Chemical Engineering Science 55 (2000) 3861}3874

Numerical simulation of entrained #ow coal gasi"ers.

Part I: modeling of coal gasi"cation in an entrained #ow gasi"er
Caixia Chen 
, Masayuki Horio , Toshinori Kojima
*
Department of Chemical Engineering, Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, Koganei, Tokyo 184, Japan

Department of Industrial Chemistry, Seikei University, Musashino-shi, 3-3-1, Kichijoji-Kitamachi, Tokyo 180-8633, Japan
Received 1 October 1999; received in revised form 26 November 1999; accepted 22 December 1999

Abstract

A comprehensive three-dimensional simulation model was developed for entrained #ow coal gasi"ers. In the model, the numerical
methods and the submodels conventionally used for the pulverized coal combustion modeling were used. An extended coal gas
mixture fraction model with the Multi Solids Progress Variables (MSPV) method was applied to simulate the gasi"cation reaction
and reactant mixing process. Four mixture fractions were employed to separately track the variable coal o!-gas from the coal
devolatilization, char}O , char}CO , and char}H O reactions. The in#uence of turbulence on the gas properties was taken into
  
account by the pdf model with a clipped Gaussian distribution function. A series of numerical simulations were performed for
a 200 td\ two-stage air blown entrained #ow gasi"er recently developed for the IGCC process. The predicted gas temperature pro"le
and the exit gas composition were in general agreement with the measurements. Model simulations illustrating the importance
of accounting for varying coal o!-gas and the e!ects of turbulence/reaction a!ecting the prediction capability were also
presented.  2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Mathematical modeling; Multiphase reactor; Turbulence; Fuel; Entrained #ow coal gasi"er; Simulation

1. Introduction in Japan (Ishimori, 1995). In this process, a low calori"c

The Integrated Gasi"cation Combined-Cycle (IGCC)
technology is one of the key technologies to provide an
e$cient, economic method for generating power from
coal with substantially reduced emission of carbon diox-
ide and pollutant gases. Entrained #ow coal gasi"cation
is being developed in various parts of the world, while the
oxygen blown entrained gasi"er has reached demonstra-
tion scale in the IGCC process developed in the USA and
the EU countries (Takematsu & Maude, 1991; Maude,
1993). It is known that the oxygen blown entrained #ow
gasi"er can be operated at extremely high temperatures
to ensure complete carbon conversion. However, the
oxygen blown gasi"er has a disadvantage in the require-
ment of an oxygen plant, which consumes 10}15% of the
gross power generated and results in an increased total
plant investment. To reach a competitive cost, an IGCC
process based on air blown operation is being developed
* Corresponding author. Tel.: 0081-422-37-3750; fax: 0081-422-37-
3871.
E-mail address: kojima@chgw.ch.seikei.ac.jp (T. Kojima).
value fuel gas is generated in a pressurized air blown
entrained #ow coal gasi"er and subsequently puri"ed
through a hot gas clean-up system. The hot puri"ed gas is
sent to the gas turbine to generate electricity and high-
temperature exhaust gas. Heat from the gasi"er and the
gas turbine exhaust raises steam to drive a steam turbine
to generate additional electricity.
Fig. 1 shows the schematic structure of a 200 td\
pilot-scale gasi"er tested in Japan. The gasi"er is an
up-#ow reactor consisting of a combustor and a reductor
separated by a throat. Twenty to forty percent of the
pulverized coal and the recycled char, with about 80% of
the total air are tangentially injected into the combustor
through two sets of injection nozzles at 0.4 and 0.7 m
above the bottom. The remaining part of the pulverized
coal with about 20% of the total air is injected into the
reductor through four nozzles at a level of 2.6 m. In the
combustor, the pulverized coal is devolatilized and reacts
with oxygen rapidly to produce a high-temperature com-
bustion gas, which is simultaneously used to drive the
endothermic char}steam and char}carbon dioxide gasi"-
cations. In the reductor, the coal is devolatilized under

0009-2509/00/$ - see front matter  2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
PII: S 0 0 0 9 - 2 5 0 9 ( 0 0 ) 0 0 0 3 0 - 0
3862 C. Chen et al. / Chemical Engineering Science 55 (2000) 3861}3874
Fig. 1. (a) 200 td\ two-stage air blown gasi"er. (b) schematic overhead
view of nozzle geometry.
oxygen-lean conditions to produce mainly hydrogen and
carbon monoxide, with as little carbon dioxide as pos-
sible. The combustor is operated in a slagging mode and
the coal particles are centrifuged to the walls of the
combustor where they are mostly retained and burn on
a molten ash layer. The inner surface of the combustor is
covered by refractory to ensure smooth discharge of the
molten ash. Water-cooled tubes are installed on the walls
of the di!user and the reductor designed for melt-free ash.
Di!erent scale gasi"ers (including a 2 td\
bench-scale, an 8 td\ and a 200 td\ pilot-scale gasi"er)
have been tested since 1980s (Araki & Harai, 1996;
Hara & Ichigawa, 1997; Kaneko, Hashimoto, Furuya,
Hashimoto & Shinada, 1997). Further scaling up to
a 1500}2000 td\ commercial-scale plant is expected
over the next several years. To help in the Japanese
IGCC project, a comprehensive simulation model for
entrained #ow coal gasi"ers has been developed and will
be utilized to guide the scale-up. Part I of this paper
presents the model and some numerical predictions for
the 200 td\ pilot-scale gasi"er. Part II uses this model
to investigate the in#uence of design variables and oper-
ating conditions on the performance of the air blown
entrained #ow gasi"er.
There are several mathematical models developed
specially for entrained #ow gasi"ers in the literature.
Wen and Chaung (1979), and Govind and Shah (1984)
developed models for Texaco down-#ow, slurry-fed en-
trained gasi"ers. Ni and Williams (1995) recently de-
veloped a multivariable model for Shell coal gasi"ers on
the basis of equilibrium, mass and energy balances. Most
of the gasi"cation models developed so far are one-
dimensional models neglecting the in#uence of char re-
cycle. Taking gas turbulence, coal particle dispersion and
reactions into account, Smoot and Smith (1985) de-
veloped a two-dimensional and Hill and Smoot (1993)
a three-dimensional comprehensive pulverized coal mod-
els for gasi"cation or combustion (PCGC-2, 3), represen-
tatives of comprehensive models for pulverized coal
combustion. These models have common features in
solving the mass, momentum and energy conservation
equations with similar sub-models by nearly the same
mathematical methods (Smoot, 1993). Some models have
been applied to bench-scale entrained #ow gasi"ers
(Smoot & Brown, 1987), but the simulation capability for
gasi"cation was quite limited because of the greatly sim-
pli"ed treatment of the chemistry.
In traditional pulverized coal combustion models, the
contribution of coal reaction to the local gas composition
in the reactor was modeled with a Single Solid Progress
Variable (SSPV) based on the assumption that coal o!-
gas has a constant element composition and a constant
heating value (Smoot & Smith, 1985). The gas composi-
tion was then calculated in terms of only two or three
conserved scalars called the mixture fractions for the
primary, second, and one lumped species. The lumped
gas species represents all the reaction products coming
o! the coal. Although such a simpli"ed treatment has
been questioned, it is still used in current simulation
models, and has been justi"ed by the fact that all
the major elements of coal seem to be released in propor-
tion to the total mass evolution during combustion
(Smoot & Smith, 1985). Nevertheless, for an air blown
gasi"cation process, char recycle is inevitable to obtain
complete carbon conversion. Neglecting the di!erence
of the o!-gas compositions between the coal and the
char will cause problem in the treatment of boundary
conditions. Furthermore, the reactions in the gasi"er
include devolatilization, volatile combustion, char}O ,

