Yangzhou Guo

Effects of volatile-char interactions on char during pyrolysis of rice husk at mild temperatures.

In order to understand the sensitivity of volatile-char interactions to mild temperatures (600-800°C), in-situ rice husk char was prepared from fast pyrolysis (>10(3)Ks(-1)) on a fixed-bed reactor. Retention of K in char, changes in char structure and char reactivity were determined. The results showed that volatile-char interactions did not cause obvious effect on the char yield but showed an inhibitory effect on char reactivity. The inhibition began only above 650°C and intensified with temperature rise, but kept almost unchanged at 700-800°C. Char structure and retention of K have a combined effect on char reactivity. The decreased reactivity was caused by additional volatilization of K from char matrix and transformation of relatively smaller aromatic ring systems to large ring systems (>6 benzene rings) above 650°C.

Use of a Process Mass Spectrometer to Measure Rapid Changes of Gas Concentration

Abstract Experiments were conducted to investigate the suitability of a multistage in-situ reaction analyzer based on a micro fluidized bed (MFB-MIRA) for measuring rapid changes of gas concentration during gas-solid reactions. The results show that control of capillary temperature of a process mass spectrometer strongly influences the stability of on-line measurements. Based on observed regular patterns, the capillary temperature-control system was equipped with a precision controller that enabled a precision of ±0.2 °C to be achieved, and thereby guaranteed high stabilities of the sampling flow rate and chamber vacuum. Measurements using the modified gas-monitoring system showed that periodic fluctuations of the on-line measurement were eliminated and measurement stability significantly improved. The fluctuating range and relative standard deviation of the measured response to O 2 in air improved from 1.9% to 1.4% and 0.54% to 0.18%, respectively. A pressure-regulating device was also developed to control the absolute pressure at the gas sampling point. This achieved a control precision of ±0.02 kPa. The measured results showed that the response of the process mass spectrometer correlated positively with the absolute pressure at the sampling point, indicating the necessity for a pressure-regulating device. The accuracy and repeatability of the process mass spectrometer were improved. This work has enhanced the suitability of MFB-MIRA for studying rapid gas-solid reactions and broadened the scope of reliable applications of MFB-MIRA combined with a process mass spectrometer.

Experimental Study of Rapid Brown Coal Pyrolysis at High Temperature

Rapid coal pyrolysis is a very important step in the early stage of combustion. Rapid pyrolysis experiments of a brown coal at high temperature have been studied on a laminar drop tube furnace. The volatile mass release measured in this study is high for low rank coal. The activation energy and pre-exponential factor of pyrolysis are 19901.22 kJ/mol and 102.71, respectively. The nitrogen distribution between volatile and char is 0.54. With the increase of temperature, the yields of NH3 decreases, while those of HCN increases, leading the value of HCN/NH3 to become larger. At high temperature, the main nitrogen- containing species of pyrolysis in volatile is HCN.