CARBON COMBUSTION RATES AND TEMPERATURES IN SHALLOW FLUIDIZED BEDS

The mechanism of combustion of carbon in shallow fluidized beds at temperatures 750-1000°C is studied by measuring burning rates and temperatures of spherical carbon particles ranging from 2 mm to 12 mm diameter directly in an experimental fluidized bed. Among variables investigated were inert particle size, superficial fluidizing velocity, temperature, the influence of neighbouring active particles and oxygen concentration in the fluidizing gas.

Under the experimental conditions explored, combustion was mainly kinetically controlled, so that with carbon particles larger than about 4 mm, burning rates are significantly higher than those predicted by combustion models which assume combustion to be controlled by the rate at which oxygen diffuses through a stagnant particulate phase surrounding the burning particle. The higher burning rate seems to arise because the greater mobility of particles in the bed causes the restriction to oxygen flow to the carbon surface offered by the particulate phase to be reduced and has important consequences for combustor design.

Measured carbon particle temperatures were influenced considerably by bed operating conditions ranging from 15 to 215°C higher than bed temperature.

Measured burning rates of carbon particles were found to be reduced significantly when other active particles were present in the bed. This sensitivity of burning rate to changes in active particle concentration in the bed was shown to be increasingly important once the concentration of carbon in the bed exceeded about 1%

Increasing the bed inert particle size, superficial fluidizing velocity, oxygen concentration in the fluidizing gas and bed temperature resulted in higher burning rates. The implication of these findings on combustor design are discussed.     

CARBON COMBUSTION RATES AND TEMPERATURES IN SHALLOW FLUIDIZED BEDS

Abstract

The mechanism of combustion of carbon in shallow fluidized beds at temperatures 750-1000°C is studied by measuring burning rates and temperatures of spherical carbon particles ranging from 2 mm to 12 mm diameter directly in an experimental fluidized bed. Among variables investigated were inert particle size, superficial fluidizing velocity, temperature, the influence of neighbouring active particles and oxygen concentration in the fluidizing gas.

Under the experimental conditions explored, combustion was mainly kinetically controlled, so that with carbon particles larger than about 4 mm, burning rates are significantly higher than those predicted by combustion models which assume combustion to be controlled by the rate at which oxygen diffuses through a stagnant particulate phase surrounding the burning particle. The higher burning rate seems to arise because the greater mobility of particles in the bed causes the restriction to oxygen flow to the carbon surface offered by the particulate phase to be reduced and has important consequences for combustor design.

Measured carbon particle temperatures were influenced considerably by bed operating conditions ranging from 15 to 215°C higher than bed temperature.

Measured burning rates of carbon particles were found to be reduced significantly when other active particles were present in the bed. This sensitivity of burning rate to changes in active particle concentration in the bed was shown to be increasingly important once the concentration of carbon in the bed exceeded about 1%

Increasing the bed inert particle size, superficial fluidizing velocity, oxygen concentration in the fluidizing gas and bed temperature resulted in higher burning rates. The implication of these findings on combustor design are discussed.     

Effects of fuel devolatilisation on the combustion of wood chips and incineration of simulated municipal solid wastes in a packed bed

Detailed mathematical simulations as well as experiments have been carried out for the combustion of wood chips and the incineration of simulated municipal solid wastes in a bench-top stationary bed and the effects of devolatilisation rate and moisture level in the fuel were assessed in terms of ignition time, burning rate, reaction zone thickness, peak flame temperature, combustion stoichiometry and unburned gas emissions at the bed top. It is found that devolatilisation kinetic rate has a noticeable effects on the ignition time, peak flame temperature, CO and H₂ emissions at the bed top and the proportion of char burned in the final stage (char burning only) of the combustion. However, it has only a minor effect on the other parameters. Reaction zone thickness ranges from 20 to 55 mm depending on the moisture level in fuel and an increase in the moisture level causes a shift of the combustion stoichiometry to more fuel-lean conditions.     

