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The utilization of hydrogen is gaining increasing attention due to its high heating value and environmentally friendly combustion product. The supercritical water circulating fluidized bed reactor is a promising and potentially clean technology that can generate hydrogen from coal gasification. Cyclone is a vital part of the reactor which can separate incomplete decomposition of pulverized coal particles from mixed working fluid. This paper aims to gain in-depth understanding of the cyclone separation mechanisms under supercritical fluid by computational fluid dynamics (CFD). Although the amount of supercritical carbon dioxide in mixed working fluid is minor, it obviously influences the flow fields and separation efficiency of a cyclone. The simulation results suggest that both the decreasing content of supercritical carbon dioxide and adding the extra dipleg cause the promoting performance of cyclones. Research findings could refine the design of supercritical fluid–solid cyclones.

Publisher Summary This chapter attempts to provide sufficient knowledge to specify burners, critically assess a burner design and optimize furnace performance and heat transfer. The performance of the burners has a huge effect on furnace operation and efficiency, yet it is relatively rarely that burner design is fully integrated with the furnace heat transfer requirements; little wonder then that poor performance is often the result. A burner is a transducer since it transforms one form of energy into another form of energy. In the case of the burner, it transforms the chemical energy in the fuel into heat energy within the furnace using the chemical reactions in a flame. The effectiveness with which this is achieved is a measure of its performance. Gas burners are generally classified as premixed or turbulent jet diffusion burners, such as premixed burners, where the fuel and most of the air are mixed together prior to passing through the nozzle and turbulent jet diffusion burners, where the fuel and most of the air are introduced separately and are mixed within the furnace. Burners and furnaces are also classified by the air delivery system as natural draught, forced draught, induced draught and balanced draught. Oil burners have the added complexity of two-phase flow resulting from the spray of fuel. Pulverized coal firing has many advantages over other forms of coal firing and makes burning coal similar to oil firing from a process viewpoint. Pulverized coal burners are similar to oil burners but the atomizer is replaced with a coal nozzle. The fine coal is air conveyed to the nozzle. Burners are often specified and selected from a catalogue based on little more than the estimated heat liberation required for the furnace, the number of burners needed and the price of the burner.

Aiming to solve the difficult treatment for Enteromorpha found on beaches as well as the requirements for new types of environment-friendly dust suppressants, an Enteromorpha-based environment-friendly dust suppressant was prepared by graft polymerization. The optimal reaction conditions were determined based on the viscosity of the dust suppressant solution as follows: the mass ratios of Enteromorpha, acrylic acid, and polyacrylamide were 2:5:0.3; the reaction temperature was 70 °C; the solids content was 5%; and a mass concentration of 0.2% lauryl sodium sulfate was added to enhance the wettability performance. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and thermogravimetry (TG)-derivative analysis (dTG) were used to characterize the chemical structure and thermal stability of the dust suppressant, respectively. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used to analyze and evaluate the film structure formed on the coal samples after it was sprayed with the dust suppressant. The dust suppression performance of dust suppressant was studied through a series of experiments, and the results showed that the dust suppressant had a good wetting ability for coal dust. The contact angle of the dust suppressant solution with the coal dust was reduced by 77% compared to water, and the improved infiltration of the suppressant into the dust improved the dust suppression range. After it was sprayed on the surface of the coal dust, the dust suppressant formed a solidified layer, and the compressive strength of the layer reached 122.6 kPa. The pulverized coal loss rate was only 2.94% at a wind speed of 10 m/s. The water retention time of the coal samples after they were treated with the dust suppressant reached 12 h at 60 °C. The degradation of the dust suppressant in soil reached 40% after the 12th cycle, which suggested the newly synthesized materials would not be a secondary pollutant in the environment. This work provides a new approach for Enteromorpha treatment and a basis for the preparation of new types of environmentally friendly and highly efficient dust suppressants.

A shift from coal to liquefied natural gas for electricity generation can mitigate CO2 emissions and respond to the intermittent and variable characteristics of renewable energy. With this objective, numerical simulation was performed in this study to determine the optimal position of the methane injector and evaluate the achievable reduction in NO x emissions before applying methane cofiring to an existing 550 MW tangentially fired pulverized-coal boiler (Boryeong Unit 3). The combustion and NO x reduction in the furnace were intensively analyzed based on the methane cofiring rate (up to 40%). The optimal position of the methane injector was found to be inside the oil port based on the spatial distribution of NO x and the stoichiometric ratio along the furnace height. The NO x reduction rate was logarithmically proportional to the methane cofiring rate, and compared to the base case, a 69.8% reduction was achieved at the 40% cofiring rate. In addition, the fraction of unburned char at the boiler outlet was equivalent to that of the existing boiler as the increase in the flow rates of the close-coupled and separated overfire air improved fuel and air mixing. Simultaneously, methane cofiring led to a reduction in the total fuel loss and CO emissions. Finally, this study showed that the recommended optimum cofiring rate was 20% based on the furnace exit gas temperature. Under the 20% methane cofiring condition, the boiler achieved a 57.3% reduction in NO x emissions and a 7.4% improvement in fuel loss.

Fully utilizing the energy generated by the explosion of pulverized coal will contribute to realize the clean and efficient exploitation of coal resources. The pulverized coal explosion characteristics will be a far-reaching and important task to explore. In this paper, ten kinds of low-quality coals such as high sulfur, high ash, and low metamorphic degree coals were investigated and the minimum ignition energy (MIE), lower explosion limit (LEL), and explosion intensity (EI) parameters under different particle sizes and coal powder concentration conditions were also analyzed combined with a 1.2-L Hartmann tube and a 20-L explosion sphere experimental system. Finally, the morphological characteristics of the exploded coal powder surface were evaluated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The results show that the particle size is positively correlated with MIE. LEL shows an inverted “U”-shaped trend with the increasing degree of coal deterioration. The low-rank coal is more flammable and explosive. The maximum pressure PMax at the LEL concentration and maximum pressure rise rate (dP/dt)Max overall value is small. Here, optimum pulverized coal particle size (75μm) for explosive utilization of low-quality coal was determined. Within 50–225 g/m3 of pulverized coal concentration range, the explosion intensity increases with increasing concentration. The smaller the particle size of pulverized coal, the greater the possibility of agglomeration of pulverized coal particles. The surface of the exploded coal particles produces more developed pores. They are irregularly shaped and have more rounded edges than the original coal.