char}CO , char}H O reactions and gas shift reaction.
 
As a result, the coal o!-gas varies not only with burnout
(time) but also with position (space). More detailed ac-
counting of particle reactions and allowing for varying
o!-gas composition are therefore identi"ed as critical
needs for an advanced comprehensive gasi"cation model
research.
In the present work, a Multi-Solids Progress Variables
(MSPV) method, which allows for an arbitrary number
of coal o!-gas components (Brewster, Baxter & Smoot,
1988), is incorporated into the development of a compre-
hensive simulation model for entrained #ow gasi"ers. In
addition to the numerical methods and sub-models
conventionally used for pulverized coal combustion
modeling, four mixture fractions are used to track separ-
ately the variable coal o!-gas from the coal devolatiliz-
ation, char}O , char}CO , and char}H O reactions.
  
Model simulations are presented illustrating the import-
ance of accounting for varying coal o!-gas and the e!ects
of several model parameters a!ecting the prediction
capability.
 C. Chen et al. / Chemical Engineering Science 55 (2000) 3861}3874 3863

2. Model description and simulation method
2.1. The transport equations governing the gas}solid
reacting yow
For comprehensive modeling of the gas}solid turbu-
lent #ow and reactions in the entrained #ow gasi"er, the
following physical and chemical processes are included in
the present model: (1) turbulent #ow of gas and mixing of
gaseous reactants; (2) entrainment of particles and their
turbulent dispersion; (3) coal devolatilization and volatile
combustion; (4) heterogeneous char reactions including
combustion and gasi"cation; (5) convective and radiative
coal/char/ash particle heating/cooling. The basic trans-
port equations governing the turbulent #ow are derived
based on the laws of conservation of mass, momentum
and energy. The instantaneous equations of change can
be found elsewhere (Smoot, 1993), while the Favre aver-
aged equations for a steady-state gas #ow are written as
Eqs. (E-1)}(E-4) listed in Table 1.
The entrained #ow gasi"ers of interest have a void
fraction of near unity and the individual particles are
dispersed. This may result in very few particle}particle
interactions, and hence, the particle phase has not been
treated as a continuum like the gas phase. Pulverized
coal particles are tracked in a Lagrangian procedure.
The particle-phase equations are also listed in Table 1
(E-9)}(E-11). The Particle-Source-In-Cell model (Crowe,
Sharma & Stock, 1977) is used to deal with the interac-
tion between gas and particle phases through various
particle source terms.
The set of conservation equations is closed by the
auxiliary expressions listed in Table 2 and the physical
models described below.
2.2. Gas turbulent model
Turbulent #ow is characterized by #uctuation in time
and space of the velocity components and every scalar.
To obtain transport equation for the averaged variables,

Table 1
Governing equations for the gas and particle phases

For the gas phase

*
Mass (ou )"m (E-1)
*x G Q
G


* *p * *u *u *
Momentum (ou u )"! # k G # H ! (ouu)#F (E-2)
*x G H *x *x R *x *x *x G H Q
G H H H G G

* *
Energy (ou hM )"! (ouh)#oh (E-3)
*x G *x G Q
G G

* *
Gas species (ou >M )"! (ou>)#w (E-4)
*x G H *x G H H
G G

* *
Mixture fractions (ou f )"! (ouf )#f (E-5)
*x GH *x G H QH
G G

* * e
Variance of mixture fractions (ou g )"! (oug)#[C (G !C G )!C oe] (E-6)
*x G H *x G H  I   k
G G


*k * u *k *u
Turbulent kinetic energy u " R !u u H !e (E-7)
G *x *x p *x G H *x
G G I G G




*e * k *e e *u e
Turbulent energy dissipation rate u " R #C u u G #C (E-8)
G *x *x p *x  k G H *x  k
G G C H G
For the particle phase
dm dm dm dm dm
Mass N" # # #  (E-9)
dt d dt dt dt

d(m u ) 1
Momentum N N " C o(u #u!u )"u #u!u "A #m a (E-10)
dt 2 " N N N N E

d(m C ) jN 
Energy N N N "A S (! )#A e (Q !p )# mR *h (E-11)
dt N d N N ? 0 N G H
N G
3864 C. Chen et al. / Chemical Engineering Science 55 (2000) 3861}3874

Table 2 standard constants of the k}e model (Launder & Sharma,

Auxiliary expressions and model constants for the gas and particle 1974) are used and listed in Table 2.
phases governing equations
2.3. Particle dispersion model

