Primary Fragmentation Characteristics of Coal Particles during Rapid

Aug 24, 2015 - Interest was centered on the primary fragmental characteristics of particles, including the changes of mass loss, particle density, and...
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Primary fragmentation characteristic of coal particles during rapid pyrolysis Tongmin Cui, Zhijie Zhou, Zhenghua Dai, Chao Li, Guangsuo Yu, and Fuchen Wang Energy Fuels, Just Accepted Manuscript • DOI: 10.1021/acs.energyfuels.5b01289 • Publication Date (Web): 24 Aug 2015 Downloaded from http://pubs.acs.org on August 28, 2015

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Primary fragmentation characteristic of coal particles during rapid pyrolysis

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Tongmin Cui a, Zhijie Zhou a, Zhenghua Dai a, Chao Li a, Guangsuo Yu a, Fuchen Wang a,*

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a

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Engineering Research Center of Coal Gasification, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai

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200237, PR China

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*

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Key Laboratory of Coal Gasification and Energy Chemical Engineering of Ministry of Education, Shanghai

Corresponding author. Email address: [email protected]

Abstract

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Experiments were carried out to investigate the rapid pyrolysis of NM (lignite), SF (bituminous coal) and JS

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(anthracite) with the duration time of 0 to 500 ms and the temperature of 1173 to 1773 K using a high-frequency

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induction furnace. Interest was centered on the primary fragmental characteristic of particles including the

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changes of mass loss, particle density and size distribution during the pyrolysis. A pair of fragmental parameters,

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i.e. dimensionless particle diameter δ and particle distribution Sf, was proposed to characterize the fragmentation

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during the different stages of pyrolysis. The result showed that the pyrolysis progress increase with time and

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temperature. The fragmentation extent is also positively related to time and temperature. The progress of primary

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fragmentation is lignite ≈ bituminous coal > anthracite. However, the particle morphology changes little during

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the pyrolysis fragmentation. Evidence reveals NM and SF’s major fragmentations occur at the outer zone of

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particle and the coarse fragmentation of JS is insignificant compared with the exfoliation.

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Keywords: rapid pyrolysis, primary fragmentation, size distribution, particle morphology.

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1. Introduction

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Rapid pyrolysis is a complex physical and chemical process occurring as the initial stage in coal combustion

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and gasification 1. In this process, primary fragmentation is the breakage of a raw fuel particle into smaller

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particles 2, which has an important impact on ash formation

3-5

and conversion efficiency of combustion

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. The

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occurrences of particle comminution associated with coal pyrolysis can be classified into: coarse fragmentation

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and exfoliation 2, 10. These different categories of particle fragmentation occur in series and/or in parallel.

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Since the fluidized-bed combustor and gasifier are particularly sensitive to the particle size, the particle

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fragmentation plays an important role in these reactors. Therefore, the fragmentation of coal particles was firstly

27

investigated in the fluidized bed reactors

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fluidized reactor. They observed that the coal particles fragmented mainly at a higher temperature, and the coal

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particles with larger particle size and more volatile matter were fragile. Cui et al.

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distribution functions to describe the fragmentation process with time. Dacombe et al.

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the morphological changes of char particles during the fragmentation. Kim et al.

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movements and transformations during the ignition by means of high-speed camera. Senneca et al. conducted a

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series of excellent work on the fragmentations of coal particles during the rapid pyrolysis

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heated strip reactor, the heating rate reached as high as 104 K/s 20. This apparatus had an advantage of not only

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providing an extremely high heating rate, but also being capable to collect the particle samples with a very short

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residence time and thus quantify the particle changes. They also proposed the fragmental probability Sf for

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assessing the ratio of particles number that fragment to the initial number 10 and developed a model for predicting

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the primary particle fragmentation process during the rapid pyrolysis 2.

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11-15

. Zhang et al.

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experimentally studied the coal fragmentation in

19

17

16

adopted two normal

and Liu et al. 18 studied

observed the coal particle

2, 10, 20

. By using a

In mechanism, the particle primary fragmentation is known to be resulted from temperature gradient (thermal

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shock) and volatile release (overpressure)

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the swelling of coal particle due to the thermal expansibility. The influences of coal swelling on the

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fragmentations were reported in the literature 10, 21, 23-25.

