Fundamental Studies of Solid-Fuel Combustion Using a Two-Stage Flat-Flame Burner
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Washington University in St. Louis Washington University Open Scholarship Engineering and Applied Science Theses & Dissertations McKelvey School of Engineering Spring 5-15-2018 Fundamental studies of solid-fuel combustion using a two-stage flat-flame burner Adewale Ayodeji Adeosun Washington University in St. Louis Follow this and additional works at: https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/eng_etds Part of the Chemical Engineering Commons, and the Environmental Engineering Commons Recommended Citation Adeosun, Adewale Ayodeji, "Fundamental studies of solid-fuel combustion using a two-stage flat-flame burner" (2018). Engineering and Applied Science Theses & Dissertations. 323. https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/eng_etds/323 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the McKelvey School of Engineering at Washington University Open Scholarship. It has been accepted for inclusion in Engineering and Applied Science Theses & Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Washington University Open Scholarship. For more information, please contact [email protected]. WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY IN ST. LOUIS School of Engineering & Applied Science Department of Energy, Environmental, and Chemical Engineering Dissertation Examination Committee: Richard L. Axelbaum, Chair Ramesh Agarwal Pratim Biswas Rajan Chakrabarty Benjamin M. Kumfer Patricia Weisensee Fundamental studies of solid-fuel combustion using a two-stage flat-flame burner By Adewale Ayodeji Adeosun A dissertation presented to The Graduate School of Washington University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy May, 2018 St. Louis, Missouri © 2018, Adewale Ayodeji Adeosun Table of Contents List of Figures ............................................................................................................................... vi List of Tables ............................................................................................................................... xii Acknowledgments ...................................................................................................................... xiii Abstract of the dissertation ....................................................................................................... xvi Chapter 1 Introduction................................................................................................................. 1 1.1 Background and motivation ................................................................................................ 1 1.1.1 Fossil fuels: Meeting present and future global energy needs .................................. 1 1.1.2 The path to sustainable coal utilization and the role of fundamental studies ............ 2 1.2 Fundamental studies of the early-stage processes of coal combustion ............................... 4 1.3 Platforms for fundamental coal studies............................................................................... 6 1.4 A novel two-stage Hencken burner ..................................................................................... 7 1.5 Dissertation outline ............................................................................................................. 8 Chapter 2 Design and characterization of a novel two-stage Hencken burner ..................... 10 2.1 Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 10 2.2 Burner design and characterization ................................................................................... 10 2.2.1 Two-stage Hencken flat-flame burner description .................................................. 10 2.2.2 Gas supply ............................................................................................................... 14 2.2.3 Gas temperature measurements ............................................................................... 14 2.2.4 Normal and inverse flame configurations ............................................................... 16 2.3 Oxidizing flame characterization ...................................................................................... 18 2.3.1 Flame characterization at low Z st ............................................................................ 18 2.3.2 Flame characterization at high Z st ........................................................................... 23 2.4 Reducing-oxidizing flame characterization ...................................................................... 27 2.5 Coal feeding system .......................................................................................................... 33 2.6 Summary ........................................................................................................................... 39 Chapter 3 Effect of the reducing-to-oxidizing environment on single particle ignition ....... 40 3.1 Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 40 3.2 Single particle ignition ...................................................................................................... 40 ii 3.3 Experimental methods ...................................................................................................... 43 3.4 High-speed, high-resolution videography ......................................................................... 44 3.5 Coal properties .................................................................................................................. 46 3.6 Results and discussion ...................................................................................................... 46 3.6.1 Effect of gas temperature on coal particle ignition ................................................. 46 3.6.2 Effect of the reducing-to-oxidizing environment on coal particle ignition ............. 49 3.7 Summary ........................................................................................................................... 53 Chapter 4 The role of size on single particle ignition and the simultaneous determination of particle size and ignition time .................................................................................................... 55 4.1 Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 55 4.2 Particle size range and ignition studies ............................................................................. 56 4.3 Coal proximate and ultimate analyses .............................................................................. 57 4.4 Simultaneous determination of particle size and ignition delay time ............................... 58 4.5 Results and discussion ...................................................................................................... 62 4.5.1 Effect of particle size on ignition in oxidizing conditions ...................................... 62 4.5.2 Effect of particle size on ignition in reducing-to-oxidizing conditions................... 64 4.5.3 Ignition time and particle size statistical results ...................................................... 68 4.6 Summary ........................................................................................................................... 71 Chapter 5 The effects of particle size and the transition from a reducing-to-oxidizing environment on pulverized coal stream ignition ...................................................................... 72 5.1 Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 72 5.2 Experimental methods ...................................................................................................... 75 5.3 Particle size used for this study ......................................................................................... 76 5.4 Results and discussion ...................................................................................................... 76 5.4.1 Effect of particle size on coal stream ignition in the 1300 K oxidizing condition .. 76 5.4.2 Effect of particle size on coal stream ignition in the 1800 K oxidizing condition .. 79 5.4.3 Effect of particle size on coal stream ignition in the 1300 K reducing-to-oxidizing environment ......................................................................................................................... 83 5.4.4 Effects of particle size on coal stream ignition in the 1800 K in reducing-to-oxidizing environment ......................................................................................................................... 87 5.4.5 Particle size and ignition delay in reducing-to-oxidizing environment .................. 89 iii 5.5 Scanning electron microscopic analysis of particles: Effect of particle size, temperature and oxygen composition .................................................................................................................. 90 5.5.1 Micrographs of particles in the 1300 K oxidizing and R-O conditions .................. 90 5.5.2 Micrographs of particles in the 1800 K oxidizing and R-O conditions .................. 92 5.6 Summary ........................................................................................................................... 94 Chapter 6 Coal combustion modeling and analysis ................................................................. 96 6.1