Overlapping of heterogeneous and purely thermally activated solid-state processes in the combustion of a bituminous coal

Mechanistic studies of coal combustion have long highlighted the variety of reaction pathways along which gasification may take place. These involve chemisorption of reactants, formation of surface oxides, surface mobility of chemisorbed species, and product desorption. At the same time, exposure of the solid fuel to high temperatures is associated with solid-state thermally activated processes. Altogether, the course of gasification may be profoundly affected by the overlapping and interplay of heterogeneous oxidation with purely thermally activated solid-state reactions. In the present work the combustion of a South African bituminous coal is analyzed in the framework of a simplified reaction network that embodies heterogeneous oxidative and thermally activated processes (pyrolysis, thermal annealing, coal combustion, char combustion, oxygen chemisorption) active both on the raw coal and on its char. The kinetics of each process of the network is assessed by a combination of thermogravimetric and gas analysis on coal and char samples. The analysis is directed to the determination of the prevailing combustion pathway, established from the interplay of oxidative and solid-state thermally activated processes, as a function of combustion conditions (temperature, heating rate, particle size).     

Numerical Studies on Combustion Characteristics of Interacting Pulverized Coal Particles at Various Oxygen Concentration

The two-dimensional laminar combustion characteristics of coal particles at various oxygen concentration levels of a surrounding gas have been numerically investigated. The numerical simulations, which use the two-step global reaction model to account for the surrounding gas effect, show the detailed interaction among the inter-spaced particles, undergoing devolatilization and subsequent char burning. Several parametric studies, which include the effects of gas temperature (1700 K), oxygen concentration, and variation in geometrical arrangement of the particles on the volatile release rate and the char burning rate, have been carried out. To address the change in the geometrical arrangement effect, multiple particles are located at various inter-spacings of 4–20 particle radii in both streamwise and spanwise directions. The results for the case of multiple particles are compared with those for the case of a single particle. The comparison indicates that the shift to the multiple particle arrangement resulted in the substantial change of the combustion characteristics and that the volatile release rate of the interacting coal particles exhibits a strong dependency on the particle spacing. The char combustion rate is controlled by the level of oxygen concentration and gas composition near particles during combustion. The char combustion rate is highly dependent on the particle spacing at all oxygen levels. The correlations of the volatile release rate and the change in total mass of particles are also found.     

燃煤链条炉排工业锅炉燃烧数值模型研究

针对燃煤链条炉排工业锅炉的燃烧过程中床层内部存在复杂的传热、传质及物理化学反应过程等特点开发了三维床层和炉膛耦合的燃烧数值计算模型,模型包含了煤燃烧过程中水分蒸发、挥发析出、气相反应、焦炭燃烧和传热传质等基本的化学物理过程,同时考虑了大粒径煤颗粒内部的非等温传热特性,并通过实验测试与数值模拟对数值模型进行校核,实验结果与模型计算吻合得较好,从而验证了计算模型的准确性。燃煤链条炉排工业锅炉燃烧数值模型的建立为实现燃煤工业锅炉的优化设计和运行指导提供了先进的设计手段和理论支持。     

Model of heterogeneous combustion of small particles

A steady model of heterogeneous combustion for a spherical particle in the transition heat and mass transfer regime is developed. The model assumes formation of condensed products and reaction rate controlled by the transport of oxidizer to the particle surface. The model is based on the Fuchs’ limiting sphere approach. Calculations are performed for combustion of zirconium particles of different sizes. Temperature and oxygen concentration profiles are calculated and compared to those predicted by the continuous medium transfer model. The predictions are compared with available experimental data. For coarse particles, both predicted combustion temperatures and burn rates match respective experimental data when the reaction is assumed to produce zirconium–oxygen solution rather than stoichiometric ZrO₂. A weaker effect of particle size on their burn time is predicted for smaller particles, in qualitative agreement with recent experiments. However, the model underestimates the burn times and overestimates the combustion temperatures for small particles. This discrepancy is likely associated with the finite reaction kinetics at the particle surface that must be accounted for in the future work.     