2, 15, 17, 21, 22

. It is noteworthy that the mentioned factors can also lead to

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The purpose of the present work is to investigate the fragmentation characteristics of different coals in rapid

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pyrolysis. The variations of a pair of fragmental parameters δ and Sf with pyrolysis time or temperature are 2

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analyzed to characterize the fragmentation and exfoliation of coal particles. The pyrolysis time, temperature and

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coal property were consequently found to have a great influence on primary fragmentation. In addition, the

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morphological parameters sphericity, symmetry, B/L ratio and convexity were utilized for further analysis on

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fragmental characteristic.

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2. Experimental

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2.1 Coal sample

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Three kinds of coal were used in this study. They are Nei-meng lignite (NM), Shen-fu bituminous coal (SF)

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and Jin-cheng anthracite (JS). The coal was ground to powder and dried at 378 K for 2 h. The properties of coal

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are listed in Table 1 (CSN is based on British standard 26).

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[Table 1] 2.2 Pyrolysis apparatus and procedure

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Coal pyrolysis was carried out in a quartz tube reactor. The experimental apparatus is shown in Fig.1. The

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quartz tube was heated with a high frequency induction method. A current generator was installed outside the

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quartz tube, which generated a high frequency current of 35 kHz and formed a quickly mutative magnetic field. A

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molybdenum cylinder was placed inside the quartz tube and was heated by the induced current in the magnetic

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field. The quartz tube was coiled outside the wall with a hollow copper pipe through which the cooling water

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passed to remove the heat from the coil. The height of the cylinder was adjusted to 30, 40, 60, 80, 100, 125, 150

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mm, by which the duration time of particle through the hot zone was changed. A thermocouple bead was pointed

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at a position of 20 mm above the bottom edge of the crucible to measure the pyrolysis temperature.

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[Figure 1]

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The argon gas flowed into the reactor from the top of quartz tube. The gas flow rate was controlled at 300 mL

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(STP)/min. The coal particles dropped through a thin tube (400 mm length, 8 mm i.d.) into the reaction zone. The 3

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solid products were collected at the bottom of the tube. The pyrolysis temperature was controlled in the range of

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1173~1573 K.

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2.3 Methods for determining char particle size and residence time

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The particle size distributions and the real densities of coal and char were measured by a Laser Granulometer

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and a True Densitometer. The reaction time was calculated as follows. The argon flowing around the particles was

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regarded as the climb stream because the Reynolds was estimated to be less than 1. Consequently, the particle

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drop was treated as the free sedimentation.

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In the light of the Stokes’ law, the terminal velocities of free sedimentation ut can be determined by

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ut =

gd 2 ( ρ − ρ g )

eq. (1)

18µ

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where, g is acceleration of gravity, d is the average particle diameter; ρ and ρg are the densities of particle and gas,

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µ is the viscosity of gas. The residence times of the particles through the reaction zone at different temperatures

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can be accordingly determined. The results are shown in Table 2.

79 80 81 82 83

[Table 2] 2.4 Mass loss of particles Mass loss is an important parameter reflecting the rate of pyrolysis. The mass loss of dry ash-free basis L0 is defined as

L0 =

w0 − w w0 (Vd + FCd )

eq. (2)

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where, w0 and w are the masses of coal and char, respectively; Vd and FCd are the mass fractions of the volatile

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matter and fixed carbon in the dry coal, respectively. A blank experiment was done without heating to examine

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how much coal particle would approximately adhere to the reactor wall. The mass loss obtained by the blank

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experiment was denoted as Lb. The mass loss is finally obtained by the following modification: 4

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L=

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L0 -Lb 1-Lb

eq. (3)

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Obvious difference may exist between hot experiments and cold blank runs, therefore the blank experiments

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of different samples were conducted (Table 3). Seven kinds of size distributions were tested in the cold condition.

