Drying, devolatilisation

and volatile
combustion
for single coal particles:
pseudo steady state approach
Pradeep

K. Agarwal

and Ian Pedler

Department
of Chemical
Engineering,
University
of Adelaide,
Australia
500 1
(Received
23 April 1985; revised 22 August
1985)

GPO Box 498,

South

A simple single particle model is presented for the drying, devolatilization

and volatile combustion of coal
particles. A pseudo steady state heat transfer approach has been adopted. The analysis is presented in
preignition and postignition stages. The effect of the diffusion flame, in the post ignition stage, is taken into
account. Particle shrinkage due to loss of moisture is also considered. The model predictions are compared
with the fluidised bed data reported in the literature for Victorian brown coal.

(Keywords: coal; volatile combustion; drying; devolatilisation)

Fluidised bed combustion

of low rank coals has great
potential for the economic generation of process heat and
electricity. Such coals contain appreciable
amounts
of
moisture in their as-mined state. Complete moisture
removal prior to use in a combustor
would not be
economically
viable.
Hence,
during
fluidised
bed
combustion
of such coals, several interactive phenomena
are expected
to occur including
drying,
shrinkage,
devolatilisation,
combustion
of volatiles and the residual
char. Most of the previous research, experimental
as well
as theoretical, has focussed on the combustion
behaviour
of predried coal, residual char or carbon2T3 and the
interactive nature of the above processes has not received
due attention.
In order to systematically
study the
interactive
nature
of the phenomena,
a stagewise
approach has recently been adopted. The results of the
theoretical
and experimental
investigations
for drying
(without
devolatilisation)4,5,
pyrolysis
(of predried
coa1)6,7, coupled drying and pyrolysis*s9 and evolution of
volatiles under oxidizing conditions from predried coal
have already been reported.
In this study, a simple single particle model is described
which considers
the aspects
of drying,
shrinkage,
devolatilisation
and volatile combustion.
A pseudo study
state receding core formulation
has been adopted to
describe the drying process. The analysis is separated into
a preignition and a postignition
stage. The increase in heat
transfer due to presence of the volatile flame is taken into
account. The applicability
of the model for fluidised bed
conditions is discussed.
THE MODEL
The model is presented in two stages: the preignition
corresponding
to drying
and devolatilisation
pyrolysis-like
conditions
and a postignition
incorporation
the effect of the volatiles flame.
0016-236l/S6/05064CrO4$3.00
0 1986 Butterworth & Co. (Publishers) Ltd.

640

FUEL, 1986, Vol 65, May

stage
under
stage

Stage 1

The drying for the spherical particle of initial radius R,

is considered
to take place from a receding wet/dry
interface. A pseudo steady state heat transfer approach,
details of which have been presented earlier4, is used to
model the drying. Under the assumptions
of the model,
the particle temperature
profile as a function of radial
position of the wet/dry interface is given by

(1)
where 4 = rJR,, re is the time dependent radial position of
the wet/dry interface which is assumed to be at a constant
temperature
T,
Applying an energy balance at the wet/dry interface
and subsequent manipulation
yields

where t3= tfs; with t-z as 4-0.

For the large particles (> lmm) of interest in fluidised
bed combustion,
Agarwal
et ~1.~ have proposed
a
devolatilisation
model (for predried coal particles) which
considers heat transfer to and through the coal particle as
the rate limiting mechanism. According to the model, at
any point
within
the coal particle,
the extent of
devolatilisation
would be negligible if the temperature
is
less than T,, and would be complete if the temperature is
greater than TV,. For intermediate
temperatures,
a linear
relationship
was assumed.
The devolatilisation
occurs only in the dry shell exterior
to the wet core. Then the temperature profile (Equation 1)
and the devolatilisation
model may be used to obtain the

Drying, devolatilisation and volatile combustion for single coal particles: P. K. Agarwal and I. Pedler
volumetric
as

average fractional
1

Xar=c

amount

of volatiles

released

1
(R03-C1J)CI+T>_T~,~

{(A+T,-T,~)(C,3-r,~3)-:~R,A(C,2-r,,,2)3

(3a)
1

Bi( T, - TJ
A=-24 - Bi(4 - 1)

where

ry2

=
i =R,

c,

=
i =(T,-T,y(T,>-T,>)