To address the emissions and formation of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) from co-firing of algal biomass (Chlorella (Ch), Sargassum (Sa), and Enteromarpha (En)) and pulverized coal (Huating coal), the emission characteristics were experimentally investigated using a one-dimensional tubular furnace. The results indicate that algae species, the mixing ratio, and the reaction temperature have complex impacts on PM2.5 emissions. Its emission characteristics present either single- or double-peak distribution. The higher temperature and higher biomass fraction accelerate the formation of PM2.5 during co-firing. Different from the reduction in NOx and SO2 emissions, the PM2.5 emission from algal biomass-based co-firing is higher than that of coal alone on the whole, particularly for Sa and En. For En, the maximum PM2.5 concentration occurred at 900 °C with 91.73 mg/m3 when 20% En was co-fired with 80% coal. Meanwhile, the PM2.5 emission yield reached the peak of 553.64 ( × 10−2) mg/g. For Sa, the highest PM2.5 concentration and PM2.5 emission yield appeared when 20% Sa and 80% coal were co-fired at 1000 °C, were 125.30 mg/m3 and 354.41 ( × 10−2) mg/g, respectively. For Ch, the highest PM2.5 concentration appeared when 20% Ch and 80% coal were co-fired at 1000 °C and reached 1.11 mg/m3, but the largest PM2.5 emission yield was 3.21 ( × 10−2) mg/g when 20% Ch and 80% coal were co-fired at 1100 °C. PM2.5 generated from co-firing are mainly formed by vaporization and homogeneous/heterogeneous condensation, as well as fragmentation of internal/external minerals and char particles. In addition, it also depends upon a series of reactions between the alkali metal salt and other incombustible particles. The morphological characteristics of ash residues from Ch co-fired with coal were irregular and fragmented, and the structure was relatively compact, and those for Sa and En co-fired with coal are similar, both of which are irregular massive structures with white crystal particles attached.

Medium oxygen-enriched blast furnaces that utilize reducing gas injections are a feasible new ironmaking process that can significantly reduce the coke ratio and carbon dioxide emissions. To better inject the reducing gas into the blast furnace, two injection methods were designed in this study, and the effects of the reducing gas on the combustion of pulverized coal in three types of medium oxygen-enriched processes were studied using a three-dimensional lance-blowpipe-tuyere-raceway model. The reducing gas was injected into the blowpipe from a sleeve spray lance, which was suitable for injecting a small amount of reducing gas. The optimal coal burnout was 6% higher than that of a traditional blast furnace (TBF). The reducing gas was also directly injected into the raceway from a spray lance, which was suitable for injecting a large amount of reducing gas. The optimal coal burnout was 13% higher than that of a TBF using this system.

A nonlinear dynamic model considering the effect of heat transfer on outlet pulverized coal mass flow is established based on the principles of conservation laws. Raw coal moisture estimation which is connected to coal mass and internal energy in coal mills is included in the model. The model has proved to have good predictions and reflects the dynamics of the coal mill by verifications on historical data and dynamic simulation tests. Results show that the mean absolute error of mill differential pressure, mill electric current and outlet primary air temperature are 3.08%, 3.05% and 0.05% on validation operation data, respectively. The predictions fit the curves of the measured data that cover the whole operation of coal mill from starting up to shutting down.

A combined species transport and reaction-discrete phase model was established to numerically study pulverized coal gasification using waste heat from high temperature slag particles. The effects of slag particles temperature, coal/gasification agent mass ratio and water content in gasification agent on the gasification characteristics were discussed. The results indicate that higher particle temperature leads to better gasification reaction efficiency. Compared to the maximum syngas productivity (67.9%) and carbon conversion efficiency (91.7%) at 1500 K, they are respectively reduced to about 45% and 60% when temperature drops to 1000 K. Excessive or insufficient pulverized coal would have a negative effect on the syngas production for a specific flow rate of gasification agent, and the appropriate proportion range is 0.8–0.84. The CO yield declines with the increase of particles diameter, while H2 firstly increases and then declines attributing to the lower gasification agent temperature and higher flow velocity gained at larger diameter. The raise of water content in gasification agent is beneficial to H2 production, but CO yield continues to decline after the water content exceeds 5% for the reason that the incomplete combustion of volatiles and the gasification reaction of coke are inhibited. The diameter of slag particles and the water content suitable for coal gasification reaction are 2.0–2.5 mm and 5%–10%, respectively.

The paper considers a staged conversion process of pulverized coal fuel in the MHPS-type gasifier, which uses mixtures of oxygen and carbon dioxide as a gasifying agent instead of air. Similar conversion processes can be applied in the process diagrams with the capture and disposal of carbon dioxide. The research tool is a reduced-order mathematical model of coal particles' conversion in a reacting gas flow. Replacement of nitrogen with carbon dioxide leads to significant changes in the gasification process characteristics: the average reaction temperature decreases, but this decrease is partially compensated by an increase in the concentration of gaseous reactants. Thus, the gasification process efficiency and the fuel conversion degree increase. Calculations make it possible to identify a range of parameters with the highest cold gas efficiency values. The influence of oxygen concentration is estimated, the dependence of the fuel conversion degree on the reaction temperature is analyzed.

The ability of a blast furnace hearth liquid (iron and slag) passing through deadman characterizes the activity of the blast furnace hearth. To explore the influence of various factors on the static holdup rate of liquid in the process of passing through the deadman, a physical transport model of liquid passing through the deadman was firstly established. Then, a self-designed experimental device was used to simulate the process, and the influences of slag/iron ratios (250–450 kg/t) and unburned coal content (0%–9%) on the static holdup rate were studied. The experimental results indicate that with the slag/iron ratio increasing, the behavior of liquid passing through the coke packed bed gets much more difficult, and the static holdup rate increases. As the content of unburned pulverized coal (UPC) increases, the static holdup rate decreases first and then rises. This is caused by the dual effects of UPC. On the one hand, UPC can promote the carburizing reaction of unsaturated molten iron, thereby improving the fluidity of molten iron and reducing the static holdup rate. On the other hand, when the content of UPC rises to a certain level, it will be regarded as a kind of solid particle which will increase the liquid viscosity, causing an increase in the static holdup rate. Moreover, the liquid and coke will present interfacial chemical reactions when the liquid flows through the coke packed bed. And the Si-containing iron droplets at the slag–coke interface, generated by the reaction of SiO2 with C in the coke, can improve the interface wettability by reducing the interface wetting angle and increase the basicity of slag by consuming SiO2, thus improving the fluidity of the liquid and reducing the static holdup rate.