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The result shows that the blank mass loss (Lb) decreases with coal particles size. It can be inferred that the loss of

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fine particles is the major reason of mass loss in blank experiments. Based on the analysis of Table 3, the Lb of

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samples used in blank experiment (120~180 µm) is less than 0.0003, which is negligible compared to the hot

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experiment (up to 0.5). Therefore, the calibration as eq.(3) is credible, value of L is employed represent the

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progress of pyrolysis.

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[Table 3]

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In addition, the particle size distributions of two positions (shown in Fig.1, sampling position A and B) were

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analyzed (Fig.2) in hot experiments. The solid sampled from position A represents the particles entrained by gas

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leaving the reactor, and that from position B represents the particles adhered on the reactor wall, both of which

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cause the error in counting the mass loss (L0). Fig.2 indicates not only the loss particle is small compared to their

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parent coal samples, but also large particles remain in the char gathered on the bottom of the reactor. Both Table 3

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and Fig.2 show that it is acceptable to calculated L by eq. (3).

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[Figure 2] 2.5 Fragmentation parameters

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Particle size and particle distribution are two key parameters reflecting the changes of particle fragmentation.

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The volume average particle diameter, which is frequently short as D[4,3], can be calculated as eq. (4).

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Dimensionless diameter δ is defined as eq. (4), which represents the average size of the particles obtained after

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pyrolysis relative to the initial value of the particles. 5

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D[4, 3] =

δ=

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∑N D ∑N D i

i

i

i

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eq. (4)

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D[4,3]char D[4, 3]coal

eq. (5)

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where D[4,3]char and D[4,3]coal represents the volume average particle diameter of the char and the parent coal,

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respectively.

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Another fragmental parameter is the particle distribution function Sf, which is represented as the ratio of the

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number of the fragmented particles to that of the initial particles. As its tiny volume, the small particle cannot be

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completely wiped out the coal samples. As a consequence, it is hard to assess whether a small particle is derived

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from fragmentation or originated from coal. In addition, the accurate amount of total small particles (30 µ m

eq. (6)

N in ,>30 µ m

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where Nout,>30µm and Nin,>30µm are the number of particles with the diameter of larger than 30 µm, respectively, in

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the char and in the original coal, either of which is calculated by

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N >30 µ m = ∫ N ( D )dD ≈ ∑ 30

30

12 (1 − L )

ϕi ∆Di πρ ( Di 3 + Di +13 )

eq. (7)

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where N(D) is the number of particles with the diameter D; Di and Di+1 are the diameter differential interval; φi is

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the volume fraction of particles of Di, and φi∆Di represents the probability density function (PDF) of particles

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between Di and Di+1. The PDFs of samples were measured by the granulation analysis. Fig.3 also shows an 6

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example of the calculation of N(D).

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[Figure 3]

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3. Results and discussion

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3.1 Pyrolysis progress and median diameter

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3.1.1 Mass loss

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Fig.4a shows the mass loss curves of NM in different temperatures. The mass loss raises approaching 0.5 in

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100 ms at 1573 K, and then keep slowly increasing rate, which indicates a rapid coal pyrolysis at high temperature.

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In comparison, the progress of mass loss is slower at 1173 K. Similar results are also observed in the pyrolysis of

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SF coal (Fig.4b) and JS coal (Fig.4c), which can be inferred that pyrolysis at high temperature is intense and takes

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short time. It is believed that high temperature and long time have positive effect on increasing of mass loss.

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[Figure 4]

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Table 4 presents the initial rate of the mass loss and the time of “half-pyrolysis” (the time when the mass loss

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is half of the maximum mass loss). For lignite, the initial rate increase from 0.090 to 0.530%/ms-1 with the

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temperature rising from 1173 K to 1573 K. The same trend is observed for the bituminous coal and anthracite. On

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the other side, the t0.5 decrease with temperature, which also indicates the rate of pyrolysis rises with temperature.

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Besides, the comparison of different coals shows that the order of pyrolysis rate at the same temperature is

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lignite > bituminous coal > anthracite.

