GASIFICATION OF GREEK LIGNITE IN AN INDIRECT HEAT (ALLOTHERMAL) ROTARY KILN GASIFIER

This work reports the performance results of a pilot-size lignite gasification plant. The feed material was Greek lignite (Megalopolis), currently being employed for electricity generation in pulverized lignite-fired thermoelectric stations. Low energy conversion efficiency, low station availability, and environmental issues call for developing improved processes, e.g., an IGCC (Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle). An indirect heat (allothermal) rotary kiln was selected as the lignite gasification reactor for developing an overall gasification process of improved efficiency. Weeklong gasification runs, at near atmospheric pressure and maximum temperature in the range 900-950°C, validated high DAF lignite conversions, i.e., 90-95%, and the production of a medium heating value synthesis gas (i.e., 11-13 MJ/Nm 3 dry basis), despite the use of air for burning recycled product gas for process heating. Gas composition is equivalent to that of autothermal gasifiers (e.g., Lurgi, Winkler, Koppers-Totzek), which operate on oxygen, under pressure and strict moisture and particle size specifications. Similarly, the kiln gas is comparable to that of an allothermal, high-pressure, fluidized bed gasifier running with a high rank coal feed. The data indicate satisfactory gasification efficiency and a good thermal efficiency that should be improved further through heat integration of a scaled-up process based on an indirect heat rotary kiln gasifier.     

Gasification of greek lignite in an indirect heat (allothermal) rotary kiln gasifier

This work reports the performance results of a pilot-size lignite gasification plant. The feed material was Greek lignite (Megalopolis), currently being employed for electricity generation in pulverized lignite-fired thermoelectric stations. Low energy conversion efficiency, low station availability, and environmental issues call for developing improved processes, e.g., an IGCC (Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle). An indirect heat (allothermal) rotary kiln was selected as the lignite gasification reactor for developing an overall gasification process of improved efficiency. Weeklong gasification runs, at near atmospheric pressure and maximum temperature in the range 900-950°C, validated high DAF lignite conversions, i.e., 90-95%, and the production of a medium heating value synthesis gas (i.e., 11-13 MJ/Nm 3 dry basis), despite the use of air for burning recycled product gas for process heating. Gas composition is equivalent to that of autothermal gasifiers (e.g., Lurgi, Winkler, Koppers-Totzek), which operate on oxygen, under pressure and strict moisture and particle size specifications. Similarly, the kiln gas is comparable to that of an allothermal, high-pressure, fluidized bed gasifier running with a high rank coal feed. The data indicate satisfactory gasification efficiency and a good thermal efficiency that should be improved further through heat integration of a scaled-up process based on an indirect heat rotary kiln gasifier.     

Effect of biomass particle size and air superficial velocity on the gasification process in a downdraft fixed bed gasifier. An experimental and modelling study

A one-dimensional stationary model of biomass gasification in a fixed bed downdraft gasifier is presented in this paper. The model is based on the mass and energy conservation equations and includes the energy exchange between solid and gaseous phases, and the heat transfer by radiation from the solid particles. Different gasification sub-processes are incorporated: biomass drying, pyrolysis, oxidation of char and volatile matter, chemical reduction of H₂, CO₂ and H₂O by char, and hydrocarbon reforming. The model was validated experimentally in a small-scale gasifier by comparing the experimental temperature fields, biomass burning rates and fuel/air equivalence ratios with predicted results. A good agreement between experimental and estimated results was achieved. The model can be used as a tool to study the influence of process parameters, such as biomass particle mean diameter, air flow velocity, gasifier geometry, composition and inlet temperature of the gasifying agent and biomass type, on the process propagation velocity (flame front velocity) and its efficiency. The maximum efficiency was obtained with the smaller particle size and lower air velocity. It was a consequence of the higher fuel/air ratio in the gasifier and so the production of a gas with a higher calorific value.     

