Kinetics of gasification of Douglas Fir and Cottonwood chars by carbon dioxide

Arrhenius kinetic parameters have been determined for the CO₂ gasification of chars (heat treatment at 1000 °C) prepared from well-characterized samples of a hardwood, a softwood and a Montana lignite. The effects of pre-pyrolysis addition of inorganic salts of the alkali, alkaline earth and transition metal groups to the wood samples have also been determined. The reactivities of the chars of the cottonwood and lignite samples exceeded that of Douglas fir char by a factor of four to seven between 700 and 900 °C. The reactivity of the wood char was related to the inorganic content of the sample. There was very little difference in the reactivity of chars prepared from the hardwood and the softwood after treatment with similar quantities of inorganic salts. The inorganic content of the lignite char was more than five times greater than that of cottonwood char, but its reactivity was similar. The carbonates of sodium and potassium were equally effective gasification catalysts. The transition metal salts were the most effective catalysts initially, but they lost their activity well before the gasification was complete. The data indicate that treatment of wood with aqueous salts results in replacement of some of the natural minerals by ion exchange, and that these exchangeable ions play a major role in controlling reactivity of the chars.     

Changes in char reactivity and structure during the gasification of a Victorian brown coal: Comparison between gasification in O2 and CO2

Char reactivity is an important factor influencing the efficiency of a gasification process. As a low-rank fuel, Victorian brown coal with high gasification reactivity is especially suitable for use with gasification-based technologies. In this study, a Victorian brown coal was gasified at 800 °C in a fluidised-bed/fixed-bed reactor. Two different gasifying agents were used, which were 4000 ppm O₂ balanced with argon and pure CO₂. The chars produced at different gasification conversion levels were further analysed with a thermogravimetric analyser (TGA) at 400 °C in air for their reactivities. The structural features of these chars were also characterised with FT-Raman/IR spectroscopy. The contents of alkali and alkaline earth metallic species in these chars were quantified. The reactivities of the chars prepared from the gasification in pure CO₂ at 800 °C were of a much higher magnitude than those obtained for the chars prepared from the gasification in 4000 ppm O₂ also at 800 °C. Even though both atmospheres (i.e. 4000 ppm O₂ and pure CO₂) are oxidising conditions, the results indicate that the reaction mechanisms for the gasification of brown coal char at 800 °C in these two gasifying atmospheres are different. FT-Raman/IR results showed that the char structure has been changed drastically during the gasification process.     

碱金属及灰分对煤焦碳微晶结构及气化反应特性的影响

通过对原煤、酸洗原煤、酸洗后负载NaOH的原煤在750~1050℃热解制得焦样,用X射线衍射技术考察了热解温度、NaOH负载量以及灰分对热解过程中煤焦微晶结构变化的影响,并运用高温高压热天平(PTGA)考察了热解后煤焦的气化反应活性。结果表明碱金属及灰分的存在可以明显减小煤焦的微晶结构参数的变化(堆垛高度Lc、微晶尺寸La、及晶层间距d002),阻碍煤焦的石墨化进程,提高煤焦的气化反应性。随着热解温度的升高,堆垛高度Lc增大显著,而微晶尺寸La和晶层间距d002变化较小。煤焦的气化反应性k0和煤焦微晶结构参数Lc、d002存在如下关系:lnk0=a(Lc/d002)+b;研究还表明用氧化还原循环机理来描述碱金属的催化作用机理是不恰当的,但碱金属Na的存在可以明显降低煤焦的石墨化程度,提高煤的活性,对煤焦的气化起到部分催化作用。     

Effects of alkaline metal on coal gasification at pyrolysis and gasification phases

A Chinese high-rank coal was acid-washed and ion-exchanged with Na and K to prepare the H-form, Na-form and K-form coals. After pyrolysis, H-form, Na-form and K-form chars and two additional H-form chars (acid washed Na-form and K-form chars) were prepared to investigate the effects of alkaline metal (AM) on coal gasification at the pyrolysis and gasification phases. The H-form char had the highest pryolysis rate; the H-form char had a relative low gasification rate. The AM loaded coals exhibited relative low pyrolysis rate, while the corresponding chars had high gasification reactivity. Acid-washing reduced the reactivities of Na-form and K-form chars. AM inhibited the progress of graphitization of the base carbon resulting in a more reactive char of less ordered crystalline carbon structure. A kinetic model incorporating AM-catalyzed gasification and non-catalytic gasification was developed to describe the gasification rate changes in the char conversion for AM-catalyzed gasification of chars.     

