Experimental study on the formation of ultrafine particulate matters (PMs) during pulverized coal (PC) char combustion in O2/N2 and O2/CO2 atmospheres

Abstract

Under the force of increasingly strict emission standard of particulate matters (PMs) and serious haze in China, further understanding of the formation of ultrafine PMs during coal combustion is crucial. In this work, the formation characteristics of ultrafine PMs during pulverized coal (PC) char combustion in O2/N2 and O2/CO2 atmospheres were investigated through a high-temperature drop tube furnace (DTF) with a two-stage dilution sampling system and a 14-stage electrical low pressure impactor (ELPI+). Results showed that in both number-based and mass-based particle size distribution (PSD) the peaks of ultrafine PMs located nearby 0.2 μm under all experimental atmospheres including O221%/N279%, O221%/CO279%, O227%/CO273% and O233%/CO267% (O21N79, O21C79, O27C73 and O33C67). And the peak values increased with the increase of O2 concentration in O2/CO2 atmospheres because of the high char combustion temperature at elevated O2 level. However, the mass and number concentration of ultrafine PMs in O2/CO2 atmospheres reduced significantly compared with these in O2/N2 atmosphere. When O21N79 atmosphere switched to O21C79, O27C73, O33C67 atmosphere, the mass concentration of ultrafine PMs reduced by 80.90%, 76.58% and 14.31%, and the number concentration reduced by 74.16%, 63.17% and 10.50%, respectively. Furthermore, the total mass of the ultrafine PMs was determined by the mass of the ultrafine PMs with larger particle size, whereas the total number of ultrafine PMs was determined by the number of the ultrafine PMs with smaller particle size. In this work, the ultrafine PMs with the aerodynamic size smaller than 0.3 μm were collected on the 1st to 7th impactor surfaces of the ELPI+. Among the ultrafine PMs, the particles on the 7th impactor (PMs with the superior limit of ultrafine PMs size) accounted for more than 94.8% of the total ultrafine PMs by mass, but less than 2.3% of the total ultrafine PMs by number; The particles deposited on the 1st impactor (PMs with the detectable minimum size of ultrafine PMs) accounted for more than 79.6% of the total ultrafine PMs by number, but less than 0.4% of the total ultrafine PMs by mass. In addition, PM0.1 which accounted for 96% of the total number of the ultrafine PMs was analyzed for chemical composition by Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometer (ICP-MS). Results showed that the prominent components of PM0.1 were Ca, Na, and Si in both O2/N2 and O2/CO2 atmospheres. However, compared with O2/N2 atmosphere, Na, Si, Al, and Fe were more enriched in PM0.1 in O2/CO2 atmospheres.