ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I am grateful to all those who have contributed to this seminar with

suggestions, criticisms and information. As an amateur in this topic, I am
especially indebted to those who have readily responded to my appeals for
expert guidance.

I am thankful to Shri ., Professor and head of Mechanical Engineering

Department, for providing facilities to present this seminar.

I also thank our staff in charge, Shri .. E, Sr. Lecturer, Department of

Mechanical Engineering and seminar guide, Shri., Asst. Professor,
Department of Mechanical engineering for their inspiration and help
throughout the course of my seminar.

BIBRAT KUMAR PANDA.

 SYNOPSIS

The advantages of coal gasification and a little idea about coal

gasification is discussed. Moving bed, fluidized bed and entrained bed
gasifiers are some of the gasifiers. spouted bed gasifier is a distinct method
of contacting solid and fluids. An experiment is conducted in a spouted bed
gasifier with coal of free swelling index 0, 4 and 7 are tested. Gases of
heating value up to 3.61 MJ/m3 were produced at atmospheric pressure and
temperatures to 9300 C. Characteristics of spouted bed gasifiers are
presented. Applications and modifications are included.

Coal Gasification in a Spouted Bed

 INTRODUCTION

We know that coal is a solid fuel. Coal is a major energy source in India.
There are some disadvantages in using solid fuel for combustion. We can
overcome these disadvantages by converting coal to combustible gas.

Advantages of gaseous fuels over solid fuels are :

1. it is easy to control the length and nature of flame i.e. temperature

control is easier.
2. Gaseous fuels burn completely. So it does not contain ash.
Therefore no ash removal is required and hence economical.
3. Gaseous fuel can easily piped into furnace. So handling is easy.
4. lesser amount of excess air is needed to burn them completely.
5. Greater cleanliness assured, as the smoke is practically nil.
6. Converting coal to combustible gas has been practiced
commercially since early in the nineteenth century.

Coal and Coal Gas

Coal is a general term for a number of solid blackish organic fossil
minerals with widely differing compositions and properties. Coal is
essentially rich in amorphous carbon i.e. carbon without regular structure.
Coal contains several liquid and gaseous hydrocarbons. Coal mainly
contains carbon , hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen.
Different types of Coals are :-
1) Antracite 2) Semi Antracite
3) Bituminous Coal 4) Subbituminous Coal
5) Lignite 6) Peat

Coal gas is byproduct obtained during the destructive distribution of coal.

Coal gas mainly contains carbon monoxide, hydrogen, carbon dioxide,
methane.

Coal Gasification in a Spouted Bed

Coal Gasification
Coal gasification involves chemical reaction of coal, steam and air or
oxygen at high temperature to produce a mixture of hydrocarbon gases
typically carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, hydrogen, methane also
hydrogen sulphide. Gasifier is the equipment which converts coal to coal
gas. Three types of gasifiers are 1) Moving bed 2) Fluidised bed 3)
Entrained bed systems Each reactor characteristic feed size, mixing
behaviour, reaction temperature etc. The fluidized bed gasifier has a
relatively uniform bed temperature due to its good mixing characteristics
and produces low tar gas. However the gas may b high in dust. Moving bed
produces gases high in tars and low in dust. Non – uniformity of flow and
temperature may give control problems. Output may be low, but gas is
generally of higher calorific value than fluidized bed. Entrained bed can
operate with a wide variety of finely crushed coals to produce a gas that is
low in tar and high in dust.
 The spouted bed gasifier may be expected to combine same properties
of above 3 since the annulus is a slowly moving bed while the cyclic motion
of the particles through the spout and fountain ensures good mixing. The
feed size may be slightly larger than that of a fluidized bed and fines could
be easily handled since the spout region is much like an entrained bed
gasifier. The quality of coal to be treated dictates certain characteristics of
gasifier to defluidisation. Spouted bed can deal with this problem because of
the high relative velocity.

Coal

Gasification in a Spouted Bed

The definition of a spouted bed here is any cylindrical vessel filled with
particles, provided with a small centrally located aperture in its base which
allows a jet of fluid to enter. The high fluid velocity causes a stream of
particles to rise forming a hollow central core (spout)and fountain of
variable height above the peripheral bed level. The particles rain back into
the annular region between the spout and the wall and tries to exist where
the spouted bed was. Hence a cyclic motion of the bed particles is formed. In
earlier studies of spouted beds the particles of uniform density and narrow
size are generally used. Recent works indicate that large and heavy particles
are more suit for the spouted bed. Then caking coals are tried to gasify in a
spouted bed. On heating, caking coals tended to swell and become sticky
causing agglomeration which led to defluidisation. Spouted bed can deal
with this problem because of the high relative velocity.