146 147 148

[Table 4] 3.1.2 True density True density of char is connected to its porosity. It is reported that the increase in porosity is expected from

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the increasing true density

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indicates a higher degree of porosity. Fig.5 shows true density variation in pyrolysis of three coals. The result

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. As a consequence, the larger true density of char compared to its parent coal

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shows that both the high temperature and the long time lead to the high density. Also, the coal property affect the

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density, lignite gets a 39.2% increasing and bituminous coal gets 44.6% increasing, however, anthracite only

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increases 17.4%. Furthermore, the char true density rises to 2100 kg/m3 at high temperature approaching the value

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of the graphite density of 2250 kg/m3. It seems that the rise in the true density may due to the graphitisation of the

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carbon structure. The variation is also in accord with the reported data 27, 28.

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[Figure 5]

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The pyrolysis extent increases with pyrolysis time and temperature based on the variation of mass loss and

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true density. The coal property also affects the pyrolysis, and its order of progress is lignite ≈ bituminous coal >

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anthracite.

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3.1.3 Median diameter

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The overall trend of particle median diameter decreasing shows that the fragmentation occurs and influences

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the process greatly (Fig.6). Char’s median diameter of NM (Fig.6a) and JS (Fig.6c) monotonically reduces with

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pyrolysis time, so does the SF (Fig.6b) at lower temperature. Difference appears on SF at high temperature (1373

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K~1573 K), that d0.5 increases with time firstly, and then decreases. This phenomenon indicates the occurrence of

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swelling. The d0.5 of lignite changes from 172.5 µm to153.7 µm (decreases 10.9%) and bituminous coal varies

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from 153.3 µm to138.5 µm (decreases 9.7%). The decrease of median diameter of NM and SF are more

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significant than that of JS (decrease 5.5%).

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[Figure 6]

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3.2 Fragmentation progress

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3.2.1 Effect of pyrolysis time

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Based on eq. (5) and (6), the variations of two parameters δ and Sf were considered simultaneously. Fig.7

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shows the variations of NM lignite. The dimensionless diameter δ appears to decrease with time, indicating that 8

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the particle size becomes smaller. On the other hand, the distribution function Sf increases, which reveals that the

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number of larger particles reduces. Fig.7a shows that these two parameters changes slowly at 1173 K. The δ

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remains nearly constantly while the Sf increases. Fig.7b and 7c show that δ decreases and Sf increases coordinately

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before 150 ms / 116 ms, then δ continuing decreasing with a fixed Sf. Fig .7d and 7e show that the δ decreases

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faster than that at the low temperature, meanwhile, the turning point of Sf become earlier.

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[Figure 7]

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This phenomenon shows that Sf is more temperature-sensitive than δ. The δ of NM decreases monotonically

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with the Sf increasing to its limit. During pyrolysis, coarse fragmentation and exfoliation may occur

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simultaneously, both of which leads to a decrease of δ. However, fragmentation causes not only a smaller δ but

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also an increase of Sf. At low temperature, coarse fragmentation is gentle and takes place with exfoliation, which

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displays as the δ and Sf varies slowly and monotonically. As the temperature goes up, the coarse fragmentation

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occurs more intensely because Sf sharply increases in a short period. Soon the coarse fragmentation complete and

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leave the exfoliation only changing the δ with a constant Sf.

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The result of Fig.8 shows the variations of SF bituminous coal, the similar trends of δ and Sf are reported. At

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1173 K (Fig.8a) and 1273 K (Fig.8b), δ and Sf varies slowly, which indicates the occurrence of fragmentation with

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exfoliation. At high temperature (Fig.8c~8e), fragmentation is intense and last a short period, which illustrate that

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Sf keeps invariant after a rapid increasing. It is observed (Fig.8c~8e) that the dimensionless diameter of particles

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rises beyond 1, before it starts to reduce. This phenomenon indicates the particles swell during the devolatilization.

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During rapid pyrolysis, massive volatile releases to generate gas, leading the overpressure inside of the particles.

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Radial stress may cause the increase in particle diameter, which displays as the occurrence of swelling.

193 194

[Figure 8] The situation of JS anthracite (Fig.9) seems to be similar with lignite and bituminous, δ decreases and Sf 9

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increases with time. However its extent of variations of δ and Sf is quite low compared with NM and JS. The

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maximum drops in δ of NM and SF are 10.9% and 12.7%, and the rise of Sf up to 0.55 and 0.56. These two values

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of JS are 5.1% and 0.03, even the pyrolysis temperature is 1773 K.

