Decoupling the Ca release characteristics induced by O-containing functional groups during volatile-char interaction based on model compounds

Abstract

Alkali metals and alkaline earth metals (AAEM) are important factors to be considered in coal gasification process, and understanding the release behavior of AAEM under the interaction of volatile-char is the key to realize efficient thermal conversion of coal. In this study, four typical O-containing functional groups (—COOH,—OH, CO,—OCH3) were used to react with coal char in a fixed-bed reactor, the reaction temperature was set up at 750，800，850，900 ℃ to survey the release characteristics of Ca by different oxygen functional groups during the interaction of volatile-char at different temperatures from a quantitative point of view. The result show that the Ca release rate of coal char is not high in the whole reaction temperature range, and the interaction of O-containing compounds-coal char at lower temperature will increase the O content (C—O and CO) of coal char, the content of Ca in interactive coal chars was higher than that of the coal char. At lower temperature, the order of compounds inhibiting Ca release ability is: C6H5CHO≈C6H5COOH > C10H8O2 > C6H5OCH3. In addition, it also seems that O-containing compounds (except C6H5COOH) can obviously promote the conversion of ammonium acetate-soluble Ca to water-soluble Ca during the interaction with char. As the temperature increases, the change trend of O-containing functional groups on the surface of sample after interaction is completely opposite to that at lower temperature, the O-containing model compounds undergo de-oxidation, cracking and polymerization in the effect of coal char and AAEM, causing the formation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon on the surface of the char, which hinders the diffusion of Ca from the char to the gas phase. This work is good for enriching and developing the study on the release characteristics of alkali earth metals during the interaction of volatile-char, and provides a theoretical basis for the development of related industries.