 2
h" > C d (E-12)
G NG
G  As shown in Table 1, the instantaneous gas velocity in
C "a #b (E-13)
NG G G particle momentum equations was decomposed into time
pM mean (u ) and #uctuating component (u) to account for
o" (E-14)
R the e!ects of turbulence on the particle's dispersion. Here,
the particle stochastic trajectory model (Shuen, Chen

1.0, Re(10\,
C "
"
(E-15) & Feath, 1983) based on instantaneous gas velocities is
1.0#0.15 Re , Re*10\
used to simulate the particle motion and turbulent dis-
o(u!u )d persion. The values of the #uctuating velocities are as-
Re" N N (E-16)
k sumed to follow a Gaussian distribution and determined
Nu"2#0.6 Re Pr (E-17) in a stochastic manner within a turbulent eddy. Integra-
tion of the particle equation of motion yields the particle
 


 
*u  *v  *w 
G "k 2
I
# # position at any given instant of time. The time step is the
*x *y *z
minimum of the eddy lifetime and the eddy traverse time.




*u *v  *v *w  *u *w  The particle temperature is obtained from the particle
# # # # # #
*y *x *z *y *z *x energy equation as listed in Table 1 and the particle mass
k 1 *o equation is solved combining the following particle reac-
G "a
E p o *z tion model.
D
Turbulence coezcients
2.4. Particle reaction model
C C C C C C
I    E E
0.09 1.44 1.92 0.8 2.8 2.0 The particle reaction model assumes that coal consists
of volatiles, char and ash. The minimum set of reactions
Exchange coezcients pU
in the gasi"er is listed in Table 3. Referring to Table 3, the
uvw k e f g h devolatilization is modeled by a simple, two-step mecha-
G G
1.0 0.9 1.22 0.7 0.7 0.7 nism (Ubhayakar, Stickler, Von Rosenberg & Gannon,
1977). All the hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen and sulfur are
assumed to be released as volatiles (R-2), and the volatile
the Favre averaging is applied to every conservation composition is assumed to be constant. The volatiles are
equation. As shown in Table 1, two types of additional assumed to combust immediately to form CO and H O
 
turbulent #ux terms, resulting from the non-linear con- (i.e., fast chemistry assumption) in oxygen-rich condition
vective terms are produced in the averaged equations. (R-3), or to form CO, H and CH in oxygen-lean condi-
 
These terms are the Reynolds stresses (ouu) in the tion (R-3). The products of the volatile combustion reac-
G H tion are thus varied with the reaction stoichiometry.
momentum equation and the Reynolds #uxes (ouU) in
G The oxygen, carbon dioxide and steam are assumed to
the scalar equations. A frequently used k}e model
(Launder & Spalding, 1972) is used to model these terms, react with char on the char particle surface to form CO
i.e., the Reynolds stresses and #uxes are modeled with (see Eqs. (R-4)}(R-6) in Table 3), which then combines
a turbulent viscosity with the remaining part of the oxygen (if any). The
particle surface reactions are characterized by 0.5 order,



2 *u *u *u multiple, parallel reaction rate formulation of Smith
ouu" d okM #k I !k G# H , (1)
G H 3 GH R *x R *x *x (1982). The gas-phase shift reaction is assumed to reach
I H G
equilibrium rapidly (R-7). All of the reaction rate expres-
k *U sions are listed in Table 3.
ouU" R , (2)
G pU *x
H
2.5. Turbulent reaction model
where the turbulent viscosity k is given by
R
k As shown in Table 3, the assumed reaction mechanism
k "C o . (3) involves seven gas species (O , N , CO, CO , H O,
R I e    
H and CH ). In principle, the transport equations of
 
The turbulent kinetics energy k and the turbulence seven independent gas species (E-4) and the enthalpy
dissipation rate e, are determined by solving the trans- equation (E-3) shown in Table 1 can be solved. The gas
port equations (E-7) and (E-8) as listed in Table 1. The density and temperature can then be calculated
 C. Chen et al. / Chemical Engineering Science 55 (2000) 3861}3874 3865

Table 3
Reactions and the rate expressions

1. Reactions
coal"C H O N S Ash mois "vol char mois (R-1)
K K K K K K K A A K

C H O N S Ash mois PC H O N S mois #C Ash (R-2)

K K K K K K K K K K K K K K K
For oxygen-rich conditions



m m m m
C H O N S mois # m #  !  #m O Pm CO # m #  H O#m SO #  N (R-3)
K K K K K K  4 2      4    2 


m m
For oxygen-lean conditions u( m #  !  #m
 4 2 

 
(1!a )
C H O N S #uO Pa CO #a CO#m (1!a !a )CO #  (m !2m )!2(1!a !a ) H
K K K K K         2     

a (m !2m ) m
#    H O#m H S#  N (R-3)
2    2 

m
C Ash #  O Pm CO#m Ash (R-4)
K K 2   

C Ash #m CO P2m CO#m Ash (R-5)

K K    

C Ash #m H OPm CO#m H #m Ash (R-6)

K K      

CO#H O0H #CO (R-7)

  
2. Reaction rate expressions
Devolatilization
d> d(> #> )
"   "k (>H!> )#k (>H!> ) (E-18)
dt dt      

k "A exp(!E /R ) (E-19)

   N

k "A exp(!E /R ) (E-20)

   N
Char}O2 , H2 O and CO2 reactions
dm kA
N " Q [!k #(k#4kP )] (E-21)
dt 2k Q Q B G
B

Sh M D
k " A G (E-22)
B R d
K N

k "A exp(!E /R ) (E-23)

