Experimental investigation of high temperature and high pressure coal gasification

Abstract

Pyrolysis and gasification behavior is analyzed at operation conditions relevant to industrial scale entrained flow gasifiers. A wire mesh reactor and the Pressurized High Temperature Entrained Flow Reactor (PiTER) are used to measure volatile yield of Rhenish lignite, a bituminous coal and German anthracite at high temperature and high pressure. In the wire mesh reactor at 1000 °C a significant influence of pressure on volatile yield is observed. For lignite the volatile yield (daf) decreases from 57 wt% at atmospheric pressure to 53 wt% at 5.0 MPa. In the same pressure interval the volatile yield of the bituminous coal strongly decreases, whereas no significant influence of pressure on the volatile yield of anthracite is detected. In entrained flow experiments (PiTER) at higher temperature and 0.5 MPa an enhanced devolatilization of the lignite is observed. At 1200 °C, the maximum volatile yield is 62 wt% and it increases to 67 wt% at 1400 °C. In entrained flow gasification experiments with Rhenish lignite a high level of conversion is measured at atmospheric pressure and at 0.5 MPa. At both pressures, coal conversion increases with temperature and residence time. The highest conversion of 96 wt% is achieved at a particle residence time of 1.3 s, at a temperature of 1600 °C, and a pressure of 0.5 MPa. The experimental results show a large influence of operation parameters on pyrolysis and gasification behavior of Rhenish lignite. The volatile release in the pyrolysis stage and the high level of conversion after a short residence time indicate that Rhenish lignite is suitable for gasification in an entrained flow reactor. The reactivities of char samples that are collected from the hot reaction zone of the PiTER are measured in a pressurized thermogravimetric analyzer (PTGA) at lower temperature (600–850 °C). The pyrolysis temperature in the entrained flow experiments significantly influences the reaction rate in the PTGA at lower temperature. With increasing pyrolysis temperature (1200–1600 °C) a continuous loss of reactivity is observed.