about the characteristics of the combustion of lignite and brown coal with different renewable fuels, laboratory research was carried out. In particular, different mixtures of lignite and brown coal, waste woody biomass and Miscanthus as a fast-growing energy crop were subjected to co-firing with variable process conditions. In addition to changing the composition of fuel mixtures, the test regimes included a significant change in process temperature (1250-1450 °C) and the primary measure of staged air supply to the furnace. In these combustion conditions, the emission of undesirable and harmful components into the environment, the efficiency of combustion, and the tendency of the ash from the fuel mixture to possible soiling of the heating surfaces in the furnace were evaluated - an analysis of the characteristics of the ash samples from the reaction zone and samples of the slag and ash to the furnace. Here, in both cases of co-firing, lignite and brown coal with different types of biomass, it was shown that in real conditions it is possible to establish a sustainable primary energy conversion process from fuel with a low unburnt carbon content in the slag (unburnt carbon content, UBC<1%) as well as low CO emission, below 350 mg/mn 3. At the same time, the NOx emission is below 320 mg/mn 3 during the co-firing of lignite mixtures at 1250 °C, and in the case of brown coal mixtures below 740 mg/mn 3 at 1450 °C. In both cases, the net CO2 emission decreases in proportion to the proportion of biomass in the mixture, while the SO2 emission is still high, at a level of up to 2500 mg/mn 3 for lignite mixtures and up to 6400 mg/mn 3 for brown coal mixtures. None of the treated types of biomass, up to the level of applicable content in the mixture with lignite and brown coal, does not worsen the progress of the process from the aspect of possible slagging/fouling heating surfaces in the boiler.

The energy transition basically implies a phased and significant reduction in the use of fossil fuels, until the final cessation of use in the near future. Renewable energy sources and alternative fuels are an increasingly important part of the energy transition. At the same time, it is necessary that energy systems increase energy efficiency and environmental acceptability. In this regard, great efforts are being made to expand the portfolio of primary fuels in existing large energy systems, e.g. thermal power plants. Therefore, today in large boilers, in order to reduce NOx emission, staged air supply for combustion is inevitably used as the primary measure in the furnace (air staging). In addition to the previous measure, there are many examples of staged fuel supply to the combustion zone (fuel staging), and still a small number of examples of the use of third or additional fuel, e.g. application of biogas or natural gas in combustion of pulverized solid fuels (reburning technology). General, these measures simultaneously increase the efficiency of primary energy conversion from fuel and reduce the emission of undesirable components into the environment. The results of this paper show the extent to which the effects of the use of natural gas in the co-firing of Bosnian coal and waste wood biomass are expressed. In this process there is an additional reduction of NOx in proportion to the share of gas - at a process temperature of 1350 °C and at 10% of the energy content of gas in combustion with coal, compared to emissions without additional fuel, recorded reduction of NOx emissions by more than 250 mg/mn 3.

Abstract The paper describes the function and importance of safety devices on pressure equipment, legal regulations for the necessary scope and periods of functional inspections of safety valves in thermal power plants. The mode of operation of the apparatus for in-site testing and adjustment of safety valves on pressure vessels is described, as well as a comparative presentation of the obtained test results compared to the results obtained by the conventional method that uses hydraulic pressure of the medium for valve spring load. The on-site method uses a motor drive to load the valve spring, and uses sensitive displacement, force and sound sensors to generate signals, which are processed in a suitable software application to obtain test results. Unlike the conventional method, the on-site method allows testing of safety valves without their disassembly from the installation site. A comparison of the test results obtained by the modern method with the test results by the conventional method was made on several safety valves. It has been shown that in addition to better precision, which is important for valves with lower operating pressures, the application of the on-site method shortens the test time several times.

In general, the mixing the reactants is very important to the process and the rate of combustion of each fuel, especially low-ranked coals with low reactivity. The appropriate excess air coefficient for combustion and the position and mode of supply of individual portions (air sta- ging) of the total air in the furnace are one of the key influ- encing factors for the mixing, respectively the efficiency of the combustion process, and the level of emissions. Today, the air staging (primary, secondary, tertiary and over fire air-OFA) is an indispensable process in the design of new industrial and energy boilers. Also, this measures are used for the reconstru- ction of existing furnace of large boilers. The implementation of this primary measure in the furnace does not require signi- ficant financial resources - the costs of investing in the intro- duction of air staging supply for combustion in the furnace are very low in relation to the multiple positive effects and bene- fits of such a system, especially a lower NOx emissions. However, the first condition for the correct and reliable design of the air staging system in the furnace is the choice of the optimal position for the supply OFA air. Determination of this position on the furnace depends on several factors, primarily the type and characteristics of the fuel, grinding quality, co- mbustion technology, furnace structure, type, number and arra- ngement of burners. On this topic, the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering of the University of Sarajevo, in the Laboratory for Coal and Biomass Combustion, conducted extensive rese- arch on the pulverized combustion of coal blends of the Ce- ntral Bosnia Mining Basin, including co-firing of these coals with waste wood biomass (beech and spruce sawdust). Here is presented some of the results of those NOx emission studies for different fuels and combustion temperatures, depending on the mode of supply and the positions of the combustion air supply in the boiler furnace.

In this work, various combinations of the NO emission influencing factors and their x combined effects in air staging combustion on level of furnace, using over fire air, were investigated in an experimental lab-scale furnace. At this, process temperature were varied in the range from 950?C to 1450?C, excess air ratio in primary zone in the range ? = 0.9 - 1.2, while distance of over fire air nozzles from the burner outlet varied until a 1 given distance of 2/5 of total length of furnace. Basic fuel is brown coal from Middle Bosnia coal basin, mixed in two coal blends and one coal-woody biomass blend, to combine an effect of fuel characteristics variation on NO emission. Results shows that x an average reduction of NO emission over tested temperature range, when using over x fire air against conventional air supply with over fire air switched off, is 26.5%. At this, much more NO emission reduction for two coal blends were occurred at higher x temperatures ? at 1350?C and above, where an average NO emission reduction is x 32.5%. Furthermore, it was found that the NO emission decreased with an increase in x distance of over fire air nozzles from the outlet level of burner until a distance of 1/3 of total furnace length; with further increase of the distance, NOx emission is stabilised and no further effect to NOx emission reduction was observed, while CO emission and unburnt increased.