Q A A N
Shift reaction


7234
k "exp !3.6893# (E-24)
 1.8

from algebraic relations (Eqs. (E-12)}(E-14)) as shown in
Table 2). However, #uctuations in gas temperature, den-
sity and species concentration caused by the turbulence
of the #ow "eld can have a signi"cant e!ect on the
reactions in the gasi"er. Generally, the rates of hetero-
geneous reactions including devolatilization, combustion
and gasi"cation are slow compared to the turbulence
time scale. Thus their average reaction rates can be cal-
culated from the mean gas properties instead of the
#uctuating gas properties. On the other hand, the prod-
ucts of the heterogeneous reactions provide a potential
source for further homogeneous reactions in the gas
phase (volatile combustion and gas shift reaction). Such
gaseous reactions are rapid compared to the time scale
for the turbulent micromixing process. Therefore, the
so-called turbulent reaction model is needed to calculate
3866 C. Chen et al. / Chemical Engineering Science 55 (2000) 3861}3874

the average reaction rate w included in Eq. (E-4). In the convoluting the instantaneous value over the pdfs of the
H
present work, an extended version of the statistical independent mixture fractions:
coal gas mixture fraction model (Smoot & Smith, 1985;
bI (F , F , F , F )
Brewster et al., 1988) is used. In this model, the gaseous    

   
reactions are assumed to be limited by the mixing rate of \ \ \ \
" PI (F ) PI (F ) PI (F )
reactants and not by reaction kinetics. With this assump-   
tion, the gas composition can be calculated from local > > > >
instantaneous equilibrium through minimization of the ;PI (F )b(F , F , F , F ) dF dF dF dF . (7)
        
Gibbs free energy as a function of the local element The local variances of the mixture fractions are cal-
composition and energy level. The local gas composition culated from g transport Eq. (E-6) similar to those of
is determined from the mixing of the inlet streams and G
Launder and Spalding (1972). The pdfs are assumed to
coal o!-gas, which is tracked using the conserved scalars have the form of a clipped-Gaussian distribution, ad-
called mixture fractions. justed to account for turbulent intermittency (Smoot
In the coal gasi"er, the heterogeneous reactions & Smith, 1985).
include devolatilization, char}O , char}H O and
  In the gasi"er, the char}H O and char}CO reactions
 
char}CO reactions. Four components of coal o!-gas,
 are much slower than the oxidation reactions of volatiles
i.e., four coal gas mixture fractions, are necessary to track and char, so that the e!ect of the #uctuation on F and
the reaction products. These mixture fractions at a point 
F is neglected. Eq. (7) is thus simpli"ed as
are de"ned as the mass ratio of coal o!-gas to the total 
gas product and written as bI (F , F , F , F )
   

 
m \ \
f" G . (4) " PI (F )

PI (F )b(F , F , F , F ) dF dF . (8)
      
G m
 > >
Here, m "m , m , m and m represents the mass of gas
G     2.6. Heat transfer
originating from reaction (R-2), (R-4), (R-5) and (R-6),
respectively, and m "m #m #m #m #
     There are convective, conductive and radiative heat
m . f (i"1}4) are the conserved mixture fractions cal-
 G transfers between the gases, particles and reactor walls.
culated by transport Eq. (E-5) in Table 1. Instead of The scattering properties of the particles to radiation are
solving the gas species mass conservation Eq. (E-4) dir- assumed to be isotropic. The discrete transfer method
ectly, the local gas concentration of every gas species and (Lookwood & Shah, 1982) is used to solve the following
any other gas properties can be calculated from the local equation for the change in radiative intensity over path
mixture fractions. length ds:
From the general theory of the MSPV method
(Brewster et al., 1988), another four mixture fractions are dI
"
de"ned as ds


m
G p e p
F"
G m # G m
. (5) !(e #e #e )I# (e #e )# Q I dX.
? N Q p ? N N 4p
 H H 
By these de"nitions, each mixture fraction F (i"1}4) (9)
G
varies independently between zero and unity and, to
a "rst approximation, is assumed to be statistically inde- 2.7. The numerical solution procedure
pendent of the other mixture fractions. The relation be-
tween f and F is The resulting governing partial di!erential equations
G G for the gas phase are written in Cartesian coordinates in
f a generalized form as
F" G . (6)
G 1!  f
HG> H * * *
(ou U)# (ou U)# (ou U)
The gas properties are presumed to #uctuate with the *x G *x H *x I
statistical #uctuation of mixture fractions. The local G H I




* k *U * k *U * k *U
mean values of the mixture fractions F , the local vari-
G " R # R # R
ance of the mixture fraction g and the assumed shape of *x pU *x *x pU *x *x pU *x
G G G H H I I
the probability density function (pdf) are required to
#SU #SU . (10)
calculate time-mean values of the gas properties. The .
average value of any dependent #uctuating gas property U represents any quantity of mass, velocity components,
b(gas species, temperature, density and viscosity) is turbulent kinetic energy and turbulent kinetic energy
a function of F , F , F and F , and can be calculated by dissipation rate, gas enthalpy, mixture fractions and their
   
 C. Chen et al. / Chemical Engineering Science 55 (2000) 3861}3874 3867

variances. SU is the source term, and SU is an additional
.
source term representing the interaction between gas and
particle phases. The governing partial di!erential equa-
tions for all quantities are reduced to their "nite di!er-
ence analogs by integration over the computational cells
into which the domain of interest was subdivided. The set
of simultaneous algebraic equations is solved in the Eu-
lerian framework by the SIMPLER algorithm (Patankar,
1980). A line-by-line iteration technique is used to solve
the "nite di!erence equations.
Solution of the particle-phase conservation equations
is coupled with the gas-phase. An overall convergence of
the two phases is achieved using an iteration procedure.
The gas "eld is "rst calculated for a "xed number of
iterations to obtain a speci"ed convergence, and this
solution is used for the particle momentum, reaction and
energy calculations. The source terms for the gas phase
equations are then updated based on the particle calcu-
lations, and the gas phase is again calculated for a "xed
number of iterations. This cycle is repeated until the
gas-phase variables do not change signi"cantly following
the particle calculations.
The model has been developed for simulating practical
gasi"cation facilities. It can be applied to calculate gas
and particle temperature, gas and particle velocity, mean
turbulent kinetic energy and turbulent energy of dissipa-
tion, gas species composition, particle trajectory, particle
size distribution, extent of reaction and radiant heat #ux.
3. Application to the 200 t d\1 entrained 6ow coal gasi5er
Simulations for the 200 td\ pilot-scale gasi"er were
performed under the operating conditions listed in
Table 4. The coal compositions were taken to be those of
Taiheiyo bituminous. The gas #ow rates and particle
loading for the three sets of burners were the total #ow
rates into four nozzles. The wall temperatures were deter-
mined from the information of measurements. The chem-
ical reaction rate constants were selected from the
literature for similar coal (Mann & Kent, 1994).
Coal particles were tracked from each nozzle. The
particle size distribution was discretized into six size
groups as shown in Table 4. The tracking was repeated to
achieve adequate random particle dispersion. The model
tracked 11 500 particle trajectories to obtain a steady
convergence in the calculations. A 21;21;62 grid mesh
was adopted as the standard grid, and approximately
1000 iterations were required to reach a converged solu-
tion for the conditions described. De"ning a "ner grid for

