CO2 gasification rate analysis of coal char in entrained flow coal gasifier

Coal chars of four coal types were gasified with carbon dioxide using a PDTF or TGA at high temperature and pressure. Test conditions of temperature and partial pressure of the gasifying agent were determined to simulate the conditions in air-blown or oxygen-blown entrained flow coal gasifiers. Coal chars were produced by rapid pyrolysis of pulverized bituminous coals using a DTF with a nitrogen gas flow at 1670 K. In gasification tests with the PDTF, gasification temperatures were 1670 K or below and partial pressures of carbon dioxide were 0.7 MPa or below. Carbon monoxide of 0.6 MPa or below was supplied for the gasification tests with the TGA.As a result, coal types showed a large difference in the char gasification rate with carbon dioxide, and this difference remained large without decreasing even in the high-temperature area when the gasification rate was controlled by pore diffusion the same as in entrained flow gasifiers. Inhibition of the gasification reaction by carbon monoxide was also observed. Reaction rate equations of both the nth order and Langmuir-Hinshelwood type were applied to the char gasification reaction with the random pore model and the effectiveness factor, and the applicability of these rate equations to air-blown and oxygen-blown entrained flow gasifiers evaluated. Gasification rate equations and kinetic parameters applicable to a pore diffusion zone at high temperature were obtained for each coal.     

Gasification of waste biomass chars by carbon dioxide via thermogravimetry. Part I: Effect of mineral matter

A series of carbon dioxide gasification tests of waste biomass chars were performed in a thermogravimetric analysis system, at non-isothermal heating conditions. The effects of the inorganic constituents of the fuels on thermal conversion characteristics were examined. Reaction rates were determined by developing a power law model.The bulk of char gasification process occurred between 800 and 950 °C. Maximum reaction rate and conversion were exhibited by waste paper char, due to its higher surface area.Inherent alkaline and alkaline earth carbonates and sulphates acted as catalysts, by increasing the reactivity of the fuels in carbon dioxide and causing their degradation to start at lower temperatures (60-75 °C).The kinetic model fitted the experimental results accurately. Activation energy values and reaction order ranged from 180 to 370 kJ/mol and 0.4 to 0.6, respectively, among the chars, indicating a chemically controlled process.     

Factors affecting steam gasification rate of low rank coal char in a pressurized fluidized bed

A high-pressure bubbling fluidized bed reactor was used to study the steam gasification of coal char under pressure. Indonesian sub-bituminous coal char (Adaro) and Australian lignite char (Loy Yang) were gasified with steam in the reactor at temperatures below 1173 K and at total pressures ranging from 0.1 to 0.5 MPa. The steam gasification rates of the coal chars were determined by analysis of the gaseous products. Activation energies for the steam gasification of the chars were as high as about 250 kJ/mol, which suggests that the temperature dependence of the gasification was substantial. The apparent gasification rates under the study conditions were described by a Langmuir–Hinshelwood (L–H)-type equation. Analysis of the reaction kinetics on the basis of the L–H equation indicated that increasing steam pressure effectively increased the gasification rate.     

The characteristics of steam gasification of biomass and waste filter carbon

The carbon in a waste filter for water purification may be a new source of energy. The char of waste filter carbon and the char of wood chip have been gasified with steam in a thermobalance reactor under atmospheric pressure. The effect of gasification temperature (700-850°C) and partial pressure of steam (0.3-0.9 atm) on the gasification rate has been investigated. Several gas-solid reaction models have been compared for their prediction ability of the gasification reaction behavior. The modified volumetric reaction model was used to evaluate kinetic data. The gasification rate of waste filter carbon has been compared with the rates of coal and wood chip biomass. The activation energies of filter carbon and wood chip were determined to be 89.1 and 171.4 kJ/mol, respectively. The apparent reaction rate equation for waste filter carbon has been presented.     

