Jialing Zhu

Status and Developments of Drying Low Rank Coal with Superheated Steam in China

Superheated steam drying (SSD) of low rank coal (LRC) is applied to improve the heating value and thermal efficiency and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and the danger of spontaneous combustion. It is essential to understand the fundamental aspects of drying LRC with superheated steam supported by funds in China and the development of clean coal technology. It is also important to promote the level of scientific technology relevant to safe energy strategies. The background of SSD based on Chinas unique energy structure and coal production situation are presented in this article. A comprehensive overview on progress and mechanisms of SSD is provided, including the status of drying technology supported by funds in China, distribution of project field and important research institutions, physical and chemical structure of water in coal, heat and mass transfer processes, mathematical models, and some results for wood, food, hot gas, etc., with particular reference to SSD in drying of LRC in China. There are still many challenges in the application of SSD of LRC in very large-scale power plants, drying equipment, and control technology. Advanced SSD sponsored by the fund project in China shows important significance to energy savings and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Local heat transfer characteristics of water flowing through a single fracture within a cylindrical granite specimen

The local heat transfer coefficient (LHTC) can be an effective indicator to describe the local heat transfer characteristics of fractures but has rarely been employed to investigate the local heat exchange properties of a hot dry rock fracture compared to the overall heat transfer coefficient (OHTC). The aim of this paper is to investigate the LHTC of water flowing through a single fracture within a cylindrical granite specimen under confining pressure by combining the numerical modeling approach and the experimental results. A numerical model was successfully developed and verified by the test data. It is found that the local heat transfer coefficient is obviously closely related to the fluctuation of the fracture morphology. Within a certain range of aperture, narrower fracture has higher local heat transfer ability. Increasing the flow rate did not significantly improve the local heat transfer ability in the flat area of the fracture for a fixed fracture aperture. However, at the rougher areas, the flow rate has a higher effect, and the sunken positions at the fracture surface have much larger LHTC. A correlated model was developed to describe the relationship between waviness and LHTC. In addition, a comparison between the LHTCs and the OHTCs shows that the definition-based method presents the smallest values of the OHTCs, which are the closest to the arithmetic mean values of the corresponding LHTCs.