Gasification performance of torrefied Timothy hay and spruce wood chars in a CO2 environment

Timothy hay abundantly available in New Brunswick, Canada, is mostly used for animal feed and bedding. Upgrading biomass using Torrefaction method can offer benefits in its waste management, energy density and energy conversion efficiency. Temperature and residence time play an important role in the torrefaction process. Meanwhile, CO₂ gasification is also a promising thermochemical conversion process due to its potential to reduce net GHG emissions and tune syngas composition. This study investigates the impact of torrefaction parameters on isothermal and non-isothermal CO₂ gasification of Timothy hay and spruce chars. Timothy hay chars exhibited higher CO₂ gasification reactivity than chars from spruce. The physicochemical properties analysis indicated that higher reactivity of Timothy hay char was mainly attributed to the high amount of alkali and alkaline earth metal (AAEM) content, relatively large BET surface area, a high number ofactive sites, and a low crystalline index. Moreover, in both experimental cases, char derived through a high heating rate and high residence time conditions exhibited improved gasification performance, which was attributed to the generation of large amounts of AAEM (Ca and K) and high specific surface area. Co-gasification results during non-isothermal processes under CO₂ showed the presence of larger interactions in coal char/Timothy hay char blends than that of coal char/spruce char blends. For both experimental conditions, interactions were enhanced once the char prepared from high heating rate and high residence time was gasified with coal char. Thus, the proposed approach is a sustainable way of conversion of Timothy hay under CO₂ environment.     

热解条件对煤焦气化活性影响的研究进展

简述了原煤性质与温度、压力和热解气氛等热解条件对煤焦结构和气化反应活性的影响;参考该领域的国内外研究成果,分析了热解条件影响煤焦气化反应活性的机理.由于实验设备和研究方法的差异,对温度和压力等热解条件对煤焦气化反应活性影响的评价不尽相同,但总体来讲,热解终温越高、停留时间越长、升温速率越快、热解压力越大,煤焦的气化反应活性越低;热解过程中,原煤性质的差异也会影响煤焦的结构和气化反应活性.煤焦的石墨化应该是导致煤焦气化反应活性下降的主要原因,因此,热解条件的改变,特别是温度和压力的改变对煤焦石墨化进程的影响值得进一步研究.     

秸秆灰对煤焦气化反应性的影响

钾、钙对煤焦气化反应性具有重要影响,秸秆灰中含有丰富的钾、钙。以神木煤为制焦原料,通过STA409PC同步热分析仪研究了秸秆灰对煤焦气化反应性的影响,并通过测定煤焦的碘吸附值对其比表面积及孔隙结构进行了分析。结果表明：煤与玉米秸秆共焦化所得煤焦的气化反应性明显优于单独煤焦,且与玉米秸秆的添加比例有关;采用脱灰玉米秸秆与煤共焦化所得煤焦的气化反应性与单纯煤焦相近;将与玉米秸秆等效的秸秆灰添加到煤焦中,煤焦的气化效果明显优于等效玉米秸秆与煤共焦化所得煤焦。煤焦碘吸附值测定结果表明,脱灰秸秆与煤共焦化所得煤焦的碘吸附值最大,单纯煤焦的碘吸附值最小,说明玉米秸秆及秸秆灰对煤焦的比表面积及孔隙结构具有重要的影响,与煤焦的气化反应性评价结果基本一致。     

