B1

Theoretical and experimental investigation on the devolatilisation and oxidation of solid-fuel particles in a counterflow burner under oxy-fuel conditions

When solid fuels undergo combustion, both heterogeneous and homogeneous reactions take place. In particular, after being heated up the fuel releases gas products called volatiles which often start burn before the solid phase.

The goal of the B1 project is to provide detailed information about the gas phase kinetics of volatiles in biomass and coal combustion, with a particular focus on tar reaction pathways and the formation of soot precursors. A quantitative knowledge of these processes is fundamental to prevent and control the formation of undesireble deposits and pollutants.

Experimental investigations will be performed both in the counterflow and the stagnation-point coal plate burner. Time of Flight mass spectrometry (TOF-MS) and Gas Chromatography (GC) will be used to identify the main species, major ans miner intermediates. The combination of the different measurement techniques allows the TOF-MS fast time-dependent measurements and with the GC to distinguish different isomers, and can hence provide detailed information on gas composition.

All esperimental results gained from the experiments in these work packages will be used to model the gas-phase chemistry under Oxy-Fuel conditions to provide detailed and reduced mechanisms for CFD applications.