Steam gasification of coal char catalyzed by K2CO3 for enhanced production of hydrogen without formation of methane

Steam gasification of coal char catalyzed by potassium carbonate was investigated on a laboratory fixed-bed reactor to examine the catalytic effects not only on the reaction rate but also on the reaction selectivity, and non-catalytic gasification of coal char was performed by way of contrast. It was observed that the catalytic gasification of coal char with steam occurred significantly in a temperature range of 700-750 °C, producing a hydrogen-rich gas with slight formation of carbon monoxide and virtually no formation of methane. An oxygen transfer and intermediate hybrid mechanism of the catalytic char gasification with steam is proposed for understanding of the experimental data regarding both the kinetic behaviors and reaction selectivity. The study has highlighted the advantages of the catalytic gasification of coal char over the conventional coal gasification with respect to the reaction selectivity. The catalytic steam gasification of coal char makes it possible to eliminate or simplify the methane reforming and water-gas shift processes in the traditional gas-to-hydrogen purification system.     

Gasification reaction kinetics on biomass char obtained as a by-product of gasification in an entrained-flow gasifier with steam and oxygen at 900-1000 °C

The purpose of this study was to investigate the gasification kinetics of biomass char, such as the wood portion of Japanese cedar char (JC), Japanese cedar bark char (JB), a mixture of hardwood char (MH) and Japanese lawngrass char (JL), each of which was obtained as a by-product of gasification in an entrained-flow type gasifier with steam and oxygen at 900-1000 °C. Biomass char was gasified in a drop tube furnace (DTF), in which gasification conditions such as temperature (T_g), gasifying agent (CO₂ or H₂O), and its partial pressure (P_g) were controlled over a wide range, with accompanying measurement of gasification properties such as gasification reaction ratio (X), gasification reaction rate (R_g), change of particle size and change of surface area. Surfaces were also observed with a scanning electric microscope (SEM). By analyzing various relationships, we concluded that the random pore model was the most suitable for the biomass char gasification reaction because of surface porosity, constant particle size and specific surface area profile, as well as the coincidence of R_g, as experimentally obtained from Arrhenius expression, and the value is calculated using the random pore model. The order of R_g was from 10⁻² to 10⁻¹ s⁻¹, when T_g = 1000 °C and P_g = 0.05 MPa, and was proportional to the power of P_g in the range of 0.2-0.22 regardless of gasifying agent. Reactivity order was MH > JC > (JB, JL) and was roughly dependent on the concentration of alkali metals in biomass feedstock ash and the O/C (the molar ratio of oxygen to carbon) in biomass char.     

Variation of the pore structure of coal chars during gasification

The variation of the pore structure of several coal chars during gasification in air and carbon dioxide was studied by argon adsorption at 87 K and CO₂ adsorption at 273 K. It is found that the surface area and volume of the small pores (<10 Å) do not change with carbon conversion when the coal char is gasified in air, while those of the larger pores (10-20 Å, 20-50 Å, 50-2500 Å) increase with increase of carbon conversion. However in CO₂ gasification, all the pores in different size ranges increase in surface area and volume with increase of carbon conversion. Simultaneously, the reaction rate normalized by the surface area of the pores >10 Å for air gasification is constant over a wide range of conversion (>20%), while for CO₂ gasification similar results are obtained using the total surface area. However, in the early stages of gasification (<20%) the normalized reaction rate is much higher than that in the later stage of gasification, due to existence of more inaccessible pores in the beginning of gasification. The inaccessibility of the micropores to adsorption at low and ambient temperatures is confirmed by the measurement of the helium density of the coal chars. The random pore model can fit the experimental data well and the fitted structural parameters match those obtained by physical gas adsorption for coal chars without closed pores.     