Model for biomass char combustion in the riser of a dual fluidized bed gasification unit: Part II — Model validation and parameter variation

The two-phase combustion model for biomass char combustion in a riser of a dual fluidized bed gasification unit that has been presented in part I is validated using the data obtained from the 8 MWth dual fluidized bed reactor at Guessing/Austria. The model is capable of calculating the average temperatures in all zones, the gas phase composition, solid hold up, char feed rates and air ratio. The model predictions for the temperature profile along the riser and for the exiting gas composition are in good agreement with the measured values. The simulation results show that the residual char from the gasifier is only partly converted in the riser for char particles larger than 0.6 mm. Un-combusted char is circulated back into the gasification reactor. Parameter variations show that the exact location where additional liquid fuels are introduced in the middle zone of the riser does not affect the global behaviour of the combustion reactor. Based on the simulation results it is proposed that external supply of char (additional) may be a very effective method for reducing producer gas recycling to the riser, which is currently necessary to obtain the desired gasification temperatures.     

Trace element behaviour in the Sasol-Lurgi fixed-bed dry-bottom gasifier. Part 3 - The non-volatile elements: Ba, Co, Cr, Mn, and V

Coal contains most of the naturally occurring chemical elements in (at least) trace amounts, with specific elements and their concentrations dependent on the rank of the coal and its geological origins. The focus of this paper is to discuss more recent environmentally-focused research developments by Sasol, where trace element simulation and validation of model predictions have been undertaken for the gasification process operating on low-rank bituminous Highveld coal. A Sasol-Lurgi fixed-bed dry-bottom (FBDB) gasifier was mined via turn-out sampling in order to determine the trace element changes through the gasifier, results being used for comparison with Fact-Sage modelled data for the non-volatile trace elements Ba, Co, Cr, Mn and V.Considering the experimental error, good agreement between measured results and model predictions in terms of ash phase partitioning behaviour was obtained for Ba, Co, Mn and V. On the contrary, rather poor agreement between model predicted and measured results were obtained for Cr partitioning to the solid ash fraction, which yielded a large overbalance (outside of experimental error) in the case of the measured results. This anomaly was found to not be caused by erosion of the gasifier internals, but rather possibly be ascribed to accumulation and contamination caused by likely condensation and vaporisation of this species during the gasifier sampling campaign, as well as by the particle size reduction processes utilized prior to elemental analyses. When considering the predicted speciation behaviour of the elements studied, the model output in some cases needs to be treated with some caution when validating findings with standard text book data for the elements studied, but was found to correctly model the elemental ash phase partitioning behaviour during fixed-bed gasification. Leaching tests have been conducted on the bottom ash collected from the gasifier and results have shown that the trace elements studied are firmly bound into the ash matrix and therefore would not be released during later disposal. The relative enrichment in trace element content observed for Cr within the gasifier should be further investigated.     

Numerical modeling of a jetting fluidized bed gasifier and the comparison with the experimental data

A model for a jetting fluidized bed gasifier is developed, treating the grid, bubble and freeboard zones in series. Reactions including char combustion, steam gasification, CO₂ gasification and water–gas shift reaction are taken into account. The effects on model predictions of assumptions regarding the primary products of char combustion and char reactivity factor are analyzed by comparing the predictions with experimental data from a bench-scale jetting fluidized bed gasifier using different kinds of chars. Contributions of various reactions and different zones and phases to carbon conversion are analyzed.     

EQUILIBRIUM MODELING OF A DOWNDRAFT GASIFIER I—OVERALL GASIFIER

A model, based on the thermodynamic equilibrium of the C-H-O-Inert system and mass and energy balances, has been applied to the air-blown downdraft gasification of wood. The model predicts the temperature, gas composition and char yield at the exit of the gasifier for a specified set of heat loss and input condition. A parametric study has been conducted to simulate the influences of the air/feed mass ratio and moisture/feed mass ratio on the gasifier's performance. The model predictions are compared with a comprehensive set of experimental data obtained from the gasification of wood in a commercial-scale downdraft gasifier; the air/feed ratios range from 1.1 to 2.1 and the moisture/feed ratios range from 0.05 to 0.3. The predicted trends for variations in the operating parameters are in general agreement with the experimental data. The results of comparisons also indicate that the performance of the wood gasifier can be approximated reasonably well by the equilibrium model.     