198 199 200

[Figure 9] Based on Fig.7~9, it can be inferred that pyrolysis time enhances the fragmentation. 3.2.2 Effect of pyrolysis temperature

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Temperature is another dominant factor in thermal processes, so is the pyrolysis. As shown in Fig.4~6,

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temperature has strong influence on mass loss, true density and median diameter. It is believed that temperature

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may also affect the fragmentation. However, the impact of temperature on the process may differ with the

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variation of duration. Therefore, the effect of temperature is discussed in two stages, initial stages (by the 30 mm

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crucible, NM 54~61 ms, SF 77~86 ms, JS 82~88 ms) and final stage (by the 150 mm crucible, NM 271~308 ms,

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SF 387~432 ms, JS 344~368 ms).

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[Figure 10]

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Fig.10a reports the variation of δ in the initial stage of pyrolysis. NM and JS particles dimensionless

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diameters reduce with temperature, i.e. particles become smaller when temperature rises. By contrast, the drop of

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JS’ δ is not significant as it changes from 1.002 to 0.991. In addition, the effect of temperature on SF’s δ trend is

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opposite with the other two coals. The δ varies from 1.023 (at 1373 K) to 1.030 (at 1473 K) and finally reaches

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1.047 (at 1573 K). The increasing trend of δ with temperature reveals that the swelling extent of SF coal is also

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positively related to temperature. Fig.10b reports the variation of δ in the final stage of pyrolysis, three curves of

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different coals show their clarity and consistency on the decreasing trend of δ. Compared with the result shown in

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Fig.10a, the decrease trend is more obvious, which is reflected by all three coals.

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Fig.10c reports the curves of Sf in short pyrolysis time. NM and SF’ Sfs increase with temperature, which 10

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shows that large particle reduce when temperature rises. However, JS’ Sf remains nearly constantly, indicating that

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the majority of large particle in JS does not change. The result (Fig.10d) shows the similar trends in last stage,

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besides, the increasing trend of NM and SF is less obvious than that in the initial stage.

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Fig.10 discusses the effect of temperature on fragmental parameters δ and Sf. The results show that high

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temperature has apparently positive effect on fragmentation. It is noticed the slight difference exists in the

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variation of δ and Sf. The impact of temperature on reducing δ is more significant in the last stage while increasing

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Sf is more obvious in initial stage. As discussed, change of δ is not only the consequence of fragmentation, but also

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the exfoliation. Overall, temperature enhances the fragmentation, particularly in the initial stage of pyrolysis.

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3.2.3 Effect of coal property

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Although time and temperature significantly affect the fragmentation, the effect of coal property cannot be

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underestimated. As shown in Fig.4~6, mass loss, true density and median diameter have closed connected with the

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coal properties. It is also suggested that the order of pyrolysis progress is lignite ≈ bituminous coal > anthracite. In

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the comparison of Fig.7, 8 and 9, the changing trend of δ and Sf is rather consistent, apparently. However, the

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range of variation of NM and SF is nearly equal which is much bigger than that of JS. For example, at 1573 K, the

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decrease of δ of NM and SF is 2.3 and 2.7 times compared to that of JS, while the increase of Sf is 21.1 and 21.6

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times. Fig.10 further shows that although the pyrolysis temperature of JS is higher (ranging from 1373 K to 1773

233

K), the δ decreases trend is insignificant in both initial and final stages. Meanwhile, Sf keeps constantly, and it is

234

well closed to zero. All evidences seem to indicate that the fragmentation of anthracite is far weak compared with

235

low-rank coal. It is similar that the order of fragmentation progress is lignite ≈ bituminous coal > anthracite.

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Furthermore, Fig.8 and Fig.10a display another unique effect of coal property, i.e. the occurrence of swelling.

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Theoretically the swelling may occurs during the devolatilization of every kinds of coal. However, its occurrence

238

depends on not only the experimental conditions but also coal property itself. The SF coal tends to swell in the 11

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initial stage at high temperature, which is not observed in the NM and JS.