Low-temperature gasification of a woody biomass under a nickel-loaded brown coal char

Catalytic gasification of a woody biomass, Japanese cypress, was investigated under a prepared nickel-loaded brown coal (LY-Ni) char in a two-stage fixed-bed reactor. The nickel-loaded brown coal was prepared by ion-exchange method with a nickel loading rate of 8.3 wt.%. Nickel species dispersed well in the brown coal, and the LY-Ni char via devolatilization at 600 °C showed a great porous property with a specific surface area of 382 m² g^− 1.The LY-Ni char was confirmed to be quite active for the Japanese cypress volatiles gasification at a relatively low-temperature range from 450 to 650 °C. For example, at 550 °C, 16.6 times hydrogen gas and 6.3 times total gases were yielded from the catalytic steam gasification of Japanese cypress volatiles under the LY-Ni char, compared with the case of non-catalyst. The biomass tar decomposition showed a dependence on catalyst temperatures. When the catalyst temperature was higher than 500 °C, Japanese cypress tar converted much efficiently, high gas yields and high carbon balances were obtained.     

Fe/赤泥催化水蒸气气化煤焦的反应性与微结构特性

利用固定床反应器和自制Fe/赤泥（RM）、RM催化剂,进行了900℃煤焦/催化剂不同质量比的水蒸气气化实验,并采用原位红外（FTIR）、物理吸附仪（BET）、拉曼光谱（Raman）等测试手段,分析了催化气化过程中不同阶段煤焦的气化反应性、表面官能团、孔隙结构和碳微晶结构的演变规律。结果表明,Fe1/RM2催化剂可显著提高煤焦-水蒸气的气化反应性。在Fe1/RM2/煤焦-水蒸气反应过程中,煤焦表面形成-CH₂、-COOH、酚羟基等活性官能团并与Fe1/RM2活性组分相互作用,形成新的小分子基团或化合物;煤焦的比表面积先增大后减小（6.98～323.22m²/g）,平均孔径呈现相反的变化趋势（2.91～11.25nm）;碳有序化程度先降低后提高,碳转化率为36%煤焦中无定形碳的相对含量最高（0.371）。在煤焦-Fe1/RM2-水蒸气反应初期（X_C<36%）,煤焦表面活性基团增多、比表面积增大、有序化程度降低,综合提高了煤焦-水蒸气气化反应性;降低36%≤X_C≤62%阶段的碳有序化程度,对煤焦气化反应性的提高具有显著意义。     

An experimental investigation into the gasification reactivity of chars prepared at high temperatures

The gasification activities of three kinds of Binxian chars with carbon dioxide were studied at 1000–1300 °C and under atmospheric pressure in self-made thermal balance. The specific surface area of coal or chars was determined with BET methods during gasification. The results showed that the reaction rate of two rapid pyrolysis chars increases at the beginning and decreases subsequently with increasing carbon conversion at relatively high temperatures. The heating rate of coal has a significant effect on the gasification process. The activation energy of slow pyrolysis char varies between 160 kJ/mol and 180 kJ/mol during gasification. The activation energy of the two rapid pyrolysis chars displays a linear trend when the carbon conversion is less than 40% and decreases slowly afterwards.     

Drastic changes in biomass char structure and reactivity upon contact with steam

An Australian cane trash biomass was pyrolysed by heating at a slow heating rate to 700-900 °C in an inert gas atmosphere. The chars were then gasified in situ with steam. Our results indicate that the gasification of char with steam, even only for 20 s when the char conversion was minimal, resulted in drastic reduction in the intrinsic reactivity of char with air at 400 °C. The decreases in the char reactivity were not mainly due to the possible volatilisation of inherent catalysts during gasification in steam. Instead, the FT-Raman spectroscopy of the chars showed that the gasification of char with steam resulted in drastic changes in char structure including the transformation of smaller ring systems (3-5 fused rings) to large ring systems (?6 fused rings). It is believed that the intermediates of char-steam reactions, especially H, penetrated deep into the char matrix to induce the ring condensation reactions.     

Intrinsic char reactivity of plastic waste (PET) during CO2 gasification

Char reactivity has a strong influence on the gasification process, since char gasification is the slowest step in the process. A sample of waste PET was devolatilised in a vertical quartz reactor and the resulting char was partially gasified under a CO₂ atmosphere at 925 °C in order to obtain samples with different degrees of conversion. The reactivity of the char in CO₂ was determined by isothermal thermogravimetric analysis at different temperatures in a kinetically controlled regime and its reactive behaviour was evaluated by means of the random pore model (RPM). The texture of the char was characterised by means of N₂ and CO₂ adsorption isotherms. The results did not reveal any variation in char reactivity during conversion, whereas the micropore surface area was affected during the gasification process. It was found that the intrinsic reaction rate of the char can be satisfactorily calculated by normalizing the reaction rate by the narrow micropore surface area calculated from the CO₂ adsorption isotherms. It can be concluded therefore that the surface area available for the gasification process is the area corresponding to the narrow microporosity.     