The flow characteristic of high pressure dense-phase pneumatic conveying of pulverized coal is essential to the safe and stable operation of the gasifier. In this paper, the effects of coal moisture content on conveying behavior and resistance characteristics of dense-phase pneumatic conveying were explored. Meanwhile, a model of the additional pressure drop of particles was proposed and compared with the experimental data. The results show that though the resistance and cohesiveness increase with increasing moisture content, its influence is different in dense and dilute phase. In the dense-phase region, the coal with lower moisture content shows a larger solid mass flow rate and solid concentration; while in the dilute-phase region, the moisture content has minor effect on conveying characteristics. For the coal with lower moisture content in dense-phase region, the solid mass flow rate and solid concentration are larger, and the gas velocity has a small effect on solid friction factor, due to its smaller cohesiveness and resistance, which is showed in our experiments and inferred from our model. The additional pressure drop model was proposed for straight pipes and bends, whose parameters are probably effective than the existing parameters in this kind of model, as the deviation in the vertical rise pipe, horizontal pipe and bend pipe is controlled within ±30%, and the corresponding vertical down pipe are controlled within ±40%.

Coal and gas outburst is still a major safety problem in the process of coal production in China. Correctly understanding of the migration law of outburst high gas and pulverized coal is an important basis for accurately predicting the occurrence time and possible scope of outburst. To reveal the airflow disturbance characteristics and coal-gas flow rule in coal and gas outburst process, outburst coal-gas migration simulations under different gas pressures were conducted using a self-developed visual outburst dynamic effect test device. The results showed that coal-gas flow state at the outburst port is divided into subcritical flow, critical flow, and supercritical flow state. The pulverized coal-gas flow migration in the roadway space can be divided into coal gas two-phase flow area, air compression area, and undisturbed area. Under the experimental conditions, the maximum propagation velocities of wave are 342.22~359.21 m/s, and the coal gas two-phase flow is far less than the propagation velocities of outburst wave, just 3.68~33.33 m/s. When the outburst energy is large, multiple compression waves can superimpose to form shock waves. The peak value of the wave does not necessarily appear in the first boosting range. The presence of pulverized coal leads to a faster attenuation of shock wave, but it makes a greater dynamic destructive force at the same speed.

The evolution of pore structure and functional groups of coal char in different stages of Shenhua coal combustion process in O2/CO2 atmosphere was studied by the low temperature nitrogen adsorption method, the scanning electron microscopy and the FTIR method. The relationship between the pore structure, oxygen-containing functional groups and NO generation characteristics of coal char under different inlet oxygen concentrations was analyzed. The result shows that the overall pore structure and shape of pulverized coal particles change continuously with the combustion; and the oxygen-containing functional groups on the surface of coal char indicate multi-peak changes and are related to NO generation. The oxygen concentration poses a larger impact on the change in coal particle size, oxygen-containing functional groups and NO generation; and there is an oxygen concentration that optimizes the reduction effect of the oxygen-containing functional group on NO.

The state of and development prospects for the technology of selective noncatalytic reduction (SNCR) of nitrogen oxides in the combustion products of organic fuels are considered. Its advantages and disadvantages and factors influencing the efficiency of its application for gas purification of technological furnaces for natural gas conversion at power and waste incineration boilers are analyzed. The results of experimental studies into the process of reducing nitrogen oxides by products of thermal decomposition of carbamide are presented, depending on the temperature, flow rate, and the method of introducing the reagent into the flue gases. The results of pilot tests and industrial implementation of the technology are shown. The possibility of increasing the technical and economic indicators of SNCR plants by organizing a multizone injection of the reducing mixture into the gases to be cleaned with a flow rate less than the stoichiometric one is substantiated, which makes it possible to achieve high technology efficiency with a minimum ammonia slip. Relatively low capital costs for the construction of SNCR plants and the manufacture of main equipment at domestic enterprises and the small area required for equipment placement can significantly reduce emissions of nitrogen oxides into the atmosphere, even at operating boilers in a short time. It is advisable to widely introduce SNCR technologies at pulverized coal TPPs and enterprises for thermal waste disposal as one of the best available technologies.

In order to obtain similar materials with specific physical and mechanical parameters and adsorption and desorption indexes used in coal and gas outburst simulation tests, pulverized coal was selected as aggregate, sodium humate as cementing agent and river sand as auxiliary materials. Based on this, an orthogonal test with 6 factors and 5 levels was designed, and the tests of weighing, uniaxial compression, firmness and adsorption and desorption were carried out. The parameters such as density, uniaxial compressive strength, elastic modulus, firmness coefficient and adsorption-desorption index of similar materials with different ratios were obtained, and the sensitivity of each factor was analyzed by range analysis. The influence law of various factors on the parameters of similar materials was studied, the ratio model of similar materials was obtained and the reliability of the model was verified, and a complete method for determining the ratio model of similar materials of outburst coal was put forward. The results show that the density of similar materials increases with the increase of river sand content, the uniaxial compressive strength and elastic modulus increase significantly with the increase of pulverized coal ratio and sodium humate content, and the firmness coefficient increases linearly with the increase of pulverized coal ratio. The adsorption constant an increases linearly with the increase of sodium humate content, while the adsorption constant b decreases linearly with the increase of sodium humate content. The initial elution rate △p of similar materials increases at first and then decreases with the increase of sodium humate content.

In view of the problems faced by a conventional moving bed coal pyrolysis process, such as the inability to deal with pulverized coal, low light tar yield, poor tar quality, etc., a moving bed pyrolysis process with baffled internals was developed to control heat and mass transfer of the gas-solid two-phase and the pyrolysis reaction process. The multi-stage gas gathering system can collect the oil and gas products released in different pyrolysis stages of coal in time. The pyrolysis behavior and product quality of Naomaohu coal at different temperatures and residence times were investigated. The results show that the baffle internals enhance heat and volatile matter transfer among particles, enabling it to process 0.4–6.0 mm pulverized coal. When pyrolysis temperature is 550°C and residence time is 3.0h, the pyrolysis tar yield reaches the highest 11.38%, which is 86.87% of the Gray-King assay yield, and the mass fraction of light components below 360°C in the tar fraction is 85.0%. With the extension of the residence time, the H2 volume fraction in the pyrolysis gas increases from 22.1% to 35.1%, and the CO volume fraction increases from 8.0% to 9.5%. Tar yield in the first and second layer reactors increases with increasing residence time, and the tar yield in the third and fourth layer reactors isobtained when the residence time is 2.0 h. As the number of beds increases, content of light components in the tar simulated distillation fraction increases; content of tar aliphatic hydrocarbon compounds decreases, and that of monocyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and bicyclic aromatic hydrocarbons gradually increases. Based on the above results, it provides technical support for large-scale industrial processing of small particle size pulverized coal, and preparation of higher yield and quality tar.