The figure represents an experimental set up of spouted bed coal gasifier.

The objective of the work is to asses the feasibility of the spouted bed as
coal gasifier, particularly for the gasification of highly caking varieties with
swelling index 0,4 and 7.A premix propane burner with a refractory lined
combustion chamber for use is mounted below the gas inlet orifice of the
spouted bed to prevent solids from dropping into the combustion chamber.
Stream for the gasification and nitrogen for quenching the bed are
introduced below the screen. The spouted bed reactor is 150mm diameter x 1
m high with 600 conical base and a 19.1 mm diameter orifice. The column is
fitted with quartz viewing ports for visual observation of the bed, a rupture
disc for safety and several solids discharge ports. Temperature at various
points in the bed are measured by thermocouples. The pressure above the
bed is also measured using pressure gauge. Gas from the reactor
Coal Gasification in a Spouted Bed

is collected in cyclone after remaining the ash, cooled and scrubbed by

contact with water and incinerated.

To start a run, the bed is first charged with a known weight of inert
silica particles having a size range of 1.2-3.4mm. The silica serves as an
inert bed of near optimum size for uniform stable spouting. It helps to keep
bed temperature uniform, and disperses the coal particles fed into the top of
the reactor. The bed is preheated to about 7000C using the propane burner
before spouting is started with air. Coal and steam are then added. Coal
combustion and gasification takes place at temperatures between 750 0 C and
9300C. The desired temperature is achieved by controlling the amount of
excess air leaving burner and flow rate of steam and coal. Coal is reacted
with carbon containing ash and if eliminates that out of bed and is collected
by cyclone. Calorific values were calculated using dry gas composition. The
composition of bed is measured to determine the relative amounts of silica,
carbonaceous material and ash. If more, coal is fed in to that can be reacted
the bed may collapse to bed height increase until the maximum spoutable
depth is exceeded or agglomeration takes palce in case of caking coal.
Applications

Syngas can be used for heat production and for generation of mechanical
and electrical power. Like other gaseous fuels, producer gas gives greater
control over power levels when compared to solid fuels, leading to more
efficient and cleaner operation.

Syngas can also be used for further processing to liquid fuels or chemicals.
Heat

Gasifiers offer a flexible option for thermal applications, as they can be

retrofitted into existing gas fueled devices such as ovens, furnaces, boilers,
etc., where syngas may replace fossil fuels. Heating values of syngas are
generally around 4-10 MJ/m3.

Electricity

Industrial-scale gasification is currently mostly used to produce electricity

from fossil fuels such as coal, where the syngas is burned in a gas turbine.
Gasification is also used industrially in the production of electricity,
ammonia and liquid fuels (oil) using Integrated Gasification Combined
Cycles (IGCC), with the possibility of producing methane and hydrogen for
fuel cells. IGCC is also a more efficient method of CO2 capture as compared
to conventional technologies. IGCC demonstration plants have been
operating since the early 1970s and some of the plants constructed in the
1990s are now entering commercial service.

Combined heat and power

In small business and building applications, where the wood source is

sustainable, 250-1000 kWe and new zero carbon biomass gasification plants
have been installed in Europe that produce tar free syngas from wood and
burn it in reciprocating engines connected to a generator with heat recovery.
This type of plant is often referred to as a wood biomass CHP unit but is a
plant with seven different processes: biomass processing, fuel delivery,
gasification, gas cleaning, waste disposal, electricity generation and heat
recovery.
Transport fuel

Diesel engines can be operated on dual fuel mode using producer gas. Diesel
substitution of over 80% at high loads and 70-80% under normal load
variations can easily be achieved. Spark ignition engines and SOFC fuel
cells can operate on 100% gasification gas. Mechanical energy from the
engines may be used for e.g. driving water pumps for irrigation or for
coupling with an alternator for electrical power generation.

GASIFICATION RESULTS

Results are reported mainly of three types of coal. Forest Burg Coal,
Sukunka Coal, Coleman Coal are three types of coals. Coal size range is 1.2-
3.4 mm for most of the tests. The operating parameters investigated are
reaction temperature (1020-1229), Coal feed rate ( 9-12 Kg /h), steam
injection rate (2-5 Kg/h). Coal feed rate and temperature were found to be
the most important variables governing gas quality. Bed depth range is 0-25-
0.6 m. As the bed depth increased , the minimum spouting velocities become
higher. The product gas were collected at an efficiency of 60-80% in
cyclones. Carbon content of the output was about 405. No attempt was made
to recycle this material to the bed. No ash build up in the bed was
experienced. The initial tests have shown that although the gas produced is
not of particularly high heating value, caking coals can be gasified in a
spouted bed without pre treatments. A discussion of the effect of individual
variables is given below. With the complex reactions that occur in a gasifier,
it is impossible to change one variable without affecting another, so the
interpretation of results become difficult.
Effect of reaction temperature

The reaction temperature is expected to be one of the most important

operating variables affecting the performance of the gasifier as the main
gasification reactions H2O-C and CO2-C are endothermic. Hence the reaction
temperature should be at the highest tolerable level.

