Physical Properties of Popcorn Ash

1
Physical Properties of Popcorn Ash
ACERC
Derek Bassett, Nathan Lambson
Background
Conclusions

• Coal-fired power plant byproduct
• Formed from fly ash deposits on furnace wall
• Deposits break off and fall back down or flow
  downstream
• Particles interfere with heat exchangers and SCR
  surfaces

• Particles show apparent correlation between color
  and mass, porosity, and drag coefficient
• Average drag coefficient of 2.5 is in range of
  literature value of 2.4
• There is an apparent linear relationship between
  predicted mass and measured mass

Purpose

• Determine aerodynamic properties for use in
  computational fluid dynamics
• Determine other physical properties such as
  density, size, porosity, etc.
• Determine chemical composition

Future Work

• Perform experiments with falling particles to
  find empirical velocity measurements
• Validate drag coefficient estimates
• Perform chemical analysis to find possible
  correlation between color and composition
• Further validate porosity measurements with Hg
  BET analyzer

Method

• Used digital photographic analysis to determine
  projected surface area, outside surface area,
  and total volume
• Used non-spherical shape factors to find terminal
  velocity
• Used literature correlation between Re and CD to
  find drag coefficient

Acknowledgements
Dr. Larry Baxter, Brigham Young University,
Provo, UT Dr. Larry Monroe. Southern Company
Services, Inc. Birmingham, AL