To analyze the secondary oxidation of the active structures of pulverized coal and reduce risks of coal spontaneous combustion, free radical theory and functional group analysis were combined to study the effects of particle size and oxidation temperature on the active structure of coal molecules. This process was based on electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) and Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) technology. The results show that the reduction in pulverized coal particle size can enhance the secondary oxidation activity of coal and that the reactivity is the strongest when the particle size is 0.074−0 mm. The smaller the coal particle size is, the shorter the aliphatic side chain is after secondary oxidation. The reaction in which the side chain breaks to form a stable chain structure is also more intense. A smaller coal particle size also makes it easier to produce −OH after secondary oxidation, resulting in a large increase in the Average A (−OH) in the Coal 1# and Coal 3# at the minimum particle size range of 0.074−0 mm. The −C=O and −C−O− in Coal 1# with a lower metamorphic grade are greatly affected by temperature and particle size, and the consumption of −C=O during oxidation plays a dominant role in the secondary oxidation process. The −C=O and −C−O− in Coal 2# and Coal 3# are less affected by temperature and more affected by particle size, and −C−O− is the main group driving the secondary oxidation reaction.

Adaptation of a mathematical model of gas diffusion combustion for different flow rates of CO–H2 and a constant coal flow rate is carried out. It is shown that the results of calculating the main characteristics of the flame are in satisfactory agreement with experimental data and can be used to determine the structure of pulverized coal–gas flow, gas composition, particle and gas temperature, carbon combustion efficiency, etc. The proposed model is suitable for analyzing the stability of coal–gas flame and the transient processes accompanying changes in the mode of supply of the fuel-oxidizer medium.

Pulverized coal and biomass co-firing in the 150MWe unit of Tuncbilek power plant is computationally investigated, within the scope of a preliminary feasibility study. The considered furnace, burning Turkish lignite, has totally eighteen burners, positioned at three different levels. First, the pulverized coal combustion in the furnace is calculated and the predicted temperatures in the boiler first pass are compared with the previous measurements. Subsequently, a co-firing scenario is computationally analyzed, where the burners of the lowest level that supply 43% of the total fuel mass are fed by biomass, instead of coal. Turkish red pine is assumed to be the source of the biomass. In replacing the coal by biomass, the mass flow rates of the biomass and the corresponding air are adjusted in such a way that the thermal load and the equivalence ratio remain unaltered. Due to the lack of more accurate data for the biomass, the rate constants for the pyrolysis and chemical conversion of biomass are assumed to be the same as those of coal, along with the assumption of the same particle size distribution for both fuels. It is observed that the resulting flame structure for the case of co-firing is very similar to that of coal combustion. This result is encouraging for the application of biomass co-firing in the considered furnace.

The analysis of scientific publications containing information about the equipment and methods of modeling the process of pulverized fuel combustion is carried out. The basic requirements for ensuring the reliability of research results are formulated. The conclusion is made about the possibility and expediency of using installations of the type "vertical tubular furnace" to find ways to increase the completeness of pulverized coal combustion in the blast furnaces raceway. Emphasis is placed on the importance of ensuring a uniform supply of fuel to the reaction zone, a time-stable ratio of fuel and oxidant, qualitative technical analysis of the source fuel, as well as the residue after its combustion. Based on a comparative analysis of methods for determining the completeness of burnout of pulverized fuel used in such studies, a convenient formula for its calculations is proposed.

Because ammonia is one of the most promising candidates for energy carrier in the future, various applications of ammonia as a fuel are currently considered. One medium for utilizing ammonia is by introducing it to coal-fired boilers. To the best of our knowledge, this paper is the first to report the fundamental mechanism of the flame propagation phenomenon for pulverized coal/ammonia co-combustion. The effects of the equivalence ratio of the ammonia-oxidizer mixture on the flame propagation velocity of pulverized coal/ammonia co-combustion in turbulent fields were clarified by the experiments employing a unique fan-stirred constant volume chamber. The flame propagation velocities of pulverized coal/ammonia co-combustion, pure ammonia combustion, and pure pulverized coal combustion were compared. As expected, the flame propagation velocity of pulverized coal/ammonia was higher than that of the pure pulverized coal combustion for all conditions. However, the comparison of the flame propagation velocities of pulverized coal/ammonia co-combustion and that of the pure ammonia combustion, revealed that whether the flame propagation of the pulverized coal/ammonia was higher than that of the pure ammonia combustion was dependent on the equivalence ratio of the ammonia-oxidizer. This unique feature was explained by a mechanism including three competing effects proposed by the authors. In the ammonia lean condition, the positive effects, which are the strong radiation from the luminous flame and the increment of local equivalence ratio by the addition of volatile matter, are larger than the negative effect, which is the heat absorption by coal particles in preheat zone. In the ammonia rich condition, the effect of an increment of the local equivalence ratio by the addition of volatile matter turns into a negative effect. Consequently, the negative effects overcome the positive effect in the ammonia rich condition resulting in a lower flame propagation velocity of pulverized coal/ammonia co-combustion.

High-efficiency, low-emissions (HELE) coal-fired power plant technologies operate with a higher thermal efficiency of the steam cycle for coal-fired power generation, reducing CO₂ emissions per unit energy generation. They represent some of the primary and intermediate solutions to the world’s energy security. Extensive numerical modeling efforts have been undertaken over the past several decades, which have increased our understanding of the technical problems in HELE boilers, including combustion and boiler performance optimization, ash deposition, and material problems at higher operating temperatures and pressures. Overall, the differences in the physical and chemical models, boiler performance, and ash deposition of oxy-fuel combustion in HELE boilers that recirculate CO₂ and H₂O in the boilers are also discussed in comparison with the combustion of coal in the air. This Review comprehensively summarizes the current research on numerical modeling to offer a better understanding of the technical aspects and provides future research requirements of HELE coal-fired boilers, including boiler performance optimization, ash deposition, and material problems. The effects of changes in the configuration and operating conditions are discussed, focusing on the optimization of boiler performance in aspects such as unburnt carbon and NOx emissions. The paper also reviews the retrofit and optimization of operating conditions and the burner geometry with the low-NOx coal combustion technologies necessary to operate the HELE power plants. In terms of ash deposition, the development of submodels, including particle sticking and impacting behaviors and their effects on the deposit growth predictions under different temperatures, are discussed. Numerical models of the material oxidation and creep in the austenitic and nickel-based alloys generally used in HELE conditions have been developed using the finite element method to predict the availability of advanced alloys and creep life in the actual service time of the boiler parts. The predictions of oxide scale growth and exfoliation on the steam-side and fire-side and the creep strength are analyzed. The review also identifies some further research requirements in numerical modeling to achieve the optimization of coal combustion processes and address the technical problems in advanced HELE power plant operations.

This article presents the results of studying the causes of the thermal instability of blast furnace smelting in nonstationary fuel-and-commodity and gas dynamic conditions when using PCI in air blasting and when injecting pulverized coal together with natural gas. The study results have allowed developing a decision support system for controlling the thermal state of blast furnace smelting in an adviser mode for process teams of blast furnace shops.