where 4,= R(t)/R,

RESULTS

T,>T,,
T,< T,,

within the coal particle,

1 -x,,

X,, may be
WI

Stage 2
As discussed
in a recent paper
no satisfactory
criterion appears to be available for the determination
of
ignition phase or characteristics
for coal. For the purpose
of this analysis, it will be assumed that ignition will occur
once 2 5 wt% of the volatile matter of the coal is released.
Furthermore
it will also be assumed
that the flame sheet
is at a temperature
T, and at a radial distance R,+6/,
where 6 is the momentum boundary layer thickness prior
to ignition. With the assumption of flame radius R, + 6/,,
it may be shown that B&=2&. Bir is then defined as the
heat transfer Biot number in the presence of the volatiles
flame. Since volatile combustion
is assumed to take place
at the boundary
of the volatiles bubble (diffusion flame)
but within the boundary of the bubble phase, the effective
source of heat to coal particle is closer compared with the
case when there is no flame. Bi, accounts
for this
phenomena.
Application
of the energy balance
at the wet/dry
interface with integration
being performed over the two
stages leads to the following equation for drying:

(;-o)=($g(;)x
(44

where r, and rP are the times required for drying under

combustion
and pyrolysis conditions
respectively and
z,/z, < z,/rP < 1. z, is the time required for ignition. It may
be noted that for a noncombusting
situation, Equation
4a reduces to Equation 2.
Additionally
the post ignition dry shell temperature
profile is given by:
T_T
e=
T-T,

Bi(l-$&)
r
$-Bi(c#-

WI

1)

This temperature profile may then be used to characterize

the drying and devolatilisation
in the postignition
stage.
The equation for X,, for this stage may be obtained from
Equation 3 with the parameter A replaced by A where
A,

MT-

(6)

T,> TV2or TiR,,< T,:.i

The fraction retained

found simply as:
x,=

&=[l-Fx,(l-@)]ii3

T,> T, and TIRo>

T2

Cl

The analysis so far has not included the effect of

shrinkage. This may be incorporated
in the calculation
algorithm by estimating
the new particle diameter and
Biot number
depending
on the amount
of moisture
removed at small discrete time intervals. Assuming that
the volumetric shrinkage is proportional
to the volume of
moisture removed4:

T,)

2+-Bi,(c#~l)=+Bi(+l)

Bi(7;-

TJ
(5)

AND DISCUSSION

Besides
the
thermophysical
properties
and
devolatilisation
parameters TV,and TV>,the major parameter
required by the model is T~/z~. If r,/sP is known, the
effective flame temperature
may be estimated
from
Equation 4a applied to the ignition time, since all other
variables would be known.
Sample calculations
using the parameters
in TL~ble 1
with Bi= 1 are shown in Fig~lrr ILI. To demonstrate
the
effect of volatile combustion,
results are also plotted for
pyrolysis like conditions.
It may be seen that for lower
Biot numbers, the drying introduces a large time lag in the
devolatilisation
behaviour.
Devolatilisation
commences
only after the drying is virtually complete. Under such
circumstances,
drying and devolatilisation
could be
decoupled and treated as sequential processes to a good
approximation.
The volatile combustion
results in an
increase in the rate of drying as well as devolatilisation
depending on the value of the ratio r,/rP. Results with
Bi=4 are shown in Figure 1b. In this case drying and
devolatilisation
have to be considered
as a coupled
process. It may be noted that for the large particle sizes
and high superficial gas velocities of interest in fluidised
bed combustion,
the Biot number may vary from 1 to 10.
The detailed verification of the model is presently not
possible
as single
particle
data
for drying
and
devolatilisation
with combustion of volatiles has not been
reported. Some data have been reported for the fluidised
bed combustion of wet Victorian brown coal by Jung and
Stanmore . The
values
of the
devolatilisation
parameters,
T,, and TV>,were obtained
by the linear
extrapolation
of the weight loss data for Victorian brown
coal reported by Tyler. The values of TVwere estimated
from
the
experimental
data.
For
the
reported
experimental
conditions,
both gas-solid
and particleparticle heat exchange are expected to be important as the
bed particle size is much smaller than the coal particle size.
Jung and Stanmore ii have estimated, from their char
combustion
data, that Sh, Y 5; this value appears to be in
agreement with the recent detailed work of LaNauze and
coworkers on1 3,14 mass transfer aspects in fluidised bed
combustion
of char. Since bed particles hinder mass
transfer but assist heat transfer, Ross and Davidson3 have
suggested that Nu,-Sh/q,
where e,, is the bed voidage.
The Nu, so obtained for the char combustion
stages was
used to estimate the initial Nu, (and hence the initial Biot
number) from the reported shrinkage during drying and
devolatilisation.
A more rigorous estimation of Nu, is not
possible at present due to the absence of correlations
which provide quantitative
estimates
for the contributions
-of gas-particle
and particle-particle
heat
exchange in a fluidised bed. The estimated parameters are
presented in Tuble 1 and the comparison
of the model

