Oil shale in Jordan and elsewhere faces many obstacles that hinder its utilisation. Recent developments of the utilization of Jordanian oil shale include the establishment of power generation companies that depend on the technology of atmospheric fluidized bed combustion systems (FBC). Sintering is believed to have been the main cause of many operational problems of FBC systems. This work investigates the sintering propensity of ash obtained from oil shale from Jordania’s largest oil shale deposit El-Lajjun, when combusted at different temperatures, as well as major mineral transformations as a function of temperature. The results obtained by the pressure drop sintering technique showed that the sintering temperature is a strong function of the combustion temperature. Two regions of sintering were found: a low temperature sintering region and a high sintering temperature region. The low sintering temperature region starts at around 700 °C where it is believed to be due to the sintering of limestone. On the other hand, the high sintering temperature region, which starts at 900 °C, is believed to be due to the sintering of the wollastonite formed. Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) images and Brunauer–Emmett–Telle (BET) measurements confirm these findings.
1. Goto, H. Operation experience from the 71 MW Wakamatsu PFBC demonstration plant. In: Proceedings of the 13th International Conference on Fluidized Bed Combustion, Orlando, Florida, USA, May 7–10, 1995.
2. Frenkel, J. Viscous flow of crystalline bodies under the action of surface tension. Journal of Physics, 1945, 9(5), 385–391.
3. Hausner, H. Discussion on the definition of the term “sintering”. In: Sintering – New Developments: Proceedings of the 4th International Round Table Conference on Sintering. Dubrovnik, Yugoslavia, September 5–10, 1977. Elsevier Scientific Publishing Company, 1977.
4. Martins, A. Historical overview of using fluidized-bed technology for oil shale combustion in Estonia. Oil Shale, 2012, 29(1), 85–99.
http://dx.doi.org/10.3176/oil.2012.1.08
5. Öpik, I., Ots, A. The Use of Oil Shale for Energy Production. I. Publishing House “Valgus”, Tallinn, 1967. P. 99 (in Russian).
6. Ormiston, T. J., Whittemore Jr., O. J. Sintering of silica fiber compacts. Am. Ceram. Soc. Bull., 1973, 52(3), 247–250.
7. Nurk, A. The Physical-Chemical Properties of Ash Samples from Fluidized Bed. Abstract of Ph.D. Thesis. Tallinn Polytechnical Institute, Tallinn, 1980. P. 19 (in Russian).
8. Al-Otoom, A. Y., Shawabkeh, R. A., Al-Harahsheh, A. M., Shawaqfeh, A. T. The chemistry of minerals obtained from the combustion of Jordanian oil shale. Energy, 2005, 30(5), 611–619.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2004.05.024
9. Williams, P. T., Nazzal, J. M. Polycyclic aromatic compounds in oils derived from the fluidised bed pyrolysis of oil shale. J. Anal. Appl. Pyrol., 1995, 35(2), 181–197.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0165-2370(95)00908-9
10. Jaber, J. O., Probert, S. D. Reaction kinetics of fluidised bed gasification of Jordanian oil shales. Int. J. Therm. Sci., 2000. 39(2), 295–304.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S1290-0729(00)00247-7
11. Jaber, J. O. Gasification potential of Ellajjun oil shale. Energy Convers. Manage., 2000, 41(15), 1615–1624.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0196-8904(00)00006-6
12. Al-Harahsheh, A., Al-Harahsheh, M., Al-Otoom, A., Allawzi, M. Effect of demineralization of El-lajjun Jordanian oil shale on oil yield. Fuel Process. Technol., 2009, 90(6), 818–824.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.fuproc.2009.03.005
13. Al-Harahsheh, M., Al-Ayed, O., Robinson, J., Kingman, S., Al-Harahsheh, A., Tarawneh, K., Saeid, A., Barranco, R., Effect of demineralization and heating rate on the pyrolysis kinetics of Jordanian oil shales. Fuel Process. Technol., 2011, 92(9), 1805–1811.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.fuproc.2011.04.037
14. Al-Otoom, A. Sintering of Ash from Black Coal in Pressurised Fluidised Bed Combustion Systems. Ph.D. Thesis of Chemical Engineering., University of Newcastle, Australia, Newcastle, 2000. P. 223.
15. Zhu, H., Newton, R. C., Kleppa, O. J. Enthalpy of formation of wollastonite (CaSiO3) and anorthite (CaAl2Si2O8) by experimental phase equilibrium measurements and high temperature solution calorimetry. Am. Miner., 1994, 79(1–2), 134–144.
16. Ma, J., Chen, C. Z., Wang, D. G., Meng, X. G., Shi, J. Z. Influence of the sintering temperature on the structural feature and bioactivity of sol–gel derived SiO2–CaO–P2O5 bioglass. Ceram. Int., 2010, 36(6), 1911–1916.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ceramint.2010.03.017
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0016-2361(95)98367-N