The article is devoted to a very urgent problem: reducing the cost of the fuel component in the production of electricity at power plants in Russia, namely, abandoning expensive fuel oil during the kindling of the boiler and the transitioning to the use of coal dust for this purpose. One of the ways to organize such kindling is the use of plasma technology to ignite coal dust. This technology is based on the thermochemical preparation of pulverized coal using an electric arc arising between the electrodes of the plasmatron. A stream of air passes through the arc, forming a plasma, which, meeting with the stream of air mixture, heats it, and promotes the release of volatile substances and the ignition of coal dust. Back in 1994, the first experiments on the implementation of such a system were carried out at the Gusinoozerskaya TPP. It turned out to be effective, but it had a number of significant drawbacks that limited its use. The main one was the low service life of the plasmatron cathode and muffle burner. In 2019, work was organized to modernize the plasma system aimed at increasing the resource of the main units of the plasma-ignition system. To solve a complex of problems, the specialists of OAO VTI proposed technical solutions for the design of a muffle burner, a cleaning system, and the automatic regulation of water and air supply to the plasma torch; a software package was developed to control the operation of the oil-free plasma-ignition system and control its parameters. Installation and testing of the modernized system for one of the pilot burners of the TPE-215 boiler was carried out. The specialists of the Institute of Physics and Mathematics (Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences) developed the design of the plasmatron and carried out its start-up testing. It is recommended to apply the results of the work to the rest of the boiler ignition burners. This article is devoted to the experience of upgrading the existing oil-free ignition system at the Gusinoozerskaya TPP.

The article considers some aspects of the pulverized fuel combustion modelling in the laboratory on installations called vertical tube furnaces (referred to as drop tube furnaces in scientific periodicals). We have considered the scheme of the installation to study the process of pulverized coal (PС) combustion in conditions similar to the conditions of heating and ignition of coal particles in the blast flow of the blast furnace and their subsequent gasification in the raceway. We have formulated the basic requirements for ensuring the reliability of modelling results. We have examined the methods of combustion completeness (burnout) estimation used in similar studies. We have proposed a convenient method for the estimation of the burnout of two-component fuel mixtures. According to this method, the estimation can be performed for any ratio of components in a two-component fuel mixture with the use of data on the initial ash content in each of them and the relevant burnout. We have obtained the estimated data on the dependence of the burnout of PC (anthracite, lean coal) with fuel additives. It has been shown that the proposed approach can be used to evaluate experimental data regarding the study of the combustion completeness of fuel mixtures. It has been established that for the initial stages of PC combustion (heating, emission and ignition of volatile matters), which occur before the fuel particles enter the blast furnace raceway, the fuel mixtures burnout values recorded in the experiments do not differ significantly from the estimated ones. For the final stages of PC combustion (heating and burnout of char), which occur mainly in the raceway and outside, the combustion completeness determined in laboratory studies was significantly higher than the estimated one. The obtained results confirmed the efficiency in the use of drop tube furnace to model the PC combustion process during the fuel injection with the heated blast flow in the blast furnace raceways and study of the influence of various factors on the combustion process. The results of such studies can be used to improve the design of PC injection units in the blast furnace and to study the possibilities for improving the coal particles combustion completeness and the specific consumption of PC.

Pulverized coal utilization in the blast furnace is decided by the particle flow and combustion behaviors in the raceway. Under a specific operating condition, these behaviors are directly related to the lance configuration in the upstream tuyere zone. Focusing on single straight lance, six types of single lance configurations were designed by assembling four parameters in different ways. These four parameters are the lance diameter, lance insertion angle, and the horizontal and vertical distances from the lance tip to the tuyere tip. With different lance configuration schemes applied, the pulverized coal combustion process in the lance–blowpipe–tuyere zone was simulated. The simulation results regarding particle diffusion and combustion behaviors were characterized by three indicators from the viewpoint of a coal plume. They are the plume diffusion angle, diffusion uniformity, and the average plume temperature at the tuyere outlet. To promote coal utilization, the values of these indicators under different configurations were analyzed, yielding two optimal configurations. The first one is to reduce the lance length immersed in the blowpipe–tuyere by 100 mm. The other is to increase the horizontal distance from the lance tip to the tuyere outlet by 50 mm, and the insertion angle to 11° with the lance tip located at the tuyere centerline. The findings can enhance the understanding of the influence mechanism of lance configuration on the coal utilization and provide guidelines for the design of new lance configurations.

Four types of meager and meager-lean coal and one type of high-quality anthracite were selected based on the safety requirements for blast furnace coal injection and domestic coal quality to conduct microstructure and component analyses. The analyses of the organic and inorganic macerals and the chemical compositions of the selected coal samples indicate that the four types of meager and meager-lean coal have low volatilization, low ash content, and low sulfur content; these qualities are suitable for blast furnace injection. Grindability test was conducted on the four types of meager and meager-lean coal and the anthracite mixed coal samples. Results indicate that the mixture of meager and meager-lean coal and anthracite is beneficial to improve the grindability of pulverized coal. The explosive tests reveal that the selected coal samples are non-explosive or weakly explosive. When the proportion of meager and meager-lean coal is less than 40wt%, the mixed coal powder would not explode during the blowing process. The minimum ignition temperature test determines that the minimum ignition temperatures of the four types of meager and meager-lean coal and anthracite are 326, 313, 310, 315, and 393°C, respectively. This study provides a guiding research idea for the safety of meager and meager-lean coal used in blast furnace injection.

Vanadium–titanium magnetite is one kind of important strategic resources. However, there exist some common problems in the current smelting process of vanadium–titanium magnetite. In the present paper, we propose the rotary kiln pre-reduction and bath smelting process reasonably for smelting vanadium–titanium magnetite. The smelting reduction test of vanadium–titanium magnetite carbon-bearing pellet in the bath was conducted under laboratory condition, and the effect of end slag basicity, the smelting temperature, the smelting time and the amount of pulverized coal on the separation of slag–iron and the quality of hot metal were mainly investigated. The results showed that the reasonable smelting parameters for vanadium–titanium magnetite smelting of the process introduced in the paper were above 1450 °C of smelting temperature, above 0.8 of basicity of slag, 30–40 min of smelting time and 20–22% of coal addition. Nevertheless, the sulfur content of the iron particle was higher than the demand of steelmaking and it needed further desulfurization. The process is economically feasible for smelting vanadium–titanium magnetite, which can recover the vanadium and titanium resources effectively.