Table 4
Selected model parameters and operating conditions for Taiheiyo Bituminous coal

Parameters Values Parameters Values

Proximate analysis (wt%) Ultimate analysis (wt%)

Moisture 5.3 Carbon 77.6
Fixed carbon 35.8 Hydrogen 6.5
Volatile matter 46.7 Nitrogen 1.13
Ash 12.1 Oxygen 13.9
Higher Heating Value (kcal kg\) 6545.6 Sulfur 0.22
Gas yow rate (kg s\) Particle loading (kg s\)
Combustor coal burner 4.708 Combustor coal burner 0.472
Char burner 4.708 Char burner 1.112
Reductor coal burner 1.832 Reductor coal burner 1.832
Particle size distribution (lm) Wall temperature (K)
10% 150 Combustor 1897
10% 100 Di!user 1073
20% 40 Reductor 873
20% 20 Wall emissivity 0.7
20% 10 Particle absorption coe$cient (m\) 0.3
20% 4 Particle scattering coe$cient (m\) 0.14
Mass mean diameter (lm) 39.8 Gas absorption coe$cient (m\) 0.28 exp(/1135)
Devolatilization parameter Heterogeneous kinetic data
A (s\) 3.7;10 A (kg Pa\
 s\ m\)
 A
E (kJ mol\) 7.4;10 C}H O 0.0782
 
A (s\) 1.5;10 C}CO 0.0732
 
E (kJ mol\) 2.5;10 C}O 0.052
 
> 0.565 E (kJ mol\)
 A
> 0.565 C}H O 1.15;10
 
Pressure (MPa) 2.7 C}CO 1.125;10

C}O 0.61;10

3868 C. Chen et al. / Chemical Engineering Science 55 (2000) 3861}3874
the burner region, the gasi"er also has been modeled with
a 25;25;70 grid mesh to determine the e!ect of grid
"neness on temperature distribution predictions. Because
a structured gridding approach is used, the cell bound-
aries are not laid parallel to the physical boundaries, and
a jagged edge is thus used to approximate the curved
boundary. Uniform distributions of inlet velocity and
temperature, fully developed #ow conditions at the out-
let, and no slip conditions at the wall are de"ned. For
regions immediately adjacent to the wall, the wall func-
tion approximations are used for near-wall grid nodes to
modify the low Reynolds number e!ect. The turbulence
of the nozzle inlet conditions is 0.02 in inlet Reynolds
mean stress (rms)/normal velocity and 0.1 in turbulent
length scale/square root of nozzle area. Di!erent com-
positions are de"ned for the coal and the recycle char in
the inlet, and the #ow rate of the recycle char is speci"ed
in input data. A converged solution was de"ned when the
global energy balanced to within 0.3% of the total combus-
tion energy and the normal residual (mean residual/mean
inlet velocity) for each of the velocity components was less
than 0.3%. Some of the model simulations, including tem-
perature and concentration distribution in the gasi"er are
presented here to illustrate the credibility of the model.
A more detailed discussion of individual parameters is
presented in the subsequent paper.
Fig. 2. Axial distributions of the gas temperature and the gas compositions in the 200 td\ gasi"er.
4. Results and discussions
4.1. The gas temperature and composition distributions
The simulated distributions for the gas temperature
and the composition were found to change very little
with the "ne grids used. The predicted burnout and the
exit gas composition changed by less than 0.3% with the
"ne grid, so that the standard grid was used for all
predictions. In general, the simulated distributions ap-
pear to have axial symmetry while being highly non-
uniform along the axial direction. To resolve the regions
with most intensive reactions and rapid variable changes,
the results up to a height of 5 m are depicted and
discussed in the present paper. For the upper part of the
reductor (above the height of 5 m), the simulated distri-
butions for the gas temperature and the compositions
become relatively uniform both in the radial and in the
axial direction. The cross-sectional averaged values for
the total gasi"er are presented in Part 2.
Fig. 2 shows the simulated axial and radial distribu-
tions of the gas temperature and the gas compositions in
the 200 td\ gasi"er. As shown in Fig. 2(a)}(e), the gas
temperature generally decreases along the gasi"er height
and is related to the gas compositions. This means
that the high concentration in CO and H O in the
 
 C. Chen et al. / Chemical Engineering Science 55 (2000) 3861}3874
Fig. 3. Cross-sectional distributions of the gas temperature and the gas compositions at the level of combustor coal burners.
combustor is responsible for the high combustor temper-
ature, and the high CO and H production in the reduc-

tor is the reason for the low reductor temperature.
Furthermore, the di!erences between the combustor and
the reductor are directly caused by the air/coal staging,
which makes the combustor operate under less fuel-rich
condition than the reductor. For the same reason, the gas
temperature has a maximum value higher than 2000 K
located at the region below the char burner, where CO

and H O are largely produced through volatile and char

combustion. Above the char burner, the gas temperature
decreases gradually before dropping rapidly in the reduc-
tor burner zone. The temperature reaches a minimum at
the reductor burner level, where H rises to a maximum

but CO and H O fall to minima.
 
