Co-Gasification of Oil Sand Coke with Coal

Abstract

Gasification of oil sand delayed coke with sub-bituminous and lignite coals was performed in an atmospheric entrained flow gasifier using steam and oxygen as gasifying agents. The underlying objective of this work was to assess the effects of the operating variables (i.e. temperature, oxygen and steam concentrations) and coal/coke blending ratio on gasification performance in a high-temperature in order to find the possible synergies in co-gasification of the fuels. Experiments were conducted at 1,400°C, using steam and oxygen to carbon weight ratios of (0.36–1.08) and (0.07–0.2), respectively in N2 carrier gas. The coke to coal weight ratios of 1/3, 1/2, and 2/3 were used for the blending tests. Particle size of 53–90 μm with d50 = 75 μm were used. In terms of char reactivity, blending did not show any significant positive effect. Slight deviations from linear additive line are in the order of experiment error. Gasification efficiency was also following a linear additive trend once more pointing out the lack of synergy in entrained flow gasification systems. The results however, showed that higher coke content clearly favored the H2 production.