A process for improving the operation of combustors includes the steps of burning a carbonaceous fuel in a
combustor system and determining
combustion conditions within the
combustor system that can benefit from a targeted treatment additive, wherein the determinations are made by calculation including computational fluid dynamics and observation The process further includes locating introduction points in the
combustor system where introduction of the targeted treatment additive could be accomplished. Based on the previous steps, a
treatment regimen for introducing the targeted treatment additive to locations within the combustor system results in one or more benefits selected from the group consisting of reducing the
opacity of plume, improving
combustion, reducing
slag, reducing LOI and / or unburned carbon, reducing
corrosion, and improving
electrostatic precipitator performance. The targeted treatment additive comprises an
alloy represented by the following generic formula (Aa)n(Bb)n(Cc)n(Dd)n( . . . )n, wherein each
capital letter and ( . . . ) is a
metal, wherein A is a
combustion modifier, B is a deposit modifier; C is a
corrosion inhibitor; and D is a combustion co-modifier /
electrostatic precipitator enhancer, wherein each subscript letter represents compositional
stoichiometry, wherein n is greater than or equal to zero and the sum of n's is greater than zero, and wherein the
alloy comprises at least two different metals, with the proviso that if the
metal is
cerium, then its compositional
stoichiometry is less than about 0.7.