Internal burning of petroleum coke particles in a fluidized bed

Physical properties of small irregular petroleum coke particles (3.08 mm) have been measured at various stages of combustion in a fluidized bed of sand operating in the range 973–1173 K. Internal burning took place during the particle heating period even at bed temperatures of 1173 K. However, at this temperature, the particles burnt predominantly under mass transfer control subsequent to ignition and particle heating. Combustion behaviour at 973 K was typical of internal burning characteristics, i.e. pore enlargement and decrease in particle density continued as burning progressed.     

THE EFFECT OF RADIAL DISTRIBUTION OF VOIDAGE ON THE BURNING RATE OF A CARBON SPHERE IN A FLUIDIZED BED

The local void around a sphere in a packed bed or in the emulsion phase of a fluidized bed has been calculated theoretically; and measured as a function of the radial distance from the centre of the sphere. Effects of this distribution on the burning rate and Sherwood number have been investigated for two types of bed e.g. where inerts are of the same size as the carbon particle and where the inerts are smaller than the carbon particle. Even though the present analysis studies the effect on the diffusive component of the mass transfer alone, the results suggest that the distribution of voidage will yield Sherwood numbers higher than that calculated from the constant voidage assumption. The voidage distribution explains the increase in burning rate of carbon with increasing size of the inerts.     

A model for the rate of hydrodesulfurization of thiophene in a continuous catalytic fixed bed reactor

Hydrodesulfurization of thiophene in n-heptane, using a mixture of cobalt and molybdenum oxides as catalyst, has been studied in a fixed bed integral reactor, 200 mm long, 30 mm outer diameter and 20 mm inner diameter. It has been shown that, under experimental conditions employed in this study, neither external nor internal diffusion had been effective in the process and isothermal conditions prevailed in both gas and solid phases. A three step mechanism has been proposed for the hydrodesulfurization of thiophene. According to such a mechanism the diluent (n-heptane) acts as an inhibitor by occupying free active sites. In further steps, thiophene is adsorbed on the catalyst surface and then undergoes reaction with hydrogen gas. Based on this scheme a rate model has been derived and verified by experimental results.     

NEPE推进剂燃烧性能研究

NEPE高能固体推进剂因其优良的综合性能具有十分良好的应用前景。通过调整氧化剂含量、种类及含能增塑剂用量,对NEPE推进剂的燃烧速度和燃速压力指数进行了调节,燃速在9．3～11．6mm／s(7.0MPa)范围内可调，燃速压力指数由0．61降为0.54。     

Effect of fuel properties on biomass combustion. Part II. Modelling approach—identification of the controlling factors

Biomass fuels come from many varieties of sources resulting in a wide range of physical and chemical properties. In this work, mathematical models of a packed bed system were employed to simulate the effects of four fuel properties on the burning characteristics in terms of burning rate, combustion stoichiometry, flue gas composition and solid-phase temperature. Numerical calculations were carried out and results were compared with measurements wherever possible. It was found that burning rate is mostly influenced by fuel size and smaller fuels result in higher combustion rate due to increased reacting surface area and enhanced gas-phase mixing in the bed; combustion stoichiometry is equally influenced by fuel LCV and size as a consequence of variation in burning rate as well as the mass ratio of combustible elements to the oxygen in the fuel; for the solid-phase temperature, material density has the strongest influence and a denser material has a higher maximum bed temperature as it results in a less fuel-rich combustion condition; while CO concentration in the flue gases is mostly affected by both fuel calorific value and size, CH₄ in the exiting flow is greatly affected by material density due to change in reaction zone thickness.     

