The results of an experimental research on air staging in a bubbling fluidized bed (BFB) combustor are presented within this paper. Air staging is known as an effective primary measure to reduce NOx formation. However, in the case of a number of industrial BFB units, it does not have to be sufficient to meet the emission standards. Then selective non-catalytic reduction (SNCR) can be a cost-effective option for further reduction of the already formed NOx. The required temperature range at the place of the reducing agent injection for an effective application of the SNCR without excessive ammonia slip is above the temperatures normally attained in BFBs. The aim of this paper is to evaluate the impact of staged air injection on the formation of NOx in BFB combustors and to examine the possibility of increasing the freeboard temperature. Several experiments with various secondary/primary air ratios were performed with a constant oxygen concentration in the flue gas. The experiments were carried out using wooden biomass and lignite as fuel in a 30 kWth laboratory scale BFB combustor. Furthermore, the results were verified using a 500 kW th pilot scale BFB unit. The results confirmed that the air staging can effectively move the dominant combustion zone from the dense bed to the freeboard section, and thus the temperatures for an effective application of the SNCR can be obtained.

Carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies are an important step to mitigate CO₂ emissions. This study focuses on CO₂ capture from biomass combustion in fluidized bed boilers using a vacuum pressure swing adsorption (VPSA) process. A pilot-scale VPSA unit was used to evaluate the dynamic adsorption behavior of zeolite 13X and clinoptilolite under realistic operating conditions. Moreover, a simplified one-dimensional isothermal mathematical model of a fixed-bed adsorption column was developed to simulate breakthrough curves to validate whether the model reproduces the observed experimental trends. Experimental results confirmed that fresh zeolite 13X exhibited the highest CO₂ adsorption capacity, while clinoptilolite showed moderate uptake. For both sorbents, a decrease in derived adsorption capacity was observed after prior use. The developed mathematical model successfully reproduced the experimental breakthrough curves, achieving coefficients of determination (R²) up to 0.99 and percentage fit (%Fit) values close to 94% for fresh sorbents, while lower correlations were observed for used sorbents. The model reliably captured the breakthrough curves, validating its applicability for process prediction. These results highlight the effectiveness of combining experimental measurements with modeling to assess sorbent performance and guide further optimization of VPSA processes under realistic flue gas conditions.