Application of a validated gasification model to determine the impact of coal particle grinding size on carbon conversion

In this paper, we describe the implementation of a comprehensive, previously validated multiscale model of entrained flow gasification to examine the impact of particle size on the gasification process in two different gasifier designs; the MHI and the GE gasifier. We show that the impact of the particle size depends on whether the char conversion process is kinetically limited or boundary layer diffusion-limited. Fine grinding helps accelerate char conversion under diffusion-control conditions, whereas the impact is not as noticeable under kinetic-control operation. The availability of particular gasification agents, namely O2 in the earlier sections of the gasifier or CO2 and H2O in the latter sections, as well as the temperature, are shown to have an impact on the relative importance of kinetics versus diffusion limitation. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.