Experimental and modelling investigations of single coal particle combustion

Experimental and theoretical investigation of combustion of a single coal p article is presented. As model of coal particle combustion the shell progre ssive mechanism was considered. The pore structure of an original, devolati lized and partially combusted particle was analysed. Due to the bimodal cha racter of the pore structure, the pore size distribution was determined by a sorption method and mercury porosimetry. Combustion experiments were carr ied 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, d egassing and combustion. During the combustion process, the particle appear ed 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 phas e, and combustion products were measured. The obtained experimental results confirmed that the shell progressive mechanism can be applied for the math ematical description of combustion of a single coal particle. (C) 2001 Else vier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.