An experimental investigation on combustion characteristic of a pulverized coal with varying Size

Concerns on coal utilization with clean coal technology and energy crisis rises again. Recently thermal power generation companies using coal fuel strive for overcoming new challenges on pulverized coal combustion under harsh combustion conditions due to the usage of low calorific coal in the furnace designed for high grade coal. This study is related to this issue. As a preliminary study, an experimental examination of size effect on pulverized coal combustion characteristics for a sub-bituminous coal was conducted. A laminar flow entrained reactor to realize combustion atmosphere of pulverized coal fueled furnace in terms of heating ratio and temperature was designed and implemented for this study. The flame length of burning particle with different sizes and the changes in size and structure were investigated in this reactor. Char combustion process is clearly distinguishable from that of volatile matters in bare eyes. Char flame length is dependent of particle size and coal rank as well.