Combustion of particles in a large pulverized brown coal flame

A model of the ignition of a polydisperse cloud of brown coal particles, in a known gas environment, is presented and used to predict the behavior of the particles in a burner jet of a utility boiler. The model allows for drying, devolatilization, and char combustion of the particles. It is assumed that the volatiles burn in the free stream so that char combustion can occur during volatiles evolution, the diffusion of oxygen to the particle surface being inhibited due to the net outflow of volatiles. The model is used to calculate the behavior of a cloud of p.f. size particles along the centerline of a brown coal burner jet in which the gas temperature and composition have been measured. Rates of volatile release and char combustion are calculated and shown to be in agreement with measurements of volatile material in the flame. It is found that particles smaller than about 80 μm contribute most to the ignition of the jet and that they closely follow the local gas temperature. The unique character of brown coal of combustion, its high volatile evolution on rapid heating, the high activity of its char at low temperature, and the demonstrated ignition of its char without a jump in temperature make the overlap of devolatilization and char combustion more likely than with other coals. The mathematical formulation that allows this overlap gives oxygen consumption levels consistent with measurement. An analysis is made of the relative importance of radiation from the flame front to the particle, and entrainment of hot combustion gases into the jet. It is found that the radiation is of secondary importance compared to the effect of entrainment which is the controlling mechanism in the initial heating of the particles. Also, the significance of the assumption that the volatiles burn in the free stream is discussed.     

燃煤循环流化床模型与试验研究

利用循环流化床内气－固两相流动等基础方面的研究成果,根据本文床内气固浓－淡流动模型,建立适用不同结构参数的循环流化床燃烧模型,考虑了床内气体、固体颗粒的返混、循环过程,以及煤燃烧、ＮＯ的生成和分解、颗粒磨损等因素。在循环流化床燃烧试验台上进行实验研究,模型仿真结果和实验数据吻合良好,表明气固两相浓－淡流动模型所建立的循环流化床燃烧系统模型可以正确地模拟循环流化床的燃烧过程。     

Experimental results of chemical-looping combustion with NiO/NiAl2O4 particle circulation at 1200 °C

Chemical-looping combustion is the indirect combustion by use of solid medium. This combustion with circulation of solid particles was investigated experimentally. There were two reactors: a reduction column and an oxidation column. The slurry of solid powder of NiO mixed with Al₂O₃ prepared by a dissolution method was fed into a spray dryer, and a spherical particle of diameter about 97 μm was obtained. The rates of both reduction and oxidation for the produced fine particles were measured in advance by a thermogravimetric analyzer.Then reactions with circulation of reacting solid particles were performed at elevated temperatures. In this paper, the results at 1200 °C by use of hydrogen as fuel are presented. The features of the reactions are discussed based on the analyses of the composition of the exhaust gas. Examination of the surface of the solid particles by a scanning microscope revealed that the condition of the solid particle in both reduction and oxidation columns was much milder than that in the TGA experiment, and significant change of the particle was not observed.     

An investigation of the combustion of pulverized coal-air mixture in different combustor geometries

A two-dimensional theoretical study of the flow and combustion of pulverized coal by diffusion flames is presented. The model predicts gas flows, species concentrations, and temperatures in combustors having specific geometries. The conservation equations are solved utilizing the κ-ε turbulence model. Coal devolatilization is modeled by the two-competing-reactions scheme, which generates two sets of volatiles and char, each by a specific rate constant, described in Arrhenius form. Char combustion from devolatilization occurs by reaction with oxygen, carbon dioxide, water, particle dispersion, and radiative heat transfer between furnace wall and particles. The model is used to investigate the interaction between flow and combustion in flames produced by arranging the locations of the primary inlet and the secondary air inlets in a furnace. The predictions, which could be valuable for designing furnaces, indicate that a centered primary inlet and a minimum recirculation are some of the criteria that could favorable for combustion.     

