Effect of Stoichiometric Ratio on Char-Nitrogen Conversion under High-Temperature Entrained Flow Combustion Conditions

Abstract

The char-O2 reaction under high-temperature entrained flow conditions was investigated experimentally and numerically to study the effect of the stoichiometric ratio (SR) on char-nitrogen conversion. A numerical model was established based on the unsteady convection-diffusion and reaction equations, in which Stefan flow was considered. The change of specific surface area during char combustion was considered by locally using the Random Pore Model (RPM). The intrinsic reactivity parameters of char-O2 and char-NO reactions were measured using a thermal gravimetric analyzer (TGA) and drop tube furnace (DTF), respectively. The numerical results indicated that the predictions of carbon conversion and NO release agreed well with experimental data. Based on numerical results, for a given carbon conversion, with the decrease of SR, the kinetics-diffusion controlled char-O2 reaction is pushed toward the kinetics-controlled regime, leading to more significant local carbon conversion and thus more developed pore structure inside char particles, including higher porosity and larger specific surface area. Therefore, the oxidation of char-nitrogen occurs more deeply inside char particles and NO release prefers to diffuse toward the particle center, rather than outward. The larger specific surface area deep inside the char particle also gives rise to the total char-NO reaction rate at a lower SR. As a result, the total fractional conversion of char-N to NO decreases as SR decreases under high-temperature entrained flow combustion conditions.