Mechanisms governing fine particulate emissions from coal flames

The principal activities during this quarter involved the global experiments. Ash was sampled from a number of coals (of varying rank) as a function of oxygen concentration. Proximate analyses of the coals were performed. Analyses of the data were performed using the breakup model. When fitting the data with the breakup model, higher rank coals were found to require fewer ash particles per coal particle than the lower ranked coals. Deviations of the measured size distribution from the simple breakup model were examined. During this quarter preparation for the mechanistic experiments was begun. This work involves cleaning and sizing three coals and measuring the particle size distribution of ashes from these various cuts of coals. This work will continue during the next reporting quarter.