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3.3 Fragmental characteristic and particle morphology

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As presented in Senneca’s 2 and Paprika’s 22 works, possible fragmentation modes can be classified into three

242

categories: exfoliation, fragmentation at outer zone and fragmentation at the center. These different modes may

243

cause diversity in the fragmental characteristics and particle morphology. As the consequence of thermal shock,

244

exfoliation describes that the out shell of coal breaks up and generates fine particles, most obvious characteristic

245

of which displays as the δ decreases with a constant Sf. The fragmentation at outer zone leads to the out zone

246

separating from mother particles, however, the main body remains. As a result,δ drops with Sf rises while the

247

morphological parameters keep nearly constantly. The fragmentation at the center is much more intense that the

248

whole structure breaks up. As consequence, the size of particle decrease shapely and giant reformation on

249

morphology. These three phenomena are listed in Table 5.

250 251

[Table 5] Four parameters

29

are utilized to describe the shape characteristic of char particle. Sphericity (Fig.11a)

252

represents the degree of which the particle (or its projection area) is similar to a circle, considering the smoothness

253

of the perimeter: Spht.=4πA/P2, where the A and P are the measured area and perimeter a particle projection.

254

Symmetry (Fig.11b) is defined as, Symm.=(1+rmin/rmax)/2, where the rmin and rmax are the minimum and maximum

255

distances from the center of area to the borders, respectively. Breadth length ratio (Fig.11c), is expressed as B/L=

256

xFe,min/xFe,max, where xFe,min and xFe,max stands for the minimum and maximum Feret diameter of the particle.

257

Convexity (Fig.11d) equals the ratio of real area and convex area of the particle projection. The result shows that

258

no significant changes in morphology have occurred in the thermal process. The NM, SF and JS maximum

259

changes of sphericity are 1.4%, 1.0% and 0.9%. The value variations of symmetry are less than 1.0%, 0.6% and

260

0.6%. The breadth length ratio of particles changes no more than 3.0%, 1.4% and 1.9%. The convexities remain 12

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still and closed to 1, indicating that the entire surfaces of particles are convex. The result reveals that no

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fragmentation occurs at the center, since the morphological parameters are constant. It is believed that

263

fragmentation occurs at outer zone during the rapid pyrolysis of NM and SF, and the fragmentation of JS is

264

insignificant.

265 266

[Figure 11]

5. Conclusion

267

A pyrolysis experiment has been carried out on fragmental characteristics of NM lignite, SF bituminous coal

268

and JS anthracite. Based on the analysis of mass loss, true density, median diameter, size distribution and particle

269

morphology, three conclusions can be made as the following points:

270

1. The pyrolysis extent is higher when residence time is longer and temperature is higher, which displays as the

271

larger value of mass loss and true density. The pyrolysis of low-rank coal is more significant than anthracite due to

272

the greater decease of solid mass and increase in density.

273

2. The fragmentation progress is also sensitive to time and temperature. High temperature and long time intensify

274

the fragmentation. At high temperature, fragmentation occurs rapidly and completes soon. Also the exfoliation

275

takes place in parallel with fragmentation. The fragmental characteristics of different coals are diverse.

276

Distinguishingly, swelling occurs in the case of SF at high temperature and short time. The overall order of

277

fragmentation progress displays as the low-rank coal is more significant than anthracite.

278

3. The morphological parameters, sphericity, symmetry, B/L ratio and convexity change little during the rapid

279

pyrolysis. Results show that no fragmentation occurs at the center of particle in the experimental condition.

280

Therefore, major fragmentation occurs at the outer zone of particle in the case of NM and SF, and the exfoliation

281

dominates the pyrolysis of JS.

282

Acknowledgements 13

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283

This work has been supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (21376079).

