Investigation of vaporization and devolatilization of coal/water mixtures. Second quarterly report, July 20, 1982-October 19, 1982

Technical Report · Sat Nov 20 04:00:00 EST 1982

OSTI ID:6652381

Solomon, P R; Hamblen, D G

The objective of this program is to develop the capabilities to predict the vaporization and devolatilization behavior of coal/water mixtures under conditions appropriate for spray combustion. In investigating the behavior of coal/water slurries, particular attention will be paid to the conditions which affect the physical properties of the char such as reactivity, swelling and ash distributions. These are the key properties for evaluating the combustion of slurries in burners designed for oil. During the second quarter, pyrolysis experiments were repeated on the wet Beulah lignite after reactor modification to eliminate a problem with the water measurement. The repeated data compare favorably with the initial set. The same coal was pyrolyzed in the presence of oxygen to determine the effect of this variable. A Pittsburgh Seam coal was also injected with varying oxygen concentration. The char is being examined to determine the effect of the oxygen on the swelling properties. The conditions which control swelling are being investigated experimentally and theoretically. A discussion of the theory of swelling is presented with some sample computer simulations illustrating the effect of heating rate on swelling behavior. Photomicrographs of a Pittsburgh Seam coal pyrolyzed at different positions in the reactor, which resulted in different swelling behavior are presented and compared with the theory. Excellent agreement was obtained assuming a reasonable value of viscosity. Initial work on ignition is also underway. Oxidation experiments are being performed in the reactor and the literature is being reviewed in preparation for developing an ignition code. An interesting feature of this work is the influence of swelling and graphitization on the char reactivity.

• Research Organization: Advanced Fuel Research, Inc., East Hartford, CT (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: AC22-82PC50254
• OSTI ID: 6652381
• Report Number(s): DOE/PC/50254-T1; ON: DE83004262
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT
010400* -- Coal
Lignite
& Peat-- Processing
014000 -- Coal
Lignite
& Peat-- Combustion
ATOMIZATION
CARBONACEOUS MATERIALS
CHEMICAL REACTION KINETICS
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
CHEMICAL REACTORS
COAL
COMBUSTION
DATA
DECOMPOSITION
DEVOLATILIZATION
DISPERSIONS
ENERGY SOURCES
EVAPORATION
EXPERIMENTAL DATA
FOSSIL FUELS
FUEL SLURRIES
FUELS
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
IGNITION
INFORMATION
KINETICS
LABELLED COMPOUNDS
MATERIALS
MIXTURES
NUMERICAL DATA
OXIDATION
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PHASE TRANSFORMATIONS
PYROLYSIS
REACTION KINETICS
SLURRIES
SUSPENSIONS
SWELLING
THERMOCHEMICAL PROCESSES
WATER