Modern society has changed significantly during the last decade. The move toward a global economy with large regional trading blocks, increased public awareness of environmental pollution and climate change, and regulatory measures have created new challenges for all sectors. In the energy sector in particular, the general trend for the use of fossil fuels is apparently shifting towards increased use of the premium cleaner fuel, natural gas. However, local availability, world energy price fluctuations, and regional economic and political matters tend to be more significant than environmental issues in regional/local decision making. The utilization of liquid fuels for different energy requirements is expected to last for many years to come.

The main objective of the research project is to quantify the effects of variations in fuel oil sulfur content on pollutant emissions, scale deposition and potential corrosion of the heat exchanger in commercial oil-fired boilers. Phase I of the project consists of the development of the research facility at CANMET for the combustion test program. The facility is to provide the measurement of particulates as well as gaseous emissions (sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and hydrocarbons) from a commercial oil-fired boiler. A special heat exchanger test section will be constructed to quantify the heat exchanger deposits and potential corrosion found under different test conditions.