Decomposition and gasification of pyrolysis volatiles from pine wood through a bed of hot char

Pine wood was pyrolyzed in a fixed bed reactor at a heating rate of 10 °C and a final temperature of 700 °C, and the resultant volatiles were allowed to be secondarily cracked through a tubular reactor in a temperature range of 500-700 °C with and without packing a bed of char. The thermal effect and the catalytic effect of char on the cracking of tar were investigated. An attempt was made to deconvolute the intermingled contributions of the char-catalyzed tar cracking and the char gasification to the yields of gaseous and liquid products. It was found that the wood char (charcoal) was catalytically active for the tar cracking at 500-600 °C, while at 650-700 °C, the thermal effect became a dominant mode of the tar cracking. Above 600 °C, the autogenerated steam gasified the charcoal, resulting in a marked increase in the yield of gaseous product and a significant change in the gas composition. An anthracite char (A-char), a bituminous coal char (B-char), a lignite char (L-char) and graphite also behaved with catalytic activities towards the tar cracking at lower temperature, but only L-char showed reactivity for gasification at higher temperature.     

Volatilisation and catalytic effects of alkali and alkaline earth metallic species during the pyrolysis and gasification of Victorian brown coal. Part IX. Effects of volatile-char interactions on char-H2O and char-O2 reactivities

Volatile-char interactions are an important consideration in the design and operation of a gasifier. This study aims to investigate the effects of volatile-char interactions on the in situ char-steam reactivity at 800 °C and the ex-situ char-O₂ reactivity at 400 °C. A Victorian brown coal was gasified in 15% steam at 800 °C in a one-stage novel fluidised-bed/fixed-bed quartz reactor, in which the extent of volatile-char interactions could be controlled. The chars after varying extents of volatile-char interactions and/or varying extents of char conversion in steam were also collected for the measurement of their reactivity with air at 400 °C in a thermogravimetric analyser. Our results show that the char-steam gasification reactions were greatly inhibited by the volatile-char interactions. It is believed that the H radicals generated from the thermal cracking/reforming of volatiles slowed the char gasification in three ways: occupying the char reactive sites, causing the char structure to re-arrange/condense and enhancing the release of catalytic species inherently present in the brown coal. The importance of volatile-char interactions to char-steam reactivity was further confirmed by the char-air reactivity.     

煤焦的水蒸汽气化反应速率解析

为得到煤的气化技术开发的基础数据,在固定床微分反应器中,于常压、动力学控制条件下,对国内外七种煤半焦进行水蒸汽气化实验.将煤的气化反应速率用水蒸汽分压及煤的未转化率的幂函数型式表示时,其结果是与水蒸汽分压及细孔表面积的一次方成正比.从理论上推导出了在反应过程中包括考虑煤的细孔结构变化的动力学方程,并且导出了含碳组分气体的生成速率与煤的气化速率的相关式.用Bhatia等人的随机细孔模型表示反应过程中的细孔表面积变化时,计算结果与实测值相当吻合.     

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.     