Fuel size effect on pinewood combustion in a packed bed

In this paper, particle size effect on pinewood combustion in a stationary packed bed was investigated. Mass loss rate, temperature profile at different bed locations and gas compositions in the out-of-bed flue gases were measured at a fixed primary air flow rate. Pinewood cubes was fired with size ranging from 5 to 35 mm. A unique numerical model applicable to thermally thick particles was proposed and relevant equations were solved to simulate the non-homogeneous characteristics of the burning process. It is found that at the operating conditions of the current study, smaller particles are quicker to ignite than larger particles and have distinctive combustion stages; burning rate is also higher with smaller fuel size; and smaller fuels have a thinner reaction zone and result in both higher CO and CH₄ concentrations in the out-of-bed flue gases; on the other hand, larger particles produced a higher flame temperature and result in higher H₂ concentration in the flue gases. Larger particles also cause the combustion process becoming more transient where the burning rate varies for most part of the combustion process.     

Distribution of the gas flow in fluidized beds with a slugging behaviour

Capacitance probe measurements of the visible bubble flow rate have been made in a pressurized fluidized bed burning coal. The bed, of 0.3 × 0.3 m cross-section, was operated at pressures between 1.0 and 2.0 MPa and at temperatures between 750 and 900°C. The fluidizing velocity was 0.95 m/s and the mean particle diameter was 0.9 mm. Based on the experimental results, a model of the gas distribution between the bubble phase and the particulate phase in fluidized beds with a slugging behaviour was developed. The model accounts for the lack of bubble flow obtained if the two-phase theory is employed. In order to verify the model, simultaneous measurements of the visible bubble flow rate and of the gas flow rate through the bubbles were carried out in a bed of similar geometry but operating at ambient conditions. In this bed the fludizing velocity was varied between 1.6 and 2.7 m/s and the mean particle diameter was 1.0 mm. The through-flow of gas was measured with the aid of pressure probes. Evaluation of the experimental results using the model showed that this gas through-flow in the bubble phase subsequently increases the superficial gas velocity in the particulate phase between the vertically aligned bubbles (slugs), and that this gas velocity in excess of the incipient fluidization velocity is responsible for the large deviation from the two-phase theory. The associated increase of the particulate phase voidage was calculated via the Ergun equation.     

Burning rate of carbon in fluidized beds

An experimental method for determining the rate of burning of a carbon sphere within a fluidized bed of sand is described. Experiments have been carried out at three different bed temperatures. Measured values were compared with theoretical values and they were found to be in reasonable agreement. The difference between the core temperature of the carbon sphere and that of the bed was found to increase with diminishing size of the sphere.     

Combustion Characteristics of a Novel Grain‐Binding High Burning Rate Propellant

The novel grain‐binding high burning rate propellant (NGHP) is prepared via a solventless extrusion process of binder and spherical propellant grains. Compared with the traditional grain‐binding porous propellants, NGHP is compact and has no interior micropores. During the combustion of NGHP, there appear honeycomb‐like burning layers, which increase the burning surface and the burning rate of the propellant. The combustion of NGHP is a limited convective combustion process and apt to achieve stable state. The larger the difference between the burning rate of the binder and that of the spherical granular propellants exists, the higher burning rate NGHP has. The smaller the mass ratio of the binder to the spherical granular propellants is, the higher the burning rate of NGHP is. It shows that the addition of 3 wt.‐% composite catalyst (the mixture of lead/copper complex and copper/chrome oxides at a mass ratio of 1 : 1) into NGHP can enhance the burning rate from 48.78 mm⋅s⁻¹ in the absence of catalyst to 56.66 mm⋅s⁻¹ at P=9.81 MPa and decrease the pressure exponent from 0.686 to 0.576 in the pressure range from 9.81 to 19.62 MPa.     

Investigation of fluidized bed behaviour using electrical capacitance tomography

The temporal and cross-sectional distributions of particles in a 127 mm diameter fluidized bed have been obtained using a new generation, high-speed electrical capacitance tomography. Two planes of eight electrodes were used and mounted at 160 and 660 mm from the gas distributor which was a 3 mm thick porous plastic plate (maximum pore size of 50-70 μ m). 3 mm diameter, nearly-spherical polyethylene granules made up the bed. Experiments at sampling frequencies of 200-2000 cross-sections per second and gas superficial velocities from just below the minimum fluidization to 83% above minimum fluidization velocities were used. The time series of the cross-sectional average void fractions have been examined both directly and in amplitude and frequency space. The last two used probability density functions and power spectral densities. The information gathered shows that the fluidized bed was operating in the slugging mode, which is not surprising given the size of the particles. It has been found that an increase in the excess gas velocity above the minimum fluidization velocity resulted in an increase in the mean void fraction, an increase in the length and velocity of the slug bubbles as well as the bed height, and a slight decrease in the slug frequency. The results are presented in a level of detail suitable for comparison with later numerical simulation.     