Reactivities of 34 coals under steam gasification

The reactivities of 34 coal chars of varying rank with H₂O have been determined to examine the effect of coal rank on the gasification rate of coal char. The reactivities of chars derived from caking coals and anthracites (carbon content > 78 wt%, daf) were very small compared with those from non-caking (lower-rank) coals. The reactivities of low-rank chars do not correlate with the carbon content of the parent coals. To clarify which factor is more important in determining the reactivity, the evolution of CO and CO₂ from char, the moisture content of char and the amount of exchangeable cations were determined for these low-rank coals or their chars. These values were considered to represent the amount of active carbon sties, the porosity and the catalysis by inherent mineral matters, respectively. It was concluded that the amount of surface active sites and/or the amount of exchangeable Ca and Na control the reactivity of low-rank chars in H₂O.     

Importance of carbon active sites in the gasification of coal chars

A demineralized lignite has been used in a fundamental study of the role of carbon active sites in coal char gasification. The chars were prepared in N₂ under a wide variety of conditions of heating rate (10 K min^?1 to 10⁴ K s^?1), temperature (975–1475 K) and residence time (0.3 s–1 h). Both pyrolysis residence time and temperature have a significant effect on the reactivity of chars in 0.1 MPa air, determined by isothermal thermogravimetric analysis. The chars were characterized in terms of their elemental composition, micropore volume, total and active surface area, and carbon crystallite size. Total surface area, calculated from C0₂ adsorption isotherms at 298 K, was found not to be a relevant reactivity normalization parameter. Oxygen chemisorption capacity at 375 K and 0.1 MPa air was found to be a valid index of char reactivity and, therefore, gives an indication, at least from a relative standpoint, of the concentration of carbon active sites in a char. The commonly observed deactivation of coal chars with increasing severity of pyrolysis conditions was correlated with their active surface areas. The importance of the concept of active sites in gasification reactions is illustrated for carbons of increasing purity and crystallinity including a Saran char, a graphitized carbon black and a spectroscopically pure natural graphite.     

Catalysis of coal char gasification by alkali metal salts

A study has been made of the gasification behaviour, in carbon dioxide and steam, of a number of coal chars doped with small amounts of alkali metal carbonates. For a given additive, the magnitude of the catalytic effect increased with the rank of the parent coal. A progressive loss in catalytic activity on thermal cycling during steam gasification was associated with reaction of the alkali salts with mineral matter in the chars. The kinetic data were consistent with catalytic mechanisms involving oxidation/reduction cycles on the char substrates.     

Gasification kinetics of five coal chars with CO<Subscript>2</Subscript> at elevated pressure

For five coals, the reactivity of char-CO₂ gasification was investigated with a pressurized thermogravimetric analyzer (PTGA) in the temperature range 850-1,000 C and the total pressure range 0.5-2.0 MPa. The effect of coal rank, initial char characteristics and pressure on the reaction rate were evaluated for five coal chars. The reactivity of low lank coal char was better than that of high rank coal char. It was found that Meso/macro-pores of char markedly affect char reactivity by way of providing channels for diffusion of reactant gas into the reactive surface area. Over the range of tested pressure, the reaction rate is proportional to CO₂ partial pressure and the reaction order ranges from about 0.4 to 0.7 for five chars. Kinetic parameters, based on the shrinking particle model, were obtained for five chars.     

The physical character of coal char formed during rapid pyrolysis at high pressure

Rapid pyrolysis was conducted in a drop tube reactor using seven coals under various operating conditions. In addition to dense char, porous chars (network char and cenospheric char) were formed by the rapid pyrolysis under certain conditions. Porous char was mainly composed of film-like carbon and skeleton carbon. The pyrolyzed coal char particles were characterized in detail. Morphology and bulk density of porous char were quite different from the dense char formed under the same conditions, but elemental composition and BET surface area were similar to each other. CO₂ gasification reactivity of porous char was lower than dense char in the later gasification stage, and this was ascribed to the low reactivity of skeleton carbon.     