Modelling of an updraft fixed-bed gasifier operated with softwood pellets

This paper presents a one-dimensional steady state mathematical model for the simulation of a small scale fixed-bed gasifier. The model is based on a set of differential equations describing the entire gasification process of softwood pellets and is solved by a two step iterative method. The main features of the model are: homogeneous and heterogeneous combustion and gasification reactions, one-step global pyrolysis kinetics and drying, heat and mass transfer in the solid and gas phases as well as between phases, heat loss, particle movement and shrinkage within the bed. The pyrolysis model has been improved by partially cracking primary tar into lighter gases according to experimental data. The model is used to simulate a laboratory scale fixed-bed updraft gasifier. Good agreement is achieved between prediction and measurements for the axial temperature profiles and the composition of the producer gas. Moreover, results are presented for different air to fuel ratios and varying power inputs. The gasification process is improved by increasing the power input of the gasifier as a result of higher temperatures. Furthermore, a higher air to fuel ratio lowers the efficiency of the gasification process.     

A mathematical model of a spouted bed gasifier

A mathematical model of the spouted bed gasifier has been constructed based on simplified first order reaction kinetics for the gasification reactions and the stream tube hydrodynamic model of Mathur and Lim. This two region model treats the spout as an isothermal plug flow reactor with cross flow into a series of streamtubes forming the annulus. Each streamtube is considered as a plug flow reactor. The effects of kinetic and hydrodynamic parameters on model predictions are illustrated, and a comparison made with experimental gas composition profiles obtained in a 0.30-m dia. gasifier.     

回转窑传热模型与数值模拟

对回转窑内传热过程进行了分析 ,在已有研究基础上归纳了各项换热系数的关联式 ,尤其结合热渗透模型完善了回转壁面与料床之间传热机制的研究 ,并提出通用的计算关联式。进而提出了内热式炉型的一维轴向传热模型 ,并根据已发表的试验数据验证了该模型和各换热系数的适用性。计算表明在窑内低温段 ,物料的受热主要来自其覆盖的回转壁面对其加热 ;而在高温段 ,气体的辐射热量成为加热料床的主要热源。此外 ,由物料进口端沿轴向窑壁散热增大 ,在窑内高温段窑壁的散热甚至高于物料吸热量 ,因此在回转反应器的设计中应充分考虑窑壁散热造成的热效率降低并采取相应措施。     

Numerical simulation of the bubbling fluidized bed coal gasification by the kinetic theory of granular flow (KTGF)

A new numerical model based on the two-fluid model (TFM) including the kinetic theory of granular flow (KTGF) and complicated reactions has been developed to simulate coal gasification in a bubbling fluidized bed gasifier (BFBG). The collision between particles is described by KTGF. The coal gasification rates are determined by combining Arrhenius rate and diffusion rate for heterogeneous reactions or turbulent mixing rate for homogeneous reactions. The flow behaviors of gas and solid phases in the bed and freeboard can be predicted, which are not easy to be measured through the experiments. The calculated exit values of gas composition are agreed well with the experimental data. The relationship between gas composition profiles with the height of gasifier and the distributions of temperature, gas and solid velocity and solid volume fraction were discussed.     

Numerical simulation of coal gasification in entrained flow coal gasifier

This paper presents modeling of a coal gasification reaction, and prediction of gasification performance for an entrained flow coal gasifier. The purposes of this study are to develop an evaluation technique for design and performance optimization of coal gasifiers using a numerical simulation technique, and to confirm the validity of the model. The coal gasification model suggested in this paper is composed of a pyrolysis model, char gasification model, and gas phase reaction model. A numerical simulation with the coal gasification model is performed on the CRIEPI 2 tons/day (T/D) research scale coal gasifier. Influence of the air ratio on gasification performance, such as a per pass carbon conversion efficiency, amount of product char, a heating value of the product gas, and cold gas efficiency is presented with regard to the 2 T/D gasifier. Gas temperature distribution and product gas composition are also presented. A comparison between the calculation and experimental data shows that most features of the gasification performance were identified accurately by the numerical simulation, confirming the validity of the current model.     