If the

temperature is low, undesirable gases such as NOx will be formed. The

graph shows that proper gasification was obtained at lower average bed
temperatures. Between 7900 & 9300 C, gas heating values were found to be
quite similar. Forest Burg Coal have slightly better results at higher
temperatures, gas composition of Forest Burg coal shows an increase in
hydrogen and carbon monoxide at higher temperatures although the results
are scattered. Sukunka Coal showed a strong temperature dependence up to
about 9000 C.
Effect of coal rate

The feed rate of coal was found to be most critical in deciding the
smoothness of a run when caking coal was used. As shown in the Calorific
value Vs Coal feed rate graph, the rapid increase in gas calorific value was
limited up to 13 Kg/hr for Forest Burg Coal the feed rate also has effect on
the composition of gases. The percentage of CO & H2 increase
proportionately to coal feed rate.

Effect of particle size and bed heights

Better quality gas was produced with larger size of coal. The
following table shows that increasing particle size results an increase in gas
calorific value. Bed heights were varied between 0.25m – 0.6m. At higher
bed heights, the bed operates more smoothly than at lower heights. However,
there is no marked changes were observed when bed heights was increased
from 0-38-0.6m.

APPLICATIONS SPOUTED BED

1) In chemical process
a) Low temperature coal carbonization
low temperature carbonization of coal is the process which involves
evolution of volatile matter from coal to form coke. Either fluidized beds
were used for low temperature carbonisation of coal. But there was a caking
problem in then oven when this is applied. So later spouted beds were
introduced for coal carbonisation Which decreases the caking tendency. Also
high velocity spout breaks up any agglomerates as soon as soon as they were
formed.

b) Charcoal activation
Spouted bed is also applied for the production of activated carbon.
The development of spouted bed furnace for the production of activated
carbon is now used in industries. Spouted bed is preferred to fluidised bed
due to following reasons.
1) Usually a coarse granular product is required.
2) To avoid operational difficulties associated with using distributor plate
in a fluidized bed.
2) In physical Process
a) Drying of granular solids
The most popular application of spouted beds has been dryings of
coarse, heat sensitive granular solids. In spouted bed there is a wide
temperature gap between hot air and the bed. This is the most important
advantage of spouted bed over other dryers,

Coal Gasification in a Spouted Bed

because in which low temperature gap, air temperature must be kept low to
avoid thermal damage of particles. Spouted bed occupies less space.

3) Thermal applications
a) Heating of solids
The well stirred nature of bed permits use of high hot gas temperature
without thermal damage of particles. Thus pre heating of caking coal is
possible in spouted beds.
b) Cooling of solids
The design of large capacity cooler based on spouting principle has been
developed for cooling granular fertilizers.

4) Mechanical Application
Solids blending
 The spouting technique has proved successful for blending of solids.
The blending operation is carried out on batch use. This techniques is
applied when mechanical blending became complex due to high power
input. The power consumption for spouted bed blending is always less than
mechanical blending.

MODIFICATION :-
a) Draft tube spouted bed
In spouted bed in order to avoid the flow of particles from annulus to
the spout, we use a draft tube. Draft tube inserted in spouted bed provides a
mean for controlling the spread of particles. At the same time the main
disadvantage behind the application of draft tube is 1) It reduces mixing of
particles 2) Design becomes more complex.

Other modifications of spouted bed are :-

a) Jet spouted bed
b) Slotted two dimensional spouted bed
c) Swirled spouted bed
d) mechanical conveyer spouted bed
 CONCLUSION

Tests with Three Canadian coals of free swelling indexes of 0,4 and 7 can
be gasified in a spouted bed of inerts. Gases produced jn a 0.15 m
diameter had Calorific value upto 3.6 MJ/m 3. The effects of several
operating parameters are discussed. Gas quality of the spouted bed
gasifier looked promising, but it is not good as fluidized and moving bed
which are fully developed processes. But spouted beds are useful to
gasify caking coals. The efficiency of a spouted bed can increase with the
help of a draft tube.
 REFERENCES

1. The Canadian Journal of Chemical Engineering, Vol. 58,

February 1980
2. , Power plant engineering
3. http:/www.geocities.com/pcpimples/sem.doc