The catalytic steam gasification of chars from various sources by K2CO3

Gasification of a char prepared from hydrocracked residuum was compared with the gasification of chars prepared from bituminous and sub-bituminous Canadian coals, wood and graphite. Each material was mixed with 10 mass per cent K₂CO₃ and pyrolyzed up to 900°C. The yield of char was inversely proportional to the amount of volatile matter in the original material. The char prepared from hydrocracked residuum was different from the others. The other chars all followed zero-order gasification kinetics. Gasification of char prepared from the residuum was first-order in the solid. The development of a liquid phase during the pyrolysis of the residuum to char may explain this difference. The gasification rate of the char. from residuum was slower than the rates with the two coal chars and the wood char, but faster than the gasification rate of graphite. A combination of transient experiments and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopic (XPS) measurements indicated that hydrogen was formed almost instantaneously when steam reacted with the char. XPS spectra at liquid nitrogen temperature indicated that during gasification the formation of carbon oxygen bonds proceeded in the following sequence: COH, CO and CO.     

平顶山高灰熔融性温度煤的气化反应性研究

介绍了平顶山地区有代表性的7种煤样在800℃～1 200℃下,其脱灰煤焦-CO2气化反应活性的实验,主要考察了煤种、灰含量及粒径对煤焦反应性的影响,实验结果表明:煤种对煤焦-CO2气化反应有明显影响;煤中灰分对煤焦气化反应的影响主要表现在两个方面,一是灰成分对煤焦气化反应的催化作用,二是灰熔融性影响煤焦气化排渣行为。脱灰既可以除去煤焦中具有催化作用的矿物质,又可以增大煤焦的内表面积。     

Gasification studies of onakawana lignite

Onakawana lignite was gasified in air, steam and an air + steam mixture in a fixed bed reactor. The extent of devolatilization was determined by pyrolysis in nitrogen. The composition of products, expressed in terms of H₂/CO ratio, was temperature dependent. The ratio decreased with increasing temperature. During steam gasification the ratio decreased from 4.6 to 2.6 when temperature increased from 700° to 990°C. The addition of air to steam resulted in a marked decrease of this ratio. Steam gasification reactivity of chars prepared from Onakawana lignite at 500°C and 800°C were studied in the temperature range of 650°C to 1000°C. The carbon conversion results were fitted into equations describing the continuous and shrinking core models. The char prepared at 500°C was much more reactive than the one prepared at 800°C. Product distribution expressed as the H₂/CO ratio, was favourable in the temperature range. For comparison, the Kentucky #9 coal and chars derived from this coal were used as referee materials. The reactivity of these chars was markedly lower than that of chars derived from Onakawana lignite.     

Co-pyrolysis of biomass and coal in a free fall reactor

An experimental study on co-pyrolysis of biomass and coal was performed in a free fall reactor under atmospheric pressure with nitrogen as balance gas. The coal sample selected was Dayan lignite, while the biomass used was legume straw. The operation temperature was over a range of 500-700 °C, and the blending ratio of biomass in mixtures was varied between 0 and 100 wt.%. The results indicated that there exist synergetic effects in the co-pyrolysis of biomass and coal. Under the higher blending ratio conditions, the char yields are lower than the theoretical values calculated on pyrolysis of each individual fuel, and consequently the liquid yields are higher. Moreover, the experimental results showed that the compositions of the gaseous products from blended samples are not all in accordance with those of their parent fuels. The CO₂ reactivities of the chars obtained from the co-pyrolysis under the higher blending ratio (around 70 wt.%) conditions are about twice as high as those of coal char alone, even higher than those of biomass alone.     