Effect of pressure on gasification reactivity of three Chinese coals with different ranks

The gasification reactivities of three kinds of different coal ranks (Huolinhe lignite, Shenmu bituminous coal, and Jincheng anthracite) with CO₂ and H₂O was carried out on a self-made pressurized fixed-bed reactor at increased pressures (up to 1.0 MPa). The physicochemical characteristics of the chars at various levels of carbon conversion were studied via scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and BET surface area. Results show that the char gasification reactivity increases with increasing partial pressure. The gasification reaction is controlled by pore diffusion, the rate decreases with increasing total system pressure, and under chemical kinetic control there is no pressure dependence. In general, gasification rates decrease for coals of progressively higher rank. The experimental results could be well described by the shrinking core model for three chars during steam and CO₂ gasification. The values of reaction order n with steam were 0.49, 0.46, 0.43, respectively. Meanwhile, the values of reaction order n with CO₂ were 0.31, 0.28, 0.26, respectively. With the coal rank increasing, the pressure order m is higher, the activation energies increase slightly with steam, and the activation energy with CO₂ increases noticeably. As the carbon conversion increases, the degree of graphitization is enhanced. The surface area of the gasified char increases rapidly with the progress of gasification and peaks at about 40% of char gasification.     

Comprehensive study of the influence of total pressure on products yields in fluidized bed gasification of wood sawdust

Wood sawdust gasification experiments were performed in a steam fluidized bed at 800 °C between 2 and 10 bar. An evolution of gas yields with time was measured during the tests, and especially an increase of hydrogen and carbon dioxide yields. This test duration effect was ascribed to char build-up in the bed. As tests proceed, the contribution of char steam gasification to gas yield increases, and the catalytic effect of char on hydrocarbons and tar conversion and on water-gas shift reaction is enhanced.As total pressure increases from 2 to 10 bar, hydrogen, carbon dioxide and methane yields increase by 16%, 53% and 38% respectively, whereas carbon monoxide yield decreases by 33%. The changes in gaseous yields with pressure can be partly explained by the influence of pressure on gas phase reactions (acceleration of water-gas shift kinetics and change in hydrocarbon reactions). The increase of methane yield with pressure is rather suggested to be linked to a change in secondary pyrolysis reactions scheme under high pressure.     

The catalytic steam gasification of one Australian and three Japanese coals using potassium and sodium carbonates

The catalytic steam gasification of four different coals using potassium and sodium carbonates as catalysts was carried out in a semi-flow type fixed-bed reactor. The coal was gasified with or without the catalyst under a steam—argon atmosphere at a heating rate of 50°C/s at 700–800°C. The catalytic activity of carbonates for gasification was remarkable for Japanese high-volatile coals (Miike and Takashima coals), and moderate for Australian medium-volatile coal (New Lithgow coal); however, the carbonates had little effect on gasification of Japanese lignite (Taiheiyo coal). It is assumed that Miike and Takashima coals soften and melt during the heating process to make the contact between char and catalyst better. New Lithgow and Taiheiyo coals do not have this property. Gasification was promoted significantly at lower temperatures when the catalyst was used. In both catalyzed and uncatalyzed runs the main products were hydrogen and carbon dioxide; the reaction temperature did not affect the composition of the gases much. A water—gas shift reaction occurred during gasification resulting in a large amount of carbon dioxide under a large excess of steam flow.     

NH3 and HCN formation during the gasification of three rank-ordered coals in steam and oxygen

A Victorian brown coal (68.5% C), a Chinese high-volatile Shenmu bituminous coal (82.3% C) and a Chinese low-volatile Dongshan bituminous coal (90% C) were gasified in a fluidised-bed/fixed-bed reactor at 800 °C in atmospheres containing 15% H₂O, 2000 ppm O₂ or 15% H₂O + 2000 ppm O₂. While the gasification of these coals in 2000 ppm O₂ converted less than 27% of coal-N into NH₃, the introduction of steam played a vital role in converting a large proportion of coal-N into NH₃ by providing H on char surface. The importance of the roles of steam in the formation of NH₃ in atmospheres containing 15% H₂O + 2000 ppm O₂ decreased with increasing coal rank. This is largely due to the slow gasification of high-rank coal chars, resulting in low availability of H on char surface. The gasification of chars from the high-rank coal appears to produce higher yields of HCN than that of lower rank coals, probably as a result of the decomposition of partially hydrogenated/broken/activated char-N structures during gasification at high temperature. The alkali and alkaline earth metallic species in brown coal tend to favour the release of coal-N as tar-N but have limited effects on char-N conversion during gasification.