Experimental Apparatus for Studying Heat Transfer in Externally Heated Rotary Kilns

Rotary kilns are widely used in several branches of the chemical industry. In order to control the temperature of the solid and the gas flowing through the kiln, it is important to understand the heat exchange phenomena that occur. The design and construction of a novel experimental device to study heat exchange in rotary kilns is described. The device, which comprises a rotary kiln equipped with an external electrical heating system, enables the study of the influence of various parameters such as the solid flow rate, the kiln inclination angle, the rotational speed, or the presence of lifters on heat exchange and in particular on the heat exchange coefficient between the solid and the wall. Preliminary experimental results concerning the influence of the solid flow rate and the rotational speed on the solid‐to‐wall heat exchange coefficient are presented.     

Nutzung biogener Festbrennstoffe in Vergasungsanlagen

Utilization of Biogenic Solids in Gasifiers As a result of shrinking fossil fuels biomass as a regenerative energy source gains in importance. To realize biomass projects it is essential to investigate convenient thermal procedures. On this evidence an analysis and evaluation of diverse gasification technologies with different boundary conditions and diverse biomasses is indispensable. Form and kind of the biomass as well as the type of the gasification plant cause different compositions of the product gas. The gasifiers show advantages and disadvantages concerning the biomass and the produced gas quality, depending on reactor type, kind of heat supply, gasification medium, and the pressure ratio in the reactor. As the ideal gasifier for different biomass is presently not available it will be shown which biomass is suitable for fixed bed or fluidised bed gasifiers.     

Reaction kinetics and producer gas compositions of steam gasification of coal and biomass blend chars, part 1: Experimental investigation

Biomass and coal are important solid fuels for generation of hydrogen-rich syngas from steam gasification. In this work, experiments were performed in a bench-scale gasifier to investigate the effect of coal-to-biomass ratio and the reaction kinetics for gasification of chars of biomass, coal and coal–biomass blends. In the gasification of these chars, steam was used as the gasification agent, while nitrogen was used as a gas carrier. The gasification temperature was controlled at 850, 900 and 950 °C. Gas produced was analysed using a micro-GC from which carbon conversion rate was also determined. From the experiments, it is found that the coal and biomass chars have different gasification characteristics and the overall reaction rate decreases with an increase in the ratio of coal–to-biomass.The microstructure of the coal char and biomass char was examined using scanning electronic microscopy (SEM), and it was found that the biomass char is more amorphous, whereas the coal char has larger pore size. The former enhances the intrinsic reaction rate and the latter influences the intra particle mass transportation. The difference in mass transfer of the gasification agent into the char particles between the two fuels is dominant in the char gasification.     

Numerical study on the coal gasification characteristics in an entrained flow coal gasifier

The coal gasification process of a slurry feed type, entrained-flow coal gasifier was numerically predicted in this paper. By dividing the complicated coal gasification process into several simplified stages such as slurry evaporation, coal devolatilization and two-phase reactions coupled with turbulent flow and two-phase heat transfer, a comprehensive numerical model was constructed to simulate the coal gasification process. The k– turbulence model was used for the gas phase flow while the Random-Trajectory model was applied to describe the behavior of the coal slurry particles. The unreacted-core shrinking model and modified Eddy break-up (EBU) model, were used to simulate the heterogeneous and homogeneous reactions, respectively. The simulation results obtained the detailed information about the flow field, temperature and species concentration distributions inside the gasifier. Meanwhile, the simulation results were compared with the experimental data as a function of O₂/coal ratio. It illustrated that the calculated carbon conversions agreed with the measured ones and that the measured quality of the syngas was better than the calculated one when the O₂/coal ratio increases. This result was related with the total heat loss through the gasifier and uncertain kinetics for the heterogeneous reactions.     

