In-line continuous sizing of biomass particles in gas-solid two-phase flow at a biomass-fired power plant

Gas-solid two-phase flows are widely seen in many industrial processes. A good exampleis the pneumatically conveyed pulverised fuel flow in the power generation industry. As a significant renewable fuel source, biomass has been widely adopted in electrical power generation. The particle size distribution of pneumatically conveyed biomass correlates closely with combustion efficiency and pollutant emissions and should therefore be monitored on anin-line, continuous basis. In this paper an integrated instrumentation system using both a piezoelectric sensorand anelectrostatic sensor arrayis proposed to measure the size distribution and flow velocity of biomass particles. A prototype system was tested on a 250mm bore pipe at a biomass-fired power plantand its performance has been evaluated under industrial conditions.