Energy Fuels 2009, 23, 4496–4501 Published on Web 07/24/2009
: DOI:10.1021/ef900235e
Rapid Gasification of Nascent Char in Steam Atmosphere during the Pyrolysis of Na- and Ca-Ion-Exchanged Brown Coals in a Drop-Tube Reactor Ondrej Masek,†,‡ Sou Hosokai,† Koyo Norinaga,† Chun-Zhu Li,§ and Jun-ichiro Hayashi*,† † Center for Advanced Research of Energy Conversion Materials, Hokkaido University N13-W8, Kita-ku, Sapporo 060-8628, Japan, ‡School of Geosciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, EH9 3JN, United Kingdom, and §Curtin Centre for Advanced Energy Science and Engineering, Department of Chemical Engineering, Curtin University of Technology GPO Box U1987, WA 6845, Australia
Received March 17, 2009. Revised Manuscript Received June 19, 2009
Several recent studies on in situ steam gasification of coal suggest a possibility of extremely fast steam gasification of char from rapid pyrolysis of pulverized brown coal. The unprecedented rate of char steam gasification can be achieved by exposing nascent char, that is, after tar evolution (temperature range >600 °C), but before devolatilization (