ABSTRACT

Stoker fi ring has evolved for more than a century and a half. After serving as the backbones of the industry and small power for several decades, stokers have been sidelined for the past quarter century due to:

Dwindling availability of good coals suitable for fi ring on stokers Tighter pollution requirements Increasing steam demands needing bigger unit sizes Emergence of fl uidized bed combustion (FBC) boilers with superior features

Stokers would have become nearly obsolete if interest in biofuels, for which they are ideally suited, had not emerged. Several types of stokers have appeared and disappeared over time, but four stokers continue in use for industrial and cogeneration (cogen) applications.