Contrary to the CO concentration, the CO concen-
 
tration increases monotonically along the gasi"er to
reach a maximum at the outlet. About one quarter of the
total CO is produced below the char burner level
through char combustion, and another quarter is pro-
duced between the char burner and the throat, mainly
contributed from the char}CO and char}H O gasi"ca-
 
tion. The remaining CO is produced in the reductor
burner region through coal devolatilization. Therefore,
the reactions in the two-stage entrained gasi"er are ap-
proximately divided into three zones, i.e., the combustion
zone (below the char burner level), the gasi"cation zone
3869
(between the char burner and the reductor burner levels)
and the devolatilization zone (above the reductor burner
level). The performance of the two-stage air blown en-
trained #ow gasi"er is controlled by the characteristics of
the three zones.
Fig. 3 shows one quarter of the cross-sectional distri-
butions of the gas temperature and compositions at the
level where the combustor coal burners are located (0.4 m
in height). The remaining part is omitted since the pre-
dicted distributions are nearly symmetrical to the center
axis of the gasi"er. As shown in Fig. 3(a), the gas temper-
ature in the central region is more uniform than near the
inlet port. The temperature increases rapidly to 2000 K
in the lateral direction, but increases slowly along the jet
direction near the wall. The distributions of "ve gas
compositions, i.e., CO , H O, O , CO and H , at the
  
same level are shown in Fig. 3(b)}(f). A major feature is
that all the CO and H O isomolar-fraction lines are
 
coincident with the isotherms, and the peak gas temper-
ature is located at the position showing the maximum
CO and H O concentrations. The oxygen is consumed
 
rapidly in the vicinity of the inlet port, and the volatile is
expected to be released and to combust at this location.
After the oxygen disappears, the carbon dioxide de-
creases with rapid increase of carbon monoxide and
formation of hydrogen due to the char}CO and

char}H O reactions. In the center region (about a third

3870 C. Chen et al. / Chemical Engineering Science 55 (2000) 3861}3874
of the reactor diameter), however, the highest temper-
ature level is retained with the highest CO and a low

CO. This implies that the char}CO and char}H O
 
gasi"cation can be ignored in the center, because very few
char particles remain in this region, with most particles
centrifuged to the reactor walls.
4.2. Comparison with the Single Solid Progress Variable
(SSPV) method
For convenience, the four-variable coal o!-gas mixture
model employed in the present paper is referred as the
Multiple Solid Progress Variables (MSPV) method. The
simulation results using this model are compared with
those of the traditional Single Solid Progress Variable
(SSPV) method, where a constant o!-gas composition is
assumed for both the coal and the recycle char. The
calculated gas temperature and oxygen concentration
distributions in the combustor for the two methods are
plotted in Fig. 4. The di!erences between the predictions
of the two methods are substantial. The obvious e!ect of
separately tracking coal volatile and char reactions o!-
gas, where the char is assumed to be pure carbon and the
volatile composition is constant, is to decrease the car-
bon content of the early o!-gas and increase the carbon
content of the late o!-gas. A more subtle e!ect is to alter
the heating value, as gasi"cation is an endothermic reac-
tion. The di!erence in the predictions of the SSPV and
MSPV methods can be explained in the light of these two
e!ects.
As shown in Fig. 4(a) and (b), the major di!erence
between the two methods is the location of the peak
Fig. 4. Comparison of the simulation results of the MSPV and the SSPV methods.
temperature. The MSPV method predicts a high-temper-
ature region below the combustor char burner level,
characterized by a rapid temperature increase just after
the burner inlet region. This is due to the early evolution
of oxygen and hydrogen, and less evolution of carbon in
the volatiles. The hydrogen-rich volatile then combusts
with oxygen to produce a high-temperature region,
where the fuel/oxidizer mixture is nearly stoichiometric.
After passing through the stoichiometric region, a wide
fuel-rich or zero-oxygen region follows characterized by
the gas temperature decreases caused by the endothermic
gasi"cation reactions.
Comparing with the MSPV method, the SSPV method
predicts a lower gas temperature below the char burner
level, owing to less H O and more CO production dur-

ing the combustion of hydrogen-lean volatile. The gas
temperature reaches its peak above the char burner level
where the fuel/oxidizer mixture becomes stoichiometric,
and shows a higher value than the MSPV method. This is
because of the higher carbon content in the coal o!-gas
compared with the volatile de"ned in the MSPV method.
After the peak, the gas temperature is predicted to decline
more slowly than from the MSPV method, possibly due
to the assumption that the recycle char has the same
composition as the coal.
The oxygen concentrations shown in Fig. 4(a) and (b)
also di!er signi"cantly between the two methods. For the
MSPV method, the oxygen concentration drops quickly
to zero at the #ame front as the available oxygen from the
jets is quickly consumed by reaction with volatile and
char. The oxygen concentration drop is less steep for the
SSPV method, which is explained by the slower gas
 C. Chen et al. / Chemical Engineering Science 55 (2000) 3861}3874 3871

temperature increase predicted by the SSPV method. The
lower temperature results in a lower reaction rate, lead-
ing to a larger fuel-lean region below the char burner
level.
Centerline gas temperatures and the product gas prop-
erties for the two methods are compared with measure-
ments (Araki, 1993; MHI, 1994) in Fig. 4(c) and Table 5.
As shown in Fig. 4(c), the measured data show that the
gas temperature reaches a peak below the char burner
level and declines with height. While limited data are
shown here, it matches the prediction of the MSPV
method better than that of the SSPV method. In Table 5,
the composition and the Higher Heating Value (HHV) of
the product gas for the MSPV method are also in general
agreement with measurements. For the SSPV method,
the predicted CO and the HHV for the product gas are
much lower than the measurements. And in particular,
the predicted burnout largely exceeds that measured,
because of the predicted high gas temperature in the
gasi"cation zone.
In summary, the e!ects of separately tracking coal
volatile and char reactions are found to be particularly
signi"cant in the combustor, because of the transition
from fuel-lean to fuel-rich regions. In the reductor, the
e!ects are not so dramatic, because the fuel-lean zone is
very limited.
4.3. Ewect of turbulent yuctuations
In all the simulations reported in this paper, turbulent
#uctuation in the local gas-phase stoichiometry was
taken into account by assuming local instantaneous
equilibrium. All the gas properties were integrated over
the pdfs of the mixture fractions of F and F , while the
 
#uctuations on the F and F were ignored in the calcu-
 
lations, as presented in Eq. (8). The calculation would be
much simpli"ed if the e!ects of all these #uctuations on
the gas-phase chemistry could be neglected. A study of
the importance of these #uctuations was therefore con-
ducted. In this study, simulations were performed under
two cases: (a) the #uctuation of F was included, but that

of F was neglected; and (b) the #uctuations of both

F and F were neglected. F represents the degree of
  
mixing between the coal volatile and the inlet gas, and
F represents the degree of mixing for the char}O
 
reaction product. The simulated distributions of the
gas temperature and the oxygen concentration under
these assumptions are compared in Fig. 5(a) and (b).