Numerical studies on the combustion properties of char particle clusters

Particle clustering is an important phenomenon in dense particle–gas two-phase flow. One of the key problems worth studying is the reacting properties of particle clusters in coal particle combustion process in the dense particle region. In this paper, a two-dimensional mathematical model for the char cluster combustion in airflow field is established. This char cluster consists of several individual particles. The comprehensive model includes mass, momentum, and energy conservation equations for both gas and particle phases. Detailed results regarding velocity vector, mass component, and temperature distributions inside and around the cluster are obtained. The micro-scale mass and heat transfer occurred inside and around the char cluster are revealed. By contrastively studying the stable combustion of char particle clusters consisting of different particles, the combustion properties of char clusters in various particle concentrations are presented and discussed.     

Comparison of CuO and NiO as oxygen carrier in chemical looping combustion of a Victorian brown coal

Chemical looping combustion (CLC) is a novel process where an oxygen carrier, preferably oxides of metal, is used to transfer oxygen from the combustion air to the fuel. The outlet gas from the process reactor consists of CO₂ and H₂O, and concentrated stream of CO₂ is obtained for sequestration when water vapour is condensed. Chemical looping has been widely studied for combustion of natural gas; however its application to solid fuels, such as coal, is being studied relatively recently; no work has been done using Victorian brown coal which represents a very large resource, over 500 years at current consumption rate. In this study we carried out an experimental investigation pertaining to CLC of a Victorian brown coal from Loy Yang mine using NiO and CuO as oxygen carrier. The experiments were conducted using a thermogravimetric analyser (TGA) under CO₂ gasification environment with NiO and CuO. The reduction and re-oxidation of NiO in five repeated cycle operations were performed at 950 °C. However, the same cyclic operation for CuO was performed at 800 °C, as it was observed that at 950 °C CuO could not be re-oxidized to its original state due to sintering, which significantly altered the morphology. The extent of coal combustion and re-oxidation of metal oxides resulted in a 4.4-7.5% weight loss of NiO per cycle. No such weight loss was observed in case of CuO at 800 °C. The high reactivity of CuO was observed as compared to NiO during cyclic operation. The percentage of combustion at the end of the 5th cycle with CuO was 96% as compared to 67% with NiO. Fresh oxide particles and solid residues are characterized using SEM to understand surface morphological changes due to combustion. The energy dispersive X-rays (EDX) helped to get surface elemental information, albeit qualitative, of fresh and used metal oxide particles. The current study, for the first time, has generated practical information on the temperature range, approximate time, and percent combustion that can be achieved while using NiO and CuO as oxygen carriers during CLC with Loy Yang brown coal. Based on these results the ongoing work includes long duration experiments with Loy Yang and other Victorian brown coals.     

A numerical study on the effect of flow distribution on reactor performance

A numerical study was conducted to analyse the effect of flow distribution of stirred part and plug flow part on combustion efficiency at the coal gasification process in an entrained bed coal reactor. The model of computation was based on gas‐phase Eulerian balance equations of momentum and mass. The solid phase was described by Lagrangian equations of motion. The k–ϵ model was used to calculate the turbulence flow and the eddy dissipation model was used to describe the gas‐phase reaction rate. The radiation was solved using a Monte‐Carlo method. A one‐step two parallel reaction model was employed for the devolatilization process of a high volatile bituminous Kideco coal. The computations agreed well with the experiments, but the flame front was closer to the burner than the measured one. The flow distribution of a stirred part and a plug flow part in a reactor was a function of the magnitude of recirculation zone resulting from the swirl. The combustion efficiency was enhanced with decreasing stirred part and the maximum value was found to be around S=1·2, having the minimum stirred part. The combustion efficiency resulted from not only the flow distribution but also from the particle residence time through the hot reaction zone of the stirred part, in particular for the weak swirl without IRZ (internal recirculation zone) and the long lifted flame. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Effect of turbulence and devolatilization models on coal gasification simulation in an entrained-flow gasifier