To mitigate the slagging, fouling and high-temperature corrosion problems caused by alkali metals during coal combustion process, measurement of time-resolved alkali metals release is very important. The paper proposed an in-situ approach for measuring sodium (Na) release in coal combustion by Flame Emission Spectroscopy (FES). Through the analysis of spontaneous emission spectra and a calibration procedure, the concentration of gas phase Na, temperature and thermal radiation can be obtained. Firstly, experimental measurement of Zhundong coal particles burning in a flat flame burner was done. Two kinds of Zhundong coal with similar proximate and ultimate analyses, but different ash composition were used. The Na-release history measured by FES was compared with that by LIBS. Results showed that the Na-release at the devolatilization, char, and ash stages can be distinguished by FES. The higher Si/Al content in ash can suppress the Na-release at the ash stage. Moreover, FES method was extended to the measurement of Na-release in four industrial boiler furnaces of two Zhundong coal-fired power plants. Results showed the Na-release measured by FES can reflect the change of fuel and load, and both temperature and thermal radiation play key roles in Na-release in coal combustion.

Under the fouling conditions in stationary coal combustion systems, the sticking/rebound behavior of solid incident particles is a key issue in determining the ash deposition rate. From a dynamic point of view, the bulk fly ash, which dominants the deposited mass, successively interacts with the clean tube, the inner fine deposited layer and the bulk deposited layer during ash deposition. In this paper, we experimentally investigate the time-resolved evolution of ash fouling in a 25 kW coal combustor. The deposited mass flux rapidly reaches a stable state that fluctuates around a mean value of ∼3 g/(m2·s) for two kind of probe materials. The rapid initial stage only allows the formation of 1–2 layers of bulk deposited ash, revealing the dominant role of bulk deposit in capturing large incident particles. Inspired by the observation, we apply a 3D adhesive discrete element model (DEM) to fully describe the many-body evolving process subject to the incident events of a 30-µm particle. The simulation agrees well with the experiments when using a higher particle surface energy of 200 mJ/m2. The rapidly growing feature of ash sticking probability with increasing the bulk deposit layers can be reproduced in this case, and an empirical formula is proposed. It is also validated that, at the deposit growth stage, the newly-deposited particles stay just where they impact. The effectiveness of the DEM tool shall benefit a fully-validated sticking/rebound model under the fouling condition that is convenient for CFD use.

Aiming to reduce coal dust pollution and spontaneous coal combustion during coal mining, storage, and transportation, a kind of DOPO-nano-SiO2 modified polyacrylic acid-based polymer flame retardant dust suppressant for coal was fabricated using 9,10-dihydro-9-oxa-10-phosphaphenanthrene-10-oxide (DOPO), γ-aminopropyl triethoxysilane (KH550), nano-SiO2, sodium alginate (SA), and acrylic acid (AA) as raw materials, potassium persulfate (K2S2O8) and sodium bisulfite (NaHSO3) as initiator, and N,N′-methylenebisacrylamide (MBA) as a cross-linking agent by the aqueous solution polymerization method. The product was characterized and analyzed by FT-IR, XPS, XRD, GPC, TG, and DSC techniques. Its flame retardant property, thermal stability, and dust suppression performance were tested, and the activation energy of the pyrolysis reaction was calculated using Flynn–Wall–Ozawa (FWO) method. Compared with the coal sample sprayed with water, the CO mass concentration of the coal sample sprayed with flame retardant dust suppressant was decreased by 80.6%, inhibition rate reached 82.8%, LOI value was 26.1%, and the UL-94 rating was V-0. Moreover, the initial degradation temperature and pyrolysis activation energy were increased by 10.6% and 108%, respectively. After spraying the flame retardant dust suppressant, the pulverized coal particles were tightly bonded together to form a flexible consolidation layer, thereby inhibiting coal dust pollution and loss. The water loss rate, wind erosion loss rate, and oscillation loss rate were decreased by 56.9%, 98.7%, and 97.5%, respectively. These results revealed that the pulverized coal sprayed with the flame retardant dust suppressant exhibited better flame retardant property, thermal stability, and dust suppression performance than that sprayed with water. In summary, the flame retardant dust suppressant prepared in this work could play a key role in inhibiting coal dust pollution and spontaneous coal combustion.

The analysis of coal quality provides strong support for efficient coal utilization and environmental protection. However, finding a simple and fast sample preparation method to get good spectral quality is the main challenge for achieving online analysis through laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS). In this work, a sample preparation device based on a physical constraint was designed to prepare pulverized coal quickly. For the process of sample preparation and detection, pulverized coal was confined in a closed cavity in the form of coal pillars; plasma was also confined in a narrow opening on the sidewall of the device. Therefore, the surface flatness of the sample and ablation stability can be well guaranteed to perform an accurate analysis. To evaluate the performance of the physical constraint, the LIBS spectra in four different detection forms including the physical constraint were acquired, and differences in their intensity, relative standard deviation (RSD) and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) were compared. The comparison showed that good spectral quality can be obtained under a physical constraint. Finally, a prediction model based on partial least squares regression (PLSR) for ash and volatile matter in coal was established to verify the quantification performance. The results of model evaluation are very close to those of conventional modeling by ablating coal pellets, reflecting that the LIBS spectra under a physical constraint also enable good quantitative characterization for proximate analysis. Thus applying a physical constrain can effectively improve the online analysis capabilities of LIBS for coal quality in industrial fields.

This paper presents a coupled heat transfer model for coal-fired boilers that integrates boiler’s fire side computational fluid dynamics (CFD) solution with the boiler’s steam cycle, and thus, can predict the boiler steam temperatures subject to different boiler design and operation conditions. In this coupled model, the heat transfer submodels describing the gas-steam heat exchange for each part of boiler heating surfaces are integrated by exchanging the steam temperatures iteratively. This coupled heat transfer model is self-consistent since it ensures the fire side heat transfer solution to always coincide with the steam temperature changes across each boiler heating surface. This model is specifically designed to provide efficient computational solutions to engineering boiler problems in which the changes of boiler steam temperatures subject to different boiler design and operation conditions are of the major concerns. This model is applied to a 320 MW subcritical boiler to evaluate the impacts of coal switching and boiler operation adjustment on boiler’s heat transfer distributions and steam temperatures. The simulation results demonstrate that this model can effectively capture the complex coupled heat transfer behavior between the fire and steam sides of boiler and serve as an efficient predictive tool for engineering boiler problems.

This paper presents a method by which the maximum possible rate of pulverized coal injection (PCI) in blast furnace can be predicted. The method is based on a two-step approach. First, a first principle simulation model of the blast furnace is used to generate data sets for the development of a linear model of pulverized coal injection rate. The data has been generated randomly in MATLAB software within the range of operating parameters (constraints) of the blast furnace. After that, the coefficients of the function have been determined. The inputs and the resulting outputs formed the data on which the linear optimization model was developed. Next, the linear model was used for maximizing the pulverized coal rate injection by optimizing the other variables. Two operating Indian Blast Furnaces have been chosen to validate the optimization model.