Table 5
Comparison between measurements and predicted composition and Higher Heating Value for the product gas

CO H CH CO H O N HHV (kcal m\)

    
Measurements (vol%) 23.3 10.1 0.4 4.7 * Balance 1055.8
MSPV predictions (vol%) 22.4 12.1 0.0 5.3 2.1 Balance 1051.0
SSPV predictions (vol%) 20.3 11.0 0.0 6.4 2.4 Balance 953.6

Fig. 5. E!ects of the turbulent #uctuation on the gas temperature and O distributions.

3872 C. Chen et al. / Chemical Engineering Science 55 (2000) 3861}3874

Comparing with the standard case of the MSPV method The model has the capability of predicting the variabil-
shown in Fig. 4, the "rst major di!erence to be noted in ity for the product compositions from the volatile com-
Case (a) and (b) is the temperature distribution below the bustion and the heterogeneous char reactions. This
combustor coal burner level. For the later two cases, the variability has a signi"cant e!ect on comprehensive code
higher temperature region in the center of the combustor predictions. Turbulent #uctuations in the volatile and the
is immediately followed by a low-temperature region char}oxygen reaction were shown to a!ect temperature
down the combustor. Neglecting the #uctuation of F in and gas composition signi"cantly, and the turbu-

Case (a) causes a higher temperature region between two lence/oxidation reaction interaction should not be ne-
combustor burner levels, presumably because of the vol- glected in the model development.
atile combustion to produce more CO and H O in this
 
region. Ignoring the #uctuations of both F and F in Notation
 
Case (b) makes the high-temperature region become
smaller and less extreme, but shows a higher temperature A ,A pre-exponential factors, s\
 
level compared with the standard case. It is evident that A pre-exponential factors,
A
taking the #uctuations into account smoothens the gas kg m\ s\ Pa\ 
temperature distributions. These observations are consis- A surface area of particle, m
N
tent with those reported elsewhere (Brewster et al., 1988) a acceleration due to gravity, m s\
E
for pulverized coal combustion. a,b constants of linear "tting
G G
The oxygen distribution also di!ers signi"cantly C ,C ,C , turbulent model constants
  
among the three cases (the standard case, Case (a) and C ,C ,C
E E I
(b)). For the standard case, the oxygen concentration C #uid drag coe$cient on isolated particles
"
drops quickly to zero as the available oxygen is quickly C speci"c heat capacity of particle,
N
consumed by reaction with volatile and char. The drop is J kg\ k\
less steep for Case (a) due to the slower mixing of the C speci"c heat capacity of i gas species,
NG
evolving carbon monoxide with oxygen. The oxygen J kg\ k\
drops most slowly for Case (b) because of the slower D di!usivity of i gas species, m s\
G
mixing of both the volatile and the carbon monoxide d characteristic particle size, m
N
with the oxygen. E ,E activation energies of devolatilization
 
reactions, kJ mol\
4.4. Ewect of the shift reaction E apparent activation energy, kJ mol\
A
F mixture fractions de"ned in Eq. (5)
G
The e!ect of the steam gas shift reaction was examined F momentum source term arising from
Q
by neglecting it in the calculation. The simulated particles, kg m\ s\
oxygen concentration was exactly the same as for the f source term from particles, kg m\ s\
QH
standard case. The changes with the gas temperature and f mixture fraction de"ned in Eq. (4)
G
other gas species concentration distributions were very g variance of f
G G
limited. These "ndings justi"ed the neglect of the h thermal enthalpy, J kg\
#uctuations of F and F . Further research is needed h source term arising from particles,
  Q
to identify the interaction between the shift reaction J kg\ s\
and the turbulent #uctuations, and to what extent the I radiation intensity, W m\ s\
e!ect of the #uctuations of F and F can be k turbulent kinetic energy, m s\
 
neglected. k ,k devolatilization rate constants, s\
 
k mass transfer rate coe$cient,
B
kg s\ m\ Pa\
5. Conclusions k equilibrium constant, dimensionless

k rate constant, kg m\ s\ Pa\ 
Q
A comprehensive computer simulation model of M molecular weight of carbon
A
the entrained #ow coal gasi"er has been developed m }m mass of gas originating from reaction
 
and applied to the simulation of a 200 td\ two-stage (R-2), (R-4)}(R-6), kg
air blown entrained #ow gasi"er was recently developed m mass of air, kg

for the IGCC process. The predicted gas tempera- m mass of particle, kg
N
ture pro"le and the product gas properties are in m mass of product, kg

general agreement with the measurements. The model m mass source term arising from particles,
Q
predicts a combustion zone, a gasi"cation zone and kg m\ s\
a devolatilization zone in the 200 td\ two-stage Nu Nusselt number
gasi"er. P pressure of gas phase reactant i, Pa
G
 C. Chen et al. / Chemical Engineering Science 55 (2000) 3861}3874 3873

