Operation of the Westinghouse fluidized bed devolatilizer with a variety of coal feedstocks

Conference · Sat Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1977 · Am. Chem. Soc., Div. Fuel Chem., Prepr.; (United States)

OSTI ID:6649191

Margaritis, P J; Kim, S S; Cherish, P; Salvador, L A

Under ERDA sponsorship, Westinghouse is conducting a program to develop a low-Btu coal gasification, combined-cycle, electrical power generating process. The program includes work in gas turbine combustor development, studies of turbine tolerance to erosive and corrosive fuel, gas cleaning and coal gasification process development. As part of the gasification work, Westinghouse is operating a process development unit (PDU) at Waltz Mill, Pennsylvanis. The Westinghouse Fluidized Bed Process consists of two reactors. Coal is fed by pneumatic transport from lock hoppers to the devolatilizer-desulfurizer reactor where it is fluidized by hot reducing gases produced in the gasifier-agglomerator reactor. The coal and hot gas are transported at relatively high velocity upward in a draft tube along the reactor centerline. Devolatilized coal or char product is also entrained in the upward flow of solids and gases in the draft tube. This dilution--on the order of 30 to 1--of fresh coal with char in the entrained bed of the draft tube prevents the fresh coal from sticking together or caking as it is heated through its plastic stage. When the coal leaves the draft tube, it enters a second portion of the fluidized bed where devolatilization is completed and where desulfurization takes place. The latter is achieved by absorption of the hydrogen sulfide with dolomite which is also circulating in the fluidized bed with the char product. In August 1976, the initial series of tests of the devolatilizer reactor were completed on the PDU scale of nominally 15 T/D. These tests were conducted with a variety of feedstock materials and conditions and culminated with the ''feasibility demonstration'' of the system with two highly caking Eastern bituminous coals. These coals were processed for over 200 hours without pretreatment.

• Research Organization: Westinghouse Research Labs., Madison, PA
• OSTI ID: 6649191
• Report Number(s): CONF-770301-P2
• Conference Information: Journal Name: Am. Chem. Soc., Div. Fuel Chem., Prepr.; (United States) Journal Volume: 22:1
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT
010404* -- Coal
Lignite
& Peat-- Gasification
BITUMINOUS COAL
BLACK COAL
CARBONACEOUS MATERIALS
COAL
COAL GASIFICATION
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
DEVOLATILIZATION
ENERGY SOURCES
FLUIDIZED BED
FOSSIL FUELS
FUELS
FUNCTIONAL MODELS
GASIFICATION
PERFORMANCE TESTING
PROCESS DEVELOPMENT UNITS
TESTING
THERMOCHEMICAL PROCESSES