碱金属对煤热解和气化反应速率的影响

通过对原煤、酸洗原煤、负载碱金属的酸洗原煤在800～1050℃热解制得焦样,用X射线衍射技术考察了碱金属对煤焦微晶结构的影响,在加压热天平（PTGA）上考察了煤样的热解过程,以及焦样的二氧化碳气化活性。结果表明：碱金属对煤的热解和气化阶段都有影响。在热解阶段,碱金属的存在抑制了煤焦的石墨化进程,降低了热解反应活化能,促进了热解反应的进行;在气化阶段,作为催化剂的碱金属,降低了气化反应活化能,延长了反应速率达到最大值的时间。修正的随机孔模型可以较好地描述煤焦-CO₂的气化反应过程。     

Modeling of catalytic gasification kinetics of coal char and carbon

Calcium- and potassium-catalyzed gasification reactions of coal char and carbon by CO₂ are conducted, and the common theoretical kinetic models for gas-carbon (or char) reaction are reviewed. The obtained experimental reactivities as a function of conversion are compared with those calculated based on the random pore model (RPM), and great deviations are found at low or high conversion levels as predicted by theory. Namely, calcium-catalyzed gasification shows enhanced reactivity at low conversion levels of <0.4, whereas potassium-catalyzed gasification indicated a peculiarity that the reactivity increases with conversion. CO₂ chemisorption analysis received satisfactory successes in both interpreting catalytic effects and correlating the gasification reactivity with irreversible CO₂ chemical uptakes (CCU_ir) of char and carbon at 300 °C. In details, calcium and potassium additions led to significant increases in CCU_ir and correspondent high reactivities of the char and carbon. Furthermore, CCU_ir of char and carbon decreased with conversion for calcium-catalyzed reaction but increased for potassium-catalyzed one, corresponded to the tendency of their reactivity. The RPM is extended and applied to these catalytic gasification systems. It is found that the extended RPM predicts the experimental reactivity satisfactorily. The most important finding of this paper is that the empirical constants in the extended RPM correlate well with catalyst loadings on coal.     

碱金属Na对黑液水煤浆焦-CO2气化特性的影响

黑液中富含大量的碱金属Na及其化合物,这些碱金属将在黑液水煤浆焦气化过程中起到催化气化的作用.为了研究黑液水煤浆焦-CO2催化气化反应特性,采用XRD、SEM和热重分析技术对黑液水煤浆焦和普通水煤浆焦CO2催化气化实验进行分析,得到了焦炭表面孔隙分布情况、煤浆焦样和气化后残渣XRD分析结果,以及等温条件下气化反应时碳转化率数据.试验结果表明:黑液水煤浆焦表面密集分布很多"斑点"和微孔,说明碱金属Na盐在焦碳表面形成了活化中心点,它们在气化过程中起到催化作用;碱金属Na使焦样表面具有更强的反应位,削弱C-C键的强度,使气化反应更容易进行;同时由于碱金属催化剂在高温气化时将与煤中矿物质反应生成惰性物质,从而可能削弱催化效果.从黑液水煤浆与普通水煤浆XRD晶相分析中可以看出碱金属Na盐主要以氯化钠、硅酸钠形式存在,气化反应后生成的晶相组成主要是霞石和微斜长石.     

An evaluation of methods for enhancing the CO2-reactivity of a caking bituminous coal

An evaluation of a variety of reactivity enhancement procedures has been carried out for one bituminous coal (Pittsburgh No. 8). The relative merits of each type of method have been assessed and the extent to which coal char reactivity could realistically be enhanced for gasification by carbon dioxide has been established. Investigations have revealed two main classes of pretreatment type. The first group, consisting of non-catalytic pretreatments such as preoxidation, solvent extraction and co-carbonization with inert materials produced only a moderate increase in char reactivity relative to the untreated parent coke. In contrast, however, the second group, consisting of catalyst pretreated chars, resulted in a large increase in char reactivity compared with that of the parent coke. Group one pretreatments also generally produced non-caking chars with increased microporosity and isotropic carbon texture compared with the largely macroporous anisotropic parent coke. The microporosity was believed to be responsible for the significant pore diffusion/development effects found with these chars during the course of gasification. The most reactive chars were produced by (i) co-carbonization with 15wt% K₂CO₃, and (ii) preoxidation plus 2wt% potassium by ion-exchange. The latter char is preferred on the basis of its more efficient use of catalyst and completely non-caking characteristics.