The effect of pulverised coal’s devolatilisation conditions on char physical characteristics

Abstract

This study examined the effect of pulverised coal fuel devolatilisation conditions on char’s physical characteristics. A devolatilisation system was thus designed and built where three bituminous coals were devolatilised at three different times (100, 150 and 300 ms) and at three temperatures (900°C, 1,000°C and 1,100°C). The resulting char was characterised regarding porosity, pore volume, surface area and particle size distribution. It was found that char porosity and pore volume increased with devolatilisation temperature and time. Devolatilisation operation conditions did not produce any effect on char’s specific surface area. However, char particle size was bigger than original coal size.