Pr Prandtl number m21, m26 stoichiometric coe$cient of char

p static pressure, Pa c1 volatile matter content of dry base
Q radiative heat #ux, J m\ s\ c2 char content of dry base
0
R molar gas constant, 8.314 J mol\ k\ * averaging
Re Reynolds number  #uctuation of any variable
Sh Sherwood number
S generalized source term
(
S source term arising from particles Acknowledgements
(N
s distance, m
temperature, k This work was supported by the New Energy and
mean temperature ("(# )/2), k Industrial Technology Development Organization
K N
particle temperature, k (NEDO), and the Center for Coal Utilization, Japan
N
t time, s (CCUJ). We acknowledge CRIEP and MHI for sup-
u,u ,u gas velocity components, m s\ plying the gasifer parameters and operating conditions.
G H I
u gas velocity, m s\
u particle velocity, m s\
N
w reaction rate of species j, kg m\ s\
H References
x,x ,x coordinate of three directions, m
G H I
> volatile yield Araki, S. (1993). Development of an integrated coal gasi"cation com-
> volatile yield for low-activation devolatil-
 bined cycle power system by 200 td\ pilot plant at Nakoso. Pro-
ization reaction ceedings of the Fourth Japan-China Symposium on Coal C1 Chem.
>H maximum of > Osaka, Japan, May 25}28 (pp. 9}14).
  Araki, S., & Harai, Y. (1996). Test results at the 200 td\ Nakoso IGCC
> volatile yield for high-activation devolatili-
 pilot plant. Journal of the Japan Institute of Energy, 75, 839}850.
zation reaction Brewster, B. S., Baxter, L. L., & Smoot, L. D. (1988). Treatment of coal
>H maximum of >
  devolatilization in comprehensive combustion modeling. Energy
> mass fraction of species j & Fuels, 2, 362}370.
H
*h heat of reaction, J kg\ Crowe, C. T., Sharma, M. P., & Stock, D. E. (1977). The particle-
source-in-cell method for gas and droplet #ow. Journal of Fluids
Greek letters Engineering, 99, 325}332.
Govind, R., & Shah, J. (1984). Modeling and simulation of an entrained
a fraction of CO formation from volatile #ow coal gasi"er. A.I.Ch.E. Journal, 30, 79}91.
  Hara, S., & Ichigawa, K. (1997). Evaluation of gasi"cation character-
carbon istic with 2 td\ and 200 td\ entrained #ow gasi"er. Proceedings of
a fraction of CO formation from volatile
 the International Conference on Power Engineering } 97, Tokyo, July
carbon 13}17 (pp. 127}132).
X solid angle, sr Hill, S. C., & Smoot, L. D. (1993). A comprehensive three-dimensional
bI average value of any gas property model for simulation of combustion system: PCGC-3. Energy
& Fuels, 7, 874}883.
e dissipation rate of turbulent kinetic Ishimori, M. (1995). Recent progress of development of coal gasi"cation
energy, m\ s\ technology. Journal of the Japan Institute of Energy, 74, 673}681.
e ,e radiative absorption coe$cients of gas Kaneko, S., Hashimoto, T., Furuya, T., Hashimoto, A., & Shinada, O.
? N (1997). Operational results of the air blown entrained #ow gasi"er.
and particle, m\
e particle radiative scatter coe$cient, m\ Proceedings of the International Conference on Power Engineering 97,
Q Tokyo, July 13}17 (pp. 115}119).
p ,p ,p turbulent model constants
I C ( Launder, B. E., & Sharma, B. I. (1974). Application of the energy-
p Stefan}Bolzmann constant, 5.67;10\ dissipation model of turbulence to the calculation of #ow near
W m\ k\ a spinning disc. Letters in Heat Mass Transfer, 1, 131}138.

mechanism factor of char combustion
U generalized variable
u stoichiometric coe$cient
o gas density, kg m\
j thermal conductivity, W m\ k\
k dynamic viscosity, kg m\ s\
k turbulent viscosity, kg m\ s\
R 147}156.
d "1 (i"j), "0 (iOj)
GH
Subscripts
m01}m07 stoichiometric coe$cient of coal
m11}m17 stoichiometric coe$cient of volatile
Launder, B.E., & Spalding, B. (1972). Mathematical models of turbulence
(pp. 90}110). New York: Academic Press.
Lookwood, F.C., & Shah, N.G. (1982). A new radiation method for
incorporation in general combustion prediction procedures. Eight-
eenth symposium (international) on combustion (p. 1045). Pittsburgh:
The Combustion Institute.
Mann, A. P., & Kent, J. H. (1994). A computational study of heterogen-
eous char reactions in a full-scale furnace. Combustion and Flame, 99,
Maude, C. (1993). Advanced power generation * a comparative study of
design options for coal. IEACR/55 (p. 90). London, UK: IEA Coal
Research.
Mitsubishi Heavy Industry (1994). Research report on the improvement
of the slagging problem occurred in the 200 td\1 pilot scale entrained
yow gasixer. Report prepared for NEDO IGC project.
3874 C. Chen et al. / Chemical Engineering Science 55 (2000) 3861}3874
Ni, Q., & Williams, A. (1995). A simulation study on the performance of
an entrained-#ow coal gasi"er. Fuel, 74, 102}110.
Patankar, S. V. (1980). Numerical heat transfer and #uid #ow (pp.
113}135). Washington: Hemisphere Publishing.
Shuen, J. S., Chen, L. D., & Feath, G. M. (1983). Evaluation of
a stochastic model of particle dispersion in a turbulent round jet.
A.I.Ch.E. Journal, 29, 167}170.
Smith, I. W. (1982). The combustion rate of coal chars: A review. In
Nineteenth symposium (international) on combustion (pp. 1045}1065).
Pittsburgh: The Combustion Institute.
Smoot, L.D. (1993). Fundamentals of coal combustion for clean and
ezcient use, Coal Science and Technology, vol. 20 (pp. 567}630).
Amsterdam: Elsevier.
Smoot, L. D., & Brown, B. W. (1987). Controlling mechanism in
gasi"cation of pulverized coal. Fuel, 66, 1249}1256.
Smoot, L.D., & Smith, P.J. (1985). Coal combustion and gasixcation. The
Plenum Chemical Engineering Series. New York: Plenum Press.
Takematsu, T., & Maude, C. (1991). Coal gasixcation for IGCC
power generation. (p. 80). IEACR/37. London, UK: IEA Coal
Reseach.
Ubhayakar, S. K., Stickler, D. B., Von Rosenberg, C. Y., & Gannon,
R. E. (1977). Sixteenth symposium (international) on combustion.
Pittsburgh: The Combustion Institute.
Wen, C. Y., & Chaung, T. Z. (1979). Entrainment coal gasi"cation
modeling. Industrial and Engineering Chemistry, Process Design and
Development, 18, 684}694.