Experimental and modelling study on char combustion and gasification at high temperature in a single particle combustor

Denmark is making an effort to create an energy system without dependent on fossile ernergy (e.g. coal) in 2050, and biomass is promoted as an alternative to fossil fuels. In a pulverized biomass combustor, char oxidation and char gasification with H₂O and CO₂ may occur simultaneously [1]. It was found that the heterogeneous char reactions and the CO oxidation in the particle boundary layer influenced significantly the conversion time of coal char particles [2,3]. However, the effect of these reactions on the conversion of millimeter-sized biomass char particles under pulverized fuel combustion conditions has not been studied systematically through experiments and modelling.
The present work aims at developing and validating a comprehensive progressive char conversion model for biomass char under pulverized fuel combustor conditions. Experiments of spherical wood char particles were conducted in a single particle combustor under different temperature and gas atmosphere conditions.