Experimental and modelling investigations of single coal particle combustion

Abstract

Experimental and theoretical investigation of combustion of a single coal particle is presented. As model of coal particle combustion the shell progressive mechanism was considered. The pore structure of an original, devolatilized and partially combusted particle was analysed. Due to the bimodal character of the pore structure, the pore size distribution was determined by a sorption method and mercury porosimetry. Combustion experiments were carried out in an equipment by applying the TGA method. This equipment allowed to study the behaviour of the coal particle during the process of drying, degassing and combustion. During the combustion process, the particle appeared to consist of two regions — the non-combusted core and the ash layer. Time dependences of the particle mass, temperature in the particle and gas phase, and combustion products were measured. The obtained experimental results confirmed that the shell progressive mechanism can be applied for the mathematical description of combustion of a single coal particle.