Numerical simulation of the entrained flow hydropyrolysis of coal in magnetically rotating plasma reactor

作者：Ma, Jie; Zhang, Ming; Su, Baogen; Wen, Guangdong; Yang, Yiwen; Yang, Qiwei^*; Ren, Qilong

来源：Energy Conversion and Management, 2017, 148: 431-439.

DOI：10.1016/j.enconman.2017.06.018

• CFD
• Hydropyrolysis
• Coal
• Entrained flow
• Gasification
• Rotating plasma

The chemical conversion of coal to valuable compounds is of great importance to address the challenges in energy and sustainable development, and the entrained flow hydropyrolysis in magnetically rotating plasma reactor is a promising technology for the coal conversion. This paper for the first time deals with the hydropyrolysis of pulverized coal in magnetically rotating hydrogen plasma reactor. A CFD model incorporating detailed gaseous reactions and char conversion reactions was constructed to give insights into the devolatilization and reaction process including temperature distribution, species distribution and reaction rate distribution, and the CFD results of hydrocarbon yields were validated with the experimental data of a pilot-scale coal hydropyrolysis reactor. A uniform distribution of high temperature was achieved in the reactor. Since the gaseous pyrolysis reaction was an ultra-fast process (<1 ms), the devolatilization process was the key step for the conversion of coal. The char conversion contributed much less to the overall coal conversion than volatile reactions. Acetylene was the primary hydrocarbon product, and was demonstrated to originate from the secondary pyrolysis of the volatile matters by the species distribution. These results are highly instructive for the further optimization of reactor geometry and operating conditions to improve the pyrolysis conversion of coal in thermal plasma.

• 出版日期2017-9-15
• 单位浙江大学