Modeling char oxidation behavior under Zone II burning conditions at elevated pressures

For accurate modeling of the coal combustion process at elevated pressures, account must be made for variations in char-particle structure. As pressure is increased, particle swelling increases during the devolatilization of certain bituminous coals, yielding a variety of char-particle structures, from uniform high-density particles to thin-walled non-uniform low-density particles having large internal void volumes. Since under Zone II burning conditions the char conversion rate depends upon the accessibility of the internal surfaces, the char structure plays a key role in determining particle burnout times. In our approach to characterize the impact of char structure on particle burning rates, effectiveness factors appropriate for thin-walled cenospherical particles and thick-walled particles having a few large cavities are defined and related to the effectiveness factor for uniform high-density particles that have no large voids, only a random distribution of pores having a mean pore size in the sub-micron range. For the uniform case, the Thiele modulus approach is used to account for Zone II type burning in which internal burning is limited by the combined effects of pore diffusion and the intrinsic chemical reactivity of the carbonaceous material. In the paper, the impact of having a variety of char structures in a mix of particles burning under Zone II burning conditions is demonstrated.