In the near-burner region of pulverized coal burners, two zones exist, with very different oxygen concentrations. The first zone is a locally reducing environment, caused by the fast release of volatiles from a region of dense coal particles, and the second zone, which is surrounding the first zone, is a hot oxidizing environment. The transition of coal particles from the reducing zone to the oxidizing zone affects early stage coal combustion characteristics, such as devolatilization, ignition and particle temperature history. In this work, we used a two-stage Hencken flat-flame burner to simulate the conditions that coal particles experience in practical combustors when they transition from a reducing environment to an oxidizing environments. The composition of the reducing environment was chosen to approximate that of a typical coal volatile. Three oxygen concentrations (5, 10 and 15 vol%) in the “ambient” oxidizing environment were tested, corresponding to those at different distances downstream from a commercial burner. The corresponding gas temperatures for the oxidizing environments were adjusted for the different oxygen concentrations such that the “volatile” flame temperatures were the same, as this is what would be expected in a commercial combustor. High speed videography was used to obtain the ignition characteristics, and RGB color pyrometry was used to measure particle surface temperatures. Two different sizes of coal particles were used. It is found that when particles undergo a reducing-to-oxidizing transition at high temperatures, the particles are preheated such that the critical factor for ignition delay is point at which the particle is in the presence of oxygen, not the concentration of oxygen. The ignition delay of large particles is found to be 53% longer than that of small particles due to their higher thermal mass and slower devolatilization. The oxygen concentration in the ambient have a negligible effect on early-stage particle temperatures.

High-concentration H2S formed in the reduction zone of pulverized coal air-staged combustion can result into the high temperature corrosion of water wall tube of boiler, so it is of great importance to accurately predict H2S concentration for the safe operation of boilers and burners. H2S formation and evolution depends on two steps: the sulfur release from coal conversion and gas-phase reactions of sulfur species. In this study, the sulfur release characteristics from the pyrolysis of 17 coals, including 5 lignite, 9 bituminous coals and 3 anthracites, are investigated in a drop tube furnace (DTF). Sulfur release model is developed to describe the relationship between sulfur release and coal types. A global gas-phase reaction mechanism of sulfur species composed of ten reactions is used to calculate and predict the formation and evolution of H2S, COS and SO2 in the reduction zone of pulverized coal air-staged combustion. A wide range of air-staged combustion experiments of 17 coals are conducted in the DTF at different temperatures and stoichiometric ratios to validate the developed model. The results show that the prediction errors of sulfur species, including SO2, H2S and COS, are within ± 30%, which indicates that the developed prediction model of sulfur species is of great assistance for CFD modeling of actual engineering application.

The aim of this paper is to design a novel system for measuring the amount of ash deposited at the base of the boiler. In this system piezoelectric load cell are used to measure the weight of the amount of ash deposited due to burning of pulverized coal. In the existing system level switches are used to indicate the level of ash deposited. These switches provide inaccurate output. To overcome this problem piezoelectric load cell is introduced. This provides an accurate level of ash fouling inside the boiler.

Biomass co-firing within the existing pulverized coal boiler is thought as a practical near-term way of biomass utilization, while its detailed combustion characteristics and pollutant formation have not yet been fully understood. In the present study, we report a Carrier-phase Direct Numerical Simulation study coupled with detailed mechanism to provide a deep insight into the coal/biomass co-firing (CBCF) jet flames under different blending ratios. It is found that compared with the pure coal flame, the CBCF could (i) prompt the volatiles ignition, produce higher H2O and similar CO2 mass fractions at blending ratios of 20% and 40%, and obviously reduce the gas temperature and CO2 mass fraction at the blending ratio of 50%; (ii) prompt the coal devolatilization and char burnout at blending ratios of 20% and 40%, while the char burnout is reduced when blending ratio is 50% due to the local enrichment of large particles and lack of oxygen; (iii) reduce the thermal, prompt, NNH and N2O-intermediate routes of NO formation, but show limited effect on the NO-reburning route of NO destruction, therefore, resulting in an obvious NO reduction.

This paper intensively investigated the ignition of turbulent coal flames in a novel fully-mixed tubular swirl burner. The Nikon D300s digital camera was used to capture the statistical ignition behavior of dispersed coal particle streams in different ambiences. Meanwhile, the combustion dynamics of individual coal particles were also recorded by means of high-speed photography. Two low-rank coal samples, Hulunbel lignite and Zhundong coal, were tested in this study. The ignition delay times of coal particles in the swirl burner were compared with those in a flat-flame burner. In contrast to previous work on a laminar flat-flame burner, the current experimental results show that the turbulent ambience significantly enhances the ignition of all coal samples, which is exceptionally pronounced under high temperature and low oxygen conditions. In addition, the sensitivity analysis suggests that both the enhanced heat and mass transfer contribute to the early ignition in turbulence. The effect of elevated mass transfer coefficient turns prominent in low oxygen fraction ambience, wherein the volatile barrier effect is suppressed by the enhanced mixing process. The combined effect of turbulence favors the shifting of ignition modes to the heterogeneous-dominant region. Last but not least, the ceased volatile flame that visualized in turbulent low oxygen ambience further confirms the important role of heterogeneous ignition.

Influence of coal micronization on air-blown conversion of pulverized coal fuel is under study. On the basis of these experiments, computational fluid dynamics methods are used to perform simulation determining the conditions of the process under study. Conversion of coarse coal in a medium of combustion products of fine coal with the following parameters: a flow rate ratio of primary and secondary coal is 0.82; a corresponding air flow rate is 0.35; the stoichiometric coefficient of primary, secondary, and total air are 0.8, 1.87, and 1.39; temperatures in the active zone are higher than 1200°C. According to the computational results for this regime, the carbon conversion rate for the primary and secondary coal is 100% and 60%, respectively, and its total value is $$\approx$$ 80%. The results obtained suggest that it is possible to increase the efficiency of coal combustion due to micronization technologies as applied to oil-free ignition and torch illumination systems on steam pulverized coal boilers at TPPs.

Yankuang coal with the high coking property is difficult to use through direct combustion. The main purpose of this paper is to study the combustion characteristics and NOx emissions of this type of coal using preheating combustion technology. The experimental results show that after the pulverized coal is preheated, the char residue characteristic is significantly reduced from 5 to 1. During the preheating process, the preheating temperature is stable at about 910°C, and the particle size of char after preheating is reduced, and the pore structure and specific surface areas are increased. The combustion temperature of preheated fuel is stable at around 1100°C, and the combustion efficiency can reach more than 99% under different conditions. Changing the structure of the secondary air nozzles during the preheating combustion process can influence the characteristics of emissions. The NOx emission of the central nozzle is about 112 mg/Nm3 lower than that of the annular nozzle. Changing the tertiary air distribution modes can reduce the final NOx emissions to 215 mg/Nm3 (@6%O2), and the corresponding conversion ratio of fuel N to the final NOx is 4.2%. The results of this experiment prove that the Yankuang coal can achieve stable combustion by preheating combustion technology, and this proposed a new way for the utilization of Yankuang coal.