THE TEMPERATURE OF BURNING CARBON PARTICLES IN A FAST FLUIDIZED BED OF FINE PARTICLES

The temperature of coarse (6–8 mm) carbon particles burning in a fast fluidized bed was measured. The burning carbon particle was found to be 50–70^°C hotter than the bed solids. The convective heat transfer coefficient on the particle was also measured in a separate experiment to help predict the temperature of the carbon particle using a mathematical model which considered both combustion kinetics and heat transfer on the particle. A good agreement between the predicted and measured values of temperature was found.     

高浓度化工废液流化床焚烧炉的研制与应用

介绍了高浓度废液流化床焚烧炉的工作原理和结构,对流化床焚烧炉的设计以及为提高废液焚烧效率和辅助燃料利用率、防止二次污染所采用的关键技术进行了探讨和分析。该流化床焚烧炉具有废液焚烧彻底、环保性能优良、运行费用低廉等显著优点。     

Pressure and flow characteristics of a gas phase spout-fluid bed and the minimum spout-fluid condition

Spoutfluidization is a new technique for solid-fluid contact which aims at incorporating the advantages of spouted bed and fluidized bed technique. The characteristics of physical state of the bed with the variation of the variables which include flow of fluid, particle diameter, orifice diameter, bed height, are studied in this investigation. Experimental study of minimum spoutfluidizing velocity using glass beads with mean particle diameters from 0.254 to 0.600 mm has been carried out in a 90 mm glass column with three spouting inlet orifice sizes at different bed heights. Phase diagrams indicate that the minimum spout-fluid flow rate in a gas-solid system may be a point property for a given bed. A correlation is presented in which the standard deviation of experimental from calculated minimum spoutfluidizing velocity is within 5%.     

三相流化床中光催化降解反应特性的研究

在设计并建立的流态化光催化反应器中,采用负载型光催化剂对甲基橙水溶液进行了光催化降解实验研究。优化了三相流化状态下光催化反应器的操作条件, 其结果为:气体流量200-250Lh-1,液体流量30 Lh-1,催化剂用量为1.5gkg-1处理液;考察了该反应器中催化剂的使用寿命,为光催化降解技术的工业应用研究提供了参考。     

The measurement of light transmission through an irradiated fluidised bed

The transmission of light through an irradiated fluidised bed with vertical flat walls containing catalytic particles has been experimentally studied. The amount of light transmitted through the reactor was measured at different levels by a photocell. The experimental variables studied included: (i) gas flow rate, varying from 2 to more than 10 times that required for minimum fluidisation; (ii) mean particle size, ranging from 0.138 to 0.275 mm; and (iii) internal bed thickness from 2.1 to 4.9 mm. The effect of the reflectance of the particles was also examined.Results show that the amount of light transmitted through a flat fluidised bed is low. The average transmitted light has been satisfactorily correlated     

Storage stability of solid rocket fuel. 1. Effect of temperature

Ageing behaviour of polystyrene (PS)/ammonium perchlorate (AP) propellent leading to ballistic changes has been studied. It follows a zero-order kinetic law. Ageing behaviour leading to change in burning rate ($\text{r}\text{?}$) in the temperature range of 60–200 ° C was found to remain the same. The dependence of the change of the average thermal decomposition (TD) rate at 230 and 260°C on the change in burning rate for the propellant aged at 100 ° C in air suggests that the slow TD of the propellant is the cause of ageing. The safe-life (for a pre-assigned burning-rate change limit) at 25 ° C in air has been calculated as a function of the rate of change.