284

Reference

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(1) Van Heek, K.; Hodek, W., Structure and pyrolysis behaviour of different coals and relevant model substances. Fuel 1994, 73, (6), 886-896. (2) Senneca, O.; Urciuolo, M.; Chirone, R., A semidetailed model of primary fragmentation of coal. Fuel 2013, 104, 253-261. (3) Helble, J.; Sarofim, A., Influence of char fragmentation on ash particle size distributions. Combustion and Flame 1989, 76, (2), 183-196. (4) Baxter, L. L., Char fragmentation and fly ash formation during pulverized-coal combustion. Combustion and Flame 1992, 90, (2), 174-184. (5) Buhre, B.; Hinkley, J.; Gupta, R.; Nelson, P.; Wall, T., Fine ash formation during combustion of pulverised coal–coal property impacts. Fuel 2006, 85, (2), 185-193. (6) Pecanha, R.; Gibbs, B. In The importance of coal fragmentation and swelling on coal burning rates in a fluidised bed combustor, Proceedings of the third international conference on fluidized combustion, 1984; 1984; pp 65-71. (7) Salatino, P.; Miccio, F.; Massimilla, L., Combustion and percolative fragmentation of carbons. Combustion and flame 1993, 95, (4), 342-350. (8) Pereira, C.; Pinho, C., Influence of particle fragmentation and non-sphericity on the determination of diffusive and kinetic fluidized bed biochar combustion data. Fuel 2014, 131, 77-88. (9) Senneca, O.; Cortese, L., Thermal annealing of coal at high temperature and high pressure. Effects on fragmentation and on rate of combustion, gasification and oxy-combustion. Fuel 2014, 116, 221-228. (10) Senneca, O.; Urciuolo, M.; Chirone, R.; Cumbo, D., An experimental study of fragmentation of coals during fast pyrolysis at high temperature and pressure. Fuel 2011, 90, (9), 2931-2938. (11) Sundback, C. A.; Beér, J. M.; Sarofim, A. F. In Fragmentation behavior of single coal particles in a fluidized bed, Symposium (International) on Combustion, 1985; Elsevier: 1985; pp 1495-1503. (12) Chirone, R.; Massimilla, L. In Primary fragmentation of a coal in fluidized bed combustion, Symposium (International) on Combustion, 1989; Elsevier: 1989; pp 267-277. (13) Arena, U.; Cammarota, A.; Chirone, R. In Primary and secondary fragmentation of coals in a circulating fluidized bed combustor, Symposium (International) on Combustion, 1994; Elsevier: 1994; pp 219-226. (14) Sasongko, D.; Stubington, J. F., Significant factors affecting devolatilization of fragmenting, non-swelling coals in fluidized bed combustion. Chemical engineering science 1996, 51, (16), 3909-3918. (15) Zhang, H.; Cen, K.; Yan, J.; Ni, M., The fragmentation of coal particles during the coal combustion in a fluidized bed. Fuel 2002, 81, (14), 1835-1840. (16) Cui, Y.; Stubington, J. F., In-bed char combustion of Australian coals in PFBC. 3. Secondary fragmentation. Fuel 2001, 80, (15), 2245-2251. (17) Dacombe, P.; Pourkashanian, M.; Williams, A.; Yap, L., Combustion-induced fragmentation behavior of isolated coal particles. Fuel 1999, 78, (15), 1847-1857. 14