Numerical simulations of the oxygen-blown coal gasification process inside a generic entrained-flow gasifier are carried out. The Eulerian–Lagrangian approach is applied to solve the Navier–Stokes equations and the particle dynamics. Seven species transport equations are solved with three heterogeneous global reactions and two homogeneous reactions. Finite rates are used for the heterogeneous solid-to-gas reactions. Both finite rate and eddy-dissipation combustion models are calculated for each homogeneous gas-to-gas reaction, and the smaller of the two rates is used. Four different devolatilization models are employed and compared. The Kobayashi model produces slower devolatilization rate than the other models. The constant rate model produces the fastest devolatilization rate. The single rate model and the chemical percolation model produce moderate and consistent devolatilization rate. Slower devolatilization rate produces higher exit gas temperature and higher CO and CO₂ mass fractions, but lower H₂ and heating value, and hence, achieves lower gasification efficiency. Combustion of volatiles is modeled with two-stage global reactions with an intermediate stage via benzene.Turbulence models significantly affect the simulated results. Among five turbulence models employed, the standard k–ε and the RSM models give consistent results. The time scale for employing stochastic time tracking of particles also affects simulated result. Caution has to be exerted to select the appropriate time constant value. Smaller particles have a higher surface/volume ratio and react faster than larger particles. However, large particles possessing higher inertia could impinge on the opposing jet and change the thermal-flow filed and the reaction rates.     

煤粉燃烧过程中NOx生成的实验和数值研究

本文采用完整的模拟３维气固两相流动，煤粉燃烧和传热的数值程序对实验室卧式炉分级送风以降低ＮＯｘ生成的燃烧过程并进行数值计算，程序中对气相采用欧拉法的通用输运方程，对煤粉颗粒采用拉格朗日的随机轨道法，用Ｄｅ’Ｓｏｅｔｅ的化学反应机理计算燃料ＮＯｘ的生成和用Ｚｅｌｄｏｖｉｃｈ机理计算热力ＮＯｘ的生成，针对分级燃烧降低ＮＯｘ生成的机理，实验中研究了３种配风工况，并结合数值研究具有分析了各工况下温度场和氧     

炉内煤粉燃烧一维数学模型及其仿真

为了准确计算炉内煤粉的燃尽率,从研究煤粉粒子的燃烧机理入手,以炉膛内最复杂的燃烧器区域的煤粉燃烧过程为研究对象,通过合理简化煤粉中挥发分和焦炭的燃烧过程,建立了炉内煤粉燃烧沿高度方向上的一维宏观模型,在模型中考虑了煤粉燃烧过程中氧含量的变化,以单个煤粉颗粒燃烧的等密度模型为基础,通过多种煤粉粒径的燃烧过程反映煤粉燃烧的整体过程,推导出计算炉内煤粉燃尽率的显示公式,满足了实时仿真计算的要求。计算结果与实测数据和现有的文献相符,并对结果进行了分析。     

Combustion kinetics of coal chars in oxygen-enriched environments

Oxygen-enhanced and oxygen-fired pulverized coal combustion is actively being investigated to achieve emission reductions and reductions in flue gas cleanup costs, as well as for coal-bed methane and enhanced oil recovery applications. To fully understand the results of pilot scale tests and to accurately predict scale-up performance through CFD modeling, accurate rate expressions are needed to describe coal char combustion under these unconventional combustion conditions. In the work reported here, the combustion rates of two pulverized coal chars have been measured in both conventional and oxygen-enriched atmospheres. A combustion-driven entrained flow reactor equipped with an optical particle-sizing pyrometry diagnostic and a rapid-quench sampling probe has been used for this investigation. Highvale subbituminous coal and a high-volatile eastern United States bituminous coal have been investigated, over oxygen concentrations ranging from 6 to 36 mol% and gas temperatures of 1320-1800 K. The results from these experiments demonstrate that pulverized coal char particles burn under increasing kinetic control in elevated oxygen environments, despite their higher burning rates in these environments. Empirical fits to the data have been successfully performed over the entire range of oxygen concentrations using a single-film oxidation model. Both a simple nth-order Arrhenius expression and an nth-order Langmuir-Hinshelwood kinetic equation provide good fits to the data. Local fits of the nth-order Arrhenius expression to the oxygen-enriched and oxygen-depleted data produce lower residuals in comparison to fits of the entire dataset. These fits demonstrate that the apparent reaction order varies from 0.1 under near-diffusion-limit oxygen-depleted conditions to 0.5 under oxygen-enriched conditions. Burnout predictions show good agreement with measurements. Predicted char particle temperatures tend to be low for combustion in oxygen-depleted environments.     