Gasification of Biogenic Solid Fuels

As a result of shrinking fossil fuels, biomass as a regenerative energy source gains importance. To realize biomass projects it is essential to investigate in convenient thermal procedures. On this evidence an analysis and evaluation of diverse gasification technologies with different boundary conditions and diverse biomasses are indispensable. Form and kind of the biomass as well as the type of the gasification plant cause different compositions of the product gas. The gasifiers show advantages and disadvantages concerning the biomass and the produced gas quality, depending on reactor type, kind of heat supply, gasification medium, and the pressure ratio in the reactor. As the ideal gasifier for different biomass is presently not available, it will be shown, which biomass is suitable for fixed bed or fluidized bed gasifiers.     

Trace element behaviour in the Sasol-Lurgi MK IV FBDB gasifier. Part 2 - The semi-volatile elements: Cu, Mo, Ni and Zn

Gasification is a coal conversion process that could be considered to be more amenable with regards to environmental impact factors when compared to combustion, as it provides minimum direct emission to the atmosphere due to the opportunity to apply a series of gas cleaning processes. Emissions could be in the form of the well known trace elements labelled as toxic present in feed coal. Due to the minimal literature available on coal gasification when compared to coal combustion, a large amount of inference to coal combustion has been applied in discussing the partitioning behaviour of trace elements during coal utilization. Conducting mass balance calculations of trace elements around gasification processes have proven to be a challenging task. This is due to the limitation of the analytical techniques employed to quantify at the parts per million levels at which trace elements exist. The other challenge is analyzing for trace elements in all the different stream phases that occur after gasification. The availability of thermodynamic equilibrium packages i.e. Fact-Sage to perform high temperature calculations, at the same time handling all phases of material involved has simplified the challenges. Results obtained from such calculations have also proved to be close to reality, but have not been related to the fixed-bed counter-current gasification reactor operating on lump coal.The focus of this paper is to discuss more recent environmentally-focused research developments by Sasol, where trace element simulation and validation of model predictions have been undertaken for the gasification process. Fact-Sage thermodynamic equilibrium modelling was used to simulate the semi-volatile trace elements (Cu, Mo, Ni and Zn) gas phase and ash phase partitioning and speciation behaviour occurring in a fixed-bed pressurized gasifier. A Sasol-Lurgi Mark IV FBDB gasifier was mined via turn-out sampling in order to determine the trace element changes through the gasifier, results being used to validate the modelled results.The semi-volatile elements: Cu, Mo, Ni and Zn all showed limited (5% in the case of Zn) de-volatilization behaviour in the drying and pyrolysis zone of the fixed-bed gasifier. Predictions revealed that within the reduction zone of the fixed-bed gasifier that they are all highly volatile, producing gaseous species with an increase in temperature, varying in the order: Zn > Mo > Cu > Ni, which is contrary to what was found from the experimental results. This could imply that thermodynamic equilibrium conditions do not necessarily prevail in a fixed-bed gasifier operating on lump coal, since in reality mass and heat transfer limitations across coarse coal particles apply and the reactions are therefore more kinetically limited. Over-balances of Ni and Mo partitioning to the solid ash fraction, was found for the measured results. This anomaly was found to not be caused by erosion of the gasifier internals, but rather possibly be ascribed to accumulation and contamination caused by likely condensation and vaporisation of these species during the gasifier sampling campaign, as well as by the particle size reduction processes utilized prior to elemental analyses. Leaching tests conducted on the bottom ash collected from the gasifier have shown that the trace elements studied are firmly bound into the ash matrix and therefore would not be released during later disposal. The relative enrichment in trace element content observed for Ni and Mo within the gasifier should be further investigated.     

Stability of Calcium Chloride in the Air–Steam Gasification of Solid Fuel in Filtration Mode

The emission of HCl from calcium chloride during the air–steam gasification of solid fuel in the filtration combustion mode was studied. The limiting amounts of HCl released into the gas phase under real conditions of a shaft kiln gasifier were estimated. It was shown that the most important factors responsible for the stability of CaCl₂ are the humidity of an oxidant gas and the process temperature.