FUEL,

1986,

Vol 65, May

641

Drying,

devolatilisation

Table I Parameters

and volatile

combustion

for single coal particles:

P. K. Agarwal

and I. Pedler

used in model calculations

Comparison

Parameter

Parametric

calculations

C,, gms/g coal

V*, g/g coal
T,(K)
R,, (mm)

represented
represented
1100.0
1.0

in dimensionless
in dimensionless

Initial Bi
r&
Tf (calculated)(K)

/
0.8
2273

/
0.6
1834

.
1.0
T,

0.9
1200

1.36
0.53
993.0
3.1

form
form

4.0

I.0

with experimental

0.8
1230

1043.0
3.0
4.5
0.8
1166

4.8
0.8
1125

.
1.0
T,

data

\ A

II
I
I

0.6-

x
b

0.4-

!
!

0.2I

y&
0a
0

I
02

I
0.6

I
0.4

1
!
B
A

C
0.8

Dimensionless drying (-)

and devolatilisation
curves (-.-)
Figure la
for Bi= I with other parameters
in Table I; A, 5,/rp= 1.0 (pyrolysis
conditions); B, t,/rp = 0.9 (oxidizing conditions); C, rc/rp = 0.8 (oxidizing
conditions)

predictions with experimental

data is shown in Figures 2
and 3.
As noted
earlier,
in a fluidised
bed, volatile
the
would
occur
predominantly
in
combustion
bubble 5,16 phase and pyrolysis like conditions
would
prevail when the coal particle is in the emulsion phase.
The experimental
conditions
of Jung and Stanmore
employ small bed particles, lower fluidising velocity and
large coal particles. The coal particles are then expected to
remain predominantly
in the emulsion phase and the high
values of rs,/zP are thus obviously reasonable.
The model thus appears to provide a reasonable insight
into the time resolved coupled drying, devolatilisation
and volatile combustion behaviour ofcoal particles. More
detailed verification is necessary; experimental apparatus
for the collection of the requisite data is presently under
construction
and the results will be reported. A drawback
of the present model is its inability to predict the drying
time accurately which has to be treated as a parameter
and estimated from experimental
data. Moreover, the
pseudo steady state approach would suggest that the total
drying time and the time required for coupled pyrolysis
and drying are the same. Inclusion of transient effects in
the modelling of drying5, coupled with the solution of the
equations
for devolatilisation
and volatile combustion
would
eliminate
these
drawbacks;
however,
the
computational
effort would be increased substantially.

642

02

FUEL, 1986, Vol 65, May

08

0.6

0.4

8
Figure 1b Dimensionless drying (-)
and devolatilisation
curves (-.-)
for Bi=4 with other parameters
in Tub/r I; A, TJT,,= I.0 (pyrolysis
conditions); B, rc/rp = 0.8 (oxidizing conditions); C, TJT~ = 0.6 (oxidizing
conditions)

IO

20

30

40

50

60

Time, set

Figure 2 Comparison
of experimental
data with model predictions
for -8.4f6.4mm
coal particles
at 993 K. Drying:
0, pyrolysis
conditions;
A, oxidizing conditions.
Devolatilisation:
0, pyrolysis
conditions;
A, oxidizing conditions

The formidable nature of the task involved in setting up

the computations
for the coupled heat and mass transfer
equations
involved in drying alone has been pointed
out17. It may be noted that their formulation
assumed
that water evaporated at the surface of the coal particle.

