Numerical Simulation of Coal Ash Particle Behavior in Entrained Flow Coal Gasifier

The objective of this study is to develop an evaluation tool for a design and performance of a coal gasifier by a numerical simulation technique. In the present paper, a gas-particle two phase reacting flow calculation is carried out for a prediction of phenomena in an entrained flow coal gasifier due to coal and ash particles behavior, such as ash deposition on the wall. A transportation of the coal particles is modeled via a Lagrangian manner. The ash particle adhesion on the wall of the gasifier is discriminated by an empirical ash adhesion model based on a liquid phase fraction concept in the ash particle. The gas phase properties are calculated by three dimensional time-mean Eulerian conservation equations. The turbulent flow field is determined by the k-ε two equations model. Radiative heat transfer is calculated by the discrete transfer radiation method. Coal gasification reaction model is composed of three chemical processes in the current model: a pyrolysis, a char gasification and gas phase reactions. 2 tons/day (t/d) air-blown pressurized entrained flow coal gasifier, which has been constructed and operated by Central Research Institute of Electric Power Industry (CRIEPI) was targetted. As a result, a relationship between an operating condition (air ratio) of the gasifier and the gasifier performance is presented. The trend of the ash deposition on the gasifier inner wall is also presented. Comparison between the computational and the experimental results shows that the most feature of the gasifier performance and the profile of the ash deposition have been captured by the present model. It was confirmed that the numerical simulation approach is very useful for the assessment of gasifier performance and operation support.