Sewage and sludge are usually treated separately. Considering improving sludge treatment while improving sewage treatment is beneficial to the synergetic effect of sewage treatment and sludge treatment. The efficiency of pulverized coal-activated sludge (PAS) on contaminant removal, sludge calorific value, and combustion characteristic was investigated in contrast to conventional activated sludge (CAS) using the laboratory-scale sequencing batch reactor (SBR). Results indicated that the average chemical oxygen demand, ammonium nitrogen, total nitrogen, and total phosphorus removal efficiency of PAS were highest under a dosage of 0.4 g/L, which were 98.56%, 94.22%, 68.60%, and 95.96%, respectively. The average effluent concentration satisfied the Level A discharge standard of pollutants for municipal wastewater treatment plants (GB18918-2002). The calorific value and maximum weight loss of PAS gradually increased adjusting the dosage of pulverized coal. At the pulverized coal dosage of 0.2 g/L, the calorific value of PAS with 70% water content is 3,824.07 kJ/kg, which can satisfy the requirement of self-maintained combustion. Overall, the pulverized coal can simultaneously improve the treatment of wastewater in SBR and promote the sludge combustion by increasing calorific value. Therefore, PAS system is an innovation based on improving the sewage treatment sludge combustion. PRACTITIONER POINTS: An innovative method to simultaneously improving wastewater treatment and sewage sludge combustion using pulverized coal-activated sludge was developed. The average COD, NH 4 + - N , TN, and TP removal efficiency of PAS-0.4 is best. The 70% moisture content sludge calorific values of 3,824.07 kJ/kg in PAS-0.2 can satisfy the requirement of self-maintained combustion.

This paper discussed the limitation of the laser-induced incandescence (LII) method for the measurement of soot in different laminar pulverized coal flames and explored the soot formation character...

During coal and coal gangue combustion, many heavy metal pollutants are emitted and cause serious environmental problems. In this paper, the environmental effect values of As and Pb emission during coal gangue and coal combustion in the 330 MW pulverized coal boiler, 50 kW circulated fluidized bed boiler and laboratory were calculated by ReCiPe2016. The results show that when coal combustion in 330 MW pulverized coal boiler, the environment effect values of as for bottom slag, fly ash and flue gas are 3.28×10−6, 2.68×10−5 and 3.89×10−3 respectively; while the environment effect value of Pb for bottom slag, fly ash and flue gas are 8.57×10−6, 6.00×10−5 and 4.83×10−2, respectively. The environmental effects of As and Pb in bottom slag are lower than those in the fly ash; and the environmental effects of As and Pb on air are higher than those on soil. Moreover, when coal combustion in the 50 kW circulated fluidized boiler, the effect values of As and Pb in fly ash on environment are 3.26×10−5 and 1.28×10−4; and the effect values of As and Pb in bottom slag are 1.16×10−6 and 1.43×10−5 respectively. The results also show that when coal gangue combustion in the laboratory, the effect values of As and Pb emission increase with increasing of the temperature; and the proportions of total environmental effects of As and Pb on air are higher than those on soil. Besides that, this study also indicates that the effect of Pb emitted into environment is higher than that of As at the same conditions during coal combustion both in circulated fluidized boiler and pulverized coal boiler. The results may provide basic data for predicting the environmental effects of As and Pb during coal gangue combustion in circulating fluidized bed for life cycle impact assessment.

Due to its low volatile characteristics of lean coal, it is difficult to catch fire and burn out. Therefore, high temperature is needed to maintain combustion efficiency, while, this leads to high nitrogen oxide emission. For power plant boilers burning lean coal, stable combustion with lower nitrogen oxide emission is a challenging task. This study applied the 3D numerical simulation on the analysis of a novel de-coupling burner for low-volatile coal and its structure and operation parameters optimization. Results indicate that although it was more difficult for lean coal decoupling burner to ignite lean coal than high volatile coal, the burner formed a stepwise ignition trend, which promoted the rapid ignition of lean coal. Comparison of three central partition plate structure shows that in terms of characteristics of the flow field distribution, rich and lean separation and combustion, the structure with an inclination of 0 ° showed good performance, with its rich-lean air ratio being 0.85 and concentration ratio being 22.94, and there was an apparent decoupling combustion characteristic. Finally, the structure of the selected burner was optimized for its operational conditions. The optimal operating parameters was determined as the primary air velocity of 24.9 m/s and the mass flow rate of pulverized coal of 2.5 kg/s, in which the pyrolysis products were utilized as reductive agent more fully. Eventually, the nitrogen oxide was efficiently reduced to nitrogen, which emission concentration was 61.88% lower than that in the design condition.

The ignition and combustion behavior of pulverized coal was studied with respect to coal rank in a custom-designed visual drop tube furnace. The results showed that low-rank coals were ignited in a shorter time, mainly due to the presence of larger amounts of functional groups, while the ignition delay time of high-rank coals was longer. With increasing temperature and particle size, the ignition mode of coals shifted from heterogeneous into homogeneous, which was related to the increased yield of volatile matter. The chemical percolation devolatilization analysis results showed a clear relationship between the yield and composition of volatile matter and the amount and type of functional groups in coal. In addition, the tar yield was consistent with the amount of aliphatic hydrocarbons and the length of aliphatic chains, which explained the tailing combustion mode of the bituminous coal. The findings of the study showed that the yield and composition of volatiles in coal had a significant impact on the ignition behavior, which depended on the composition of functional groups, particle size, and the combustion environment.

In this study, the flamelet/progress-variable (FPV) approach was applied to a large eddy simulation of a pulverized coal jet flame. The FPV approach considers the characteristics of the pulverized coal flame, e.g., non-adiabatic system and several types of fuel streams, via additional representative variables. First, the applicability of the FPV approach to a turbulent flame with pulverized coals was confirmed through a comparison of the numerical solutions and experimental data. In this study, the pure pilot case was also investigated to clarify the effects of pulverized coals on the flame. The flame structure changes significantly upon the injection of pulverized coals, and the flame index suggests the coexistence of premixed and diffusion combustion modes even in the downstream region. In particular, the combustion mode fluctuates with time in the middle region of the flame. The fuel gas released from the pulverized coals should increase in this region; therefore, the release and combustion behavior of the volatile matter must be involved in the combustion mode variation. The evaluation of the combustion modes of fuel gas in the coal flame is useful for the design and optimization of pulverized coal combustors with next-generation technologies.