VOLUME 23
JULY 2009 Copyright 2009 by the American Chemical Society
Editorial Impacts of Fuel Quality on Power Generation and Environment This conference, the 18th in the series, entitled “Impacts of Fuel Quality on Power Generation and Environment” was held in Banff, Alberta, Canada, from September 29th to October 3rd, 2008. The first conference on the impact of fuel quality on power generation was held at the Marchwood, U.K., in 1963. Several previous conferences on these were limited to the impacts of mineral impurities in coal on ash deposition or slagging and fouling. Since that time, many excellent conferences have occurred to provide interchange, dialogue, experiences, and results among researchers who deal with the many problems resulting from changes in coal quality. However, because of the changing environment, it has embraced other fuels, including petroleum coke, biomass, and municipality wastes, in particular. In this conference, more than 45 delegates from around the world participated in this specialized conference. The conference consisted of a total of 37 papers in 7 technical sessions: advanced characterization, coal-quality effects, biomass, ash deposits, corrosion, combustion technologies, and environment. More than 40 delegates from 10 countries, including Australia (2), Canada (6), Denmark (4), Finland (7), Germany (6), Japan (2), The Netherlands (1), U.K. (5), U.S. (4), and South Africa (3) presented at the conference. The conference was organized into the following sessions with more than 40 papers from recognized experts in the field of fuel quality: • Physical Properties of Ash/Deposits • Deposit Formation • Deposit Removal • Deposition Modeling • Corrosion: Fundamental Studies • Corrosion: Commercial Experience • Emissions of SOx, NOx, PM, and TEs • Issues for Alternate Fuel Blends • Diagnostics, Sensors, and Controls The organizing committee is grateful to the authors who presented the papers that made up the program, to the session chairmen, and to all participants who raised questions and took part in the many discussions that made the conference highly worthwhile. This special issue of Energy & Fuels consists of selected papers from the conference and is a further effort to share some conference highlights with others who could not participate or who share an interest in this important area. This conference was made possible through the generous sponsorship of the employers of the organizing committee as well as three research institutes: Alberta Ingenuity, Canada, Alberta Energy Research Institute, Canada, and the Electric Power Research Institute (Palo Alto, CA). Without their generous support, this conference would not have been successful. In 1995, the conference organizing committee initiated an award for the outstanding technical presentation at the conference named in the honor of Richard W. Bryers. This year, we are pleased to announce that Ms. Dorita Bankowicz from the Abo Akademi, Finland, is the recipient of this prestigious award. The long lasting contributions of Dr. Fleming Frandsen were also heralded. We encourage all who are active in this area of deposition and corrosion in all types of combustion systems to participate in this conference series. Further information about the next conference expected in 2010 can always be found at our conference Web site at www.fuelqualityimpacts.org. 10.1021/ef900540y CCC: $40.75 2009 American Chemical Society Published on Web 06/10/2009
3346
Energy & Fuels, Vol. 23, 2009
The conference are organized by Rajender Gupta as chair (University of Alberta) with support from the organizing committee, consisting of David Tillman (Foster Wheeler), Stan Harding (NS Harding), Terry Wall (University of Newcastle), Fraser Wigley (Imperial College), Mikko Hupa (Abo Akademi), Flemming Frandsen (Technical University of Denmark), and Klaus Hein (University of Stuttgart). Rajender Gupta Conference Chair UniVersity of Alberta, Canada EF900540Y
