Study on Pollutants Emission Characteristic of Coal Gasification in a Fluidized Bed Test Rig Available to Purchase

This paper presents the results of coal gasification in a fluidized bed test rig of Xuzhou bituminous coal. The diameter of the fluidized bed combustor is 0.1m and the height is 4.22m. The bed temperature is maintained by a method of high temperature flue gas interline heating to overcome high heat losses associated with a oil burner. Test results are reported for variations in the bed temperature, air to coal, steam to coal and Ca to S ratio and their influence on gas yields and desulphurization efficiency. The distribution of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and heavy metal trace elements into the char and syngas are also presented. The molar contents for CH₄ and H₂ in the coal syngas are found to decrease with increasing air to coal feed ratio from 2.5 to 5, while the content of CO shows little variation. Increasing the steam to coal feed ratio from 0.4 to 0.65 results in all three of the main gas components measured to form a local maximum content at a steam/coal feed ratio of 0.55. The efficiency of desulphurization improves as the ratio of Ca to S, air to coal and the bed temperature are increased, while decreasing with increasing steam to coal feed ratios. The volatile trace element species in decreasing order of relative mass ratio released into the gas phase are Hg, Se, As, Co, Cr, Cd, Cu, and Zn. Besides Hg, Se, and As, for all other trace heavy metals the majority of their mass distribution remains within the char with the proportion contained within char always greater than their combined yields in the coal syngas and slag. The total PAHs in the coal syngas is greater than that contained in the original coal and this indicates that PAHs are formed during the coal gasification process.