Drying,

devolatilisation

and volatile combustion

for single coal particles:

6

9
10

11
12
13
14
15
16
17
0

P. K. Agarwal

and I. Pedler

Agarwal, P. K., Genetti, W. E. and Lee, Y. Y. Fuel 1984,63, 1157

Agarwal, P. K., Genetti, W. E. and Lee, Y. Y. Furl 1984,63, 1748
Agarwal, P. K., Genetti. W. E. and Lee,Y. Y. Am. Chem. Sot. Diun.
ofFuel Preprints 1984, 29(2), 94
Agarwal, P. K., Genetti, W. E. and Lee, Y. Y. Proc. 14. Dr.dny
Sqmposium 84 Jupcm, 1984
Agarwal, P. K. Furl, submitted for publication
Jung, K. and Stanmore, B. R. Furl 1980. 59, 74
Tyler, R. J. Fuel 1979. 58, 680
LaNauze, R. D. Chem. Eng. Rrs. Des. Jan 1985,63, 3
LaNauze, R. D., Jung, K. and Kastl, J. Chem. Eng. Sci. 1984.
39( I l), 1623
Cowley, L. T. and Roberts, P. Proc. Fluid Combustion Conf:
Capetown,
1981, 2(5.3), 443
Dennis, J. S., Hayhurst,
A. N. and Mackley, I. G. Ninrtwnth
Symp. (Id.)
Combustion
1982, 1205, (Combustion
Institute)
Ball, J. M. and Evans, D. G. CHEMECA70
1970, Session 6A, 85

0
0

10

20

30

40

50

60

NOMENCLATURE

Time, set

Figure 3 Comparison
of experimental
for -6.4+ 5.6 mm coal particles at
conditions;
A, oxidizing conditions.
conditions;
A, oxidizing conditions

data with model predictions

1043 K. Drying: 0, pyrolysis
Devolatilisation:
0, pyrolysis

Inclusion of a moving boundary analysis, which appears

to be more reasonable
at least for large coal particles,
would increase the complexity as would devolatilisation
and combustion.
The simplified analysis presented in this
paper
includes
several
assumptions.
The range of
applicability
of these assumptions
needs to be tested in
greater detail; a detailed approach may be the only useful
method for obtaining
meaningful
results for pulverized
coal combustion.
The analysis,
however,
definitely
suggests that a consistent basic approach is applicable to
the study of the interactive phenomena
occuring during
the fluidised bed combustion
of wet low rank coals.

CONCLUSIONS
The model presented provides a reasonable insight into
the structure of drying and devolatilisation
of coal under
combustion
conditions.
More extensive data is required
for single coal particles in isolated flow as well as for
fluidised beds. A more accurate model should include a
transient analysis for drying.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors thank Mrs. J. Tonkin and Miss D. Ovens for
typing the manuscript.
The grant-in-aid
from University
Research Grants, The University
of Adelaide, is also
gratefully acknowledged.

REFERENCES
1
2
3
4
5

Pillai, K. K. J. Inst. Eneryy. 1981, 54, 142

Avedesian, M. M. and Davidson, J. F. Trans. I. Chrm. E. 1973,51,
121
Ross, I. B. and Davidson, J. F. fiuns. I. Chrm. E. 1979, 57, 215
Agarwal, P. K., Genetti, W. E. and Lee, Y. Y. Chem. Eny.
Commun. 1984, 27, 9
Agarwal, P. K., Genetti, W. E., Lee, Y. Y. and Prasad, S. N. Fuel
1984, 63, 1019

A
A
Bi
Bi,

coefficient defined in Equation 5

coefficient defined in Equation 8
heat transfer Biot number based on particle diameter
Biot number corresponding
to the flame radius
CO initial moisture content of coal (gms/g dry coal)
Cl parameter defined in Equation 5a
c2 parameter defined in Equation 5a
F
proportionally
factor for shrinkage
Nu, Nusselt number
radius of the particle (mm)
initial radius of the particle (mm)
Reynolds number based on coal particle diameter
radial position within particle (mm)
radial position of the wet dry interface (mm)
radial position corresponding
to temperature
Tl
W-4
radial position corresponding
to temperature
T2
(mm)
Sherwood number
temperature
(K)
gas temperature
(K)
flame temperature
(K)
temperature
at the wet/dry interface (K)
temperature
at which devolatilisation
begins (K)
temperature
at which devolatilisation
is complete
(K)
of the coal particle (K)
T, original temperature
t
time (s)
I/* volatiles (g- dry coal)
volume fraction of moisture
>
volumetric average fraction of volatiles released
X: volumetric average fraction of volatiles retained
Greek Symbols
s
boundary layer thickness (mm)
0
t/z, dimensionless
time
r
total drying time (s)
ignition delay (s)
71
sp
drying time under pyrolysis conditions
(s)
7C
drying time under combustion
conditions
(s)
E,, bed voidage
r,/R,, dimensionless
radial position of the wet/dry
4
interface
4p dimensionless
time dependent particle radius

FUEL, 1986, Vol 65, May

643