流化床城市生活垃圾与煤混烧数学模型及其原理性验证

以流化床两相理论为基础 ,综合考虑了床内流动、颗粒扬析及磨损、颗粒在床内停留时间的随机分布、挥发分和焦炭的燃烧、各主要气体组分沿悬浮空间的浓度分布以及悬浮空间的温度分布 ,建立了流化床垃圾与煤混烧的数学模型。模拟计算结果与实验规律基本一致 ,说明本模型具有一定的参考价值     

Interaction of a moving shock wave with a two-phase reacting medium

The flow field, that develops when a moving shock wave hits a two-phase medium of gas and particles, has a practical application to industrial accidents such as explosions at coal mine and in grain elevator and furthermore to solid propellant combustion in rocket engine. Therefore, a successful prediction of the thermo-fluid mechanical characteristics development of gas and particles is very crucial and imperative for the successful design and operation of rocket nozzles and energy conversion systems. This paper describes an interaction phenomenon when a moving shock wave hits a two-phase medium of gas and particles with/without chemical reaction. A particle-laden gas is considered to be located along a ramp so that numerical integration is accomplished from the tip of ramp for a finite period. For the numerical solution, a fully conservative unsteady implicit second order time-accurate sub-iteration method and the second order Total Variation Diminishing scheme are used with the finite volume method for gas phase. For particle phase, the Monotonic Upstream Schemes for Conservation Laws as well as the solution of the Riemann problem for the particle motion equations is also used together with the schemes above. Transient development of thermo-fluid mechanical characteristics is calculated and discussed by changing the particle mass density and particle specific heat. For the case of the reacting particle-laden gas flow, a carbon particle-laden oxygen gas is considered to be located along a ramp. The results are discussed by comparison with the cases of the pure gas and the inert particle-laden gas. Major results reveal that when the particle mass density is smaller, there is a stronger interaction between two phases so that the velocity and temperature differences between two phases more rapidly decrease. When the particle specific heat is varied, only a thermal effect is observed while the other effects are minor. The case with reacting particles yields significantly different results due to chemical reaction such that the gas density does not monotonously but rapidly decrease due to the slip line in the relaxation zone, while the pressure and temperature become higher in comparison with the non-reacting case. But the dynamic variation would be only secondary to the thermal one.     

A method of determining thermal parameters of granular coal particles during devolatilization

Fluidized bed combustion offers great potential for the utilization of high-sulphur coal and low-grade coal in an environmentally acceptable manner. Utilization of fluidized bed technology, especially for the combustion of low quality lignites, enables pollutant emission control as well as efficient combustion. The most important stage during the combustion of coal particles is devolatilization, in which various factors such as heat transfer from the surroundings to the particle surface, heat conduction within the particle, the chemicals involved, the kinetics and the transport of volatile compounds within the particle play significant roles. The heat transfer coefficient, thermal diffusivity, thermal conductivity, heating coefficient and lag factor are the most significant thermal parameters in this process. In this study, a 1-D transient heat transfer analysis is carried out for a granular coal particle during devolatilization in a fluidized bed. The particle is idealized as a spherical solid body. Models are developed to determine the thermal parameters of such particles, and are verified using experimental centre temperatures of a 10 mm granular coal particle subjected to devolatilization at a medium temperature of 960 K. The data are taken from the literature. The results show that the thermal parameters determined here are in good agreement with experimental findings.