Insitu gasification – chemical looping combustion of large coal and biomass particles: Char conversion and comminution

Abstract

Utilization of large solid fuel particles in fluidized bed – Chemical Looping Combustion (CLC) has the benefits of reduced energy penalty related to carbon capture. When large fuel particles (mm-sized) are used, comminution plays a vital role in the fuel conversion rate, characteristics of ash, inventory loading and thus in the effective design of CLC systems. The present work deals with the conversion of char of large fuel particles and char fragmentation phenomenon in the insitu-gasification CLC environment. Three different coals and a woody biomass in the size range of + 8–25 mm are tested at three different bed temperatures (800 to 950 °C) in a hematite-based batch CLC unit, using steam as the fluidizing/gasification agent. The char conversion time is found to increase by 60 to 170% when particle size changes from 8 to 25 mm and reduced by 42 to 86% with the increase in bed temperature. Regardless of fuel type and feed size, the inception of char fragmentation is noticed in the very first quarter of conversion indicating its significant influence on the char burnout time. A minimum critical char size exists below which char weakening does not yield breakage, whose values vary between 4.4 and 14.2 mm depending on fuel type and feed size. Fuel type is found to be the prime influencer of char conversion time and fragmentation phenomena. This study recommends the use of large particles of all fuels up to 25 mm in CLC systems without any prior size reduction, except the high-ash coals.