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(18) Liu, G.; Wu, H.; Gupta, R.; Lucas, J.; Tate, A.; Wall, T., Modeling the fragmentation of non-uniform porous char particles during pulverized coal combustion. Fuel 2000, 79, (6), 627-633. (19) Kim, R.-G.; Li, D.; Jeon, C.-H., Experimental investigation of ignition behavior for coal rank using a flat flame burner at a high heating rate. Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science 2014, 54, 212-218. (20) Senneca, O.; Allouis, C.; Chirone, R.; Russo, S., Set up of an experimental apparatus for the study of fragmentation of solid fuels upon severe heating. Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science 2010, 34, (3), 366-372. (21) Suzuki, A.; Yamamoto, T.; Aoki, H.; Miura, T., Percolation model for simulation of coal combustion process. Proceedings of the Combustion Institute 2002, 29, (1), 459-466. (22) Paprika, M. J.; Komatina, M. S.; Dakić, D. V.; Nemoda, S. Đ., Prediction of Coal Primary Fragmentation and Char Particle Size Distribution in Fluidized Bed. Energy & Fuels 2013, 27, (9), 5488-5494. (23) Dakič, D.; van der Honing, G.; Valk, M., Fragmentation and swelling of various coals during devolatilization in a fluidized bed. Fuel 1989, 68, (7), 911-916. (24) Chirone, R.; Salatino, P.; Massimilla, L., Secondary fragmentation of char particles during combustion in a fluidized bed. Combustion and Flame 1989, 77, (1), 79-90. (25) Chern, J.-S.; Hayhurst, A. N., Does a large coal particle in a hot fluidised bed lose its volatile content according to the shrinking core model? Combustion and flame 2004, 139, (3), 208-221. (26) BS ISO 501:2012 Hard coal — Determination of the crucible swelling number. (27) Somerville, M.; Jahanshahi, S., The effect of temperature and compression during pyrolysis on the density of charcoal made from Australian eucalypt wood. Renew. Energy 2015, 80, 471-478. (28) Brown, R. A.; Kercher, A. K.; Nguyen, T. H.; Nagle, D. C.; Ball, W. P., Production and characterization of synthetic wood chars for use as surrogates for natural sorbents. Organic Geochemistry 2006, 37, (3), 321-333. (29) BS ISO 9276-6:2008, Representation of results of particle size analysis — Part 6: Descriptive and quantitative representation of particle shape and morphology.

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Table 1. Characteristics of coals used. Proximate analysis/d,%

Ultimate analysis/d,%

Samples VM

FC

Ash

C

H

N

S

O

NM

42.31

41.05

16.64

56.37

3.81

0.82

0.29

22.07

SF

36.70

55.14

8.16

70.55

4.15

0.94

0.45

15.75

JS

8.86

76.71

14.42

81.39

1.98

1.00

0.67

0.54

Density

d0.1

d0.5

d0.9

kg/m3

µm

µm

µm

NM

1508.6

130.2

172.5

SF

1399.5

93.1

JS

1617.6

89.7

Samples

353

Spht.

Symm.

B/L

Conv.

CSN*

218.8

0.884

0.898

0.727

0.995

1.5

154.3

221

0.875

0.901

0.716

0.992

3

122.5

160.4

0.876

0.9

0.707

0.992

1

*CSN is short for crucible swelling number, based on BS ISO 501:2012

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Table 2. Residence time of the particles in the molybdenum tube at different temperatures. Residence time of different mmolybdenum tube/ms

Temperature K

NM

SF

JS

30mm

40mm

60mm

80mm

100mm

125mm

150mm

1173

48.8

65.0

97.1

128.9

160.4

200.0

240.4

1273

50.3

66.8

99.1

131.7

164.7

206.0

247.9

1373

52.0

68.9

102.6

137.0

171.4

214.4

256.9

1473

54.1

71.6

106.1

141.1

176.0

219.2

262.5

1573

55.4

73.7

109.5

144.8

179.2

221.8

264.5

1173

93.0

123.8

185.7

248.0

309.9

387.3

463.3

1273

95.3

126.3

188.0

250.5

314.4

393.9

470.5

1373

93.2

123.1

185.2

248.2

311.1

389.2

465.2

1473

95.9

126.4

189.6

253.6

318.0

398.9

477.7

1573

92.1

120.4

179.9

240.2

302.1

380.7

458.3

1373

85.4

113.9

171.1

228.3

286.2

358.5

-

1573

89.6

119.5

178.1

236.4

295.2

368.5

-

1773

90.8

121.2

182.2

242.1

301.2

374.9

-

355 356

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Table 3. Mass loss of different coal samples in blank experiments. NM

Size

358 359

Page 18 of 31

SF

JS

Distribution

D[4,3]

Lb

D[4,3]

Lb

D[4,3]

Lb

µm

µm

%

µm

%

µm

%

>425

512

-

624

0.0024

499

-

180~425

221

0.0037

254

0.0050

202

0.0032

120~180*

174

0.0237

167

0.0294

125

0.0134

83~120

101

0.0184

109

0.0243

99

0.0321

60~83

71

0.0353

77

0.0204

65

0.0299

45~60

48

0.0440

48

0.0417

47

0.0564