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Title: Gasification of Chattanooga oil shale char in a continuous fluidized-bed

Thesis/Dissertation ·
OSTI ID:6569628

The purpose of this work is to model a fluidized oil shale char gasification system to 1) get data which will be useful for process evaluation, 2) study and identify the relevant parameters in the design and operation of a fluidized-bed gasifier, and 3) compare the results for the reactor model to those of experimental results to determine if there are meaningful differences between them. The oil shale sample used in this study was obtained from an outcrop of Devonian shale near New Market in Madison County, Alabama. The Fischer assay apparatus was used to retort these samples, which were sieved to -150 + 200 mesh and then gasified in a continuous fluidized-bed. A mixture of steam and CO/sub 2/ was used as the fluidizing gas. The gaseous compounds analyzed in the product were CO, H/sub 2/, and CO/sub 2/. A mathematical model has been developed to predict the product gas rate, compositiion, and carbon conversion rate of Chattanooga oil shale char in a continuous fluidized-bed gasifier using mass and carbon balances. It was concluded that the effect of char residence time and gasification temperature on product gas composition and carbon conversion rate were more significant than the effect of steam mole fraction. It was also concluded that the optimum conditions of Chattanooga oil shale char gasification in a continuous fluidized-bed with regard to a net energy produced was found to be around 75 minutes for char residence time, 1260/sup 0/K for gasification temperature, and 0.5 for steam mole fraction in the fluidizing gas.

OSTI ID:
6569628
Resource Relation:
Other Information: Thesis (Ph. D.)
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English