A Mathematic Model with Total Differential Equations of Combustion in Thermobalance

1385

A Mathematic Model with Total Differential Equations of
Combustion in Thermobalance

Na Li, Ruwei Liu, Qulan Zhou, Tongmo Xu, Shien Hui
* The state key laboratory of power engineering multiphase flow,
Department of Energy and Power Engineering, Xian Jiaotong University, Xian, Shaanxi, 710049, China
E-mail:lyna@mail.xjtu.edu.cn

Abstract: The combustion process of pulverized coal in thermobalance is simplified in the paper. And total differential equations
based on conservation of mass, energy and species law are obtained. Then the combustion process in thermobalance is simulated by
numerical method. The results of numerical simulation show that the anthracite combustion procedures of the volatile and fixed
carbon are independent of each other. The combustion rate of bituminite is obviously higher than that of anthracite and lean coal. The
volatile helps the ignition of the fixed carbon and causes the combustion of fixed carbon to be earlier. The peak values of rate of mass
loss of different coals are the same. Simulation results agree with experimental results, and the results demonstrate the numerical
method of the model can be used to quantificationally predict the process of combustion in therobalance.

Keywords: Thermobalance, Combustion, Mathematic model, Numerical simulation

1 INTRODUCTION
Nowadays, pulverized coal is widely applied in coal-fired
power plants for producing electricity [1,2]; it is also
extensively used in other industrials. The development of
accurate predictive models for coal combustion or gasification,
implies the knowledge of the rate and amount of volatiles
released during the volatilization process. Combustion
reactivity assessment for coal by thermogravimetric analysis
(TGA) techniques has been reported in the literature [3,4,5].
The effects of mass change, temperature change and rate of
mass loss have been determined in the reactor. Much
experiment research has been done on special coals and other
fuels, but little work has been devoted to the uniform model of
combustion characteristic of different coals. The purpose of
the present study is to predict the process of combustion and
the combustion characteristics of pulverized coal in a
thermobalance through numerical simulation., and then
provide the basis data for the relevant research and
engineering application.

2 PHSICAL MODLE OF THE COMBUSTION
IN THERMOBALANCE
A schematic diagram of the burning process in a
thermobalance is demonstrated in Fig.1. Attention of the
present study is focused on the pulverized coal combustion in
the burning chamber. As shown in the figure, the coal particles
are put into the crucible in the chamber, and will be heated
with a special heating rate and thereby experience
volatilization and oxidization of volatile matters, combustion
of residual unburned char. According to the above
characteristics, the process of coal burning in thermobalance is
simplified as follows:
(1) Burning chamber is an adiabatic enclosure, and the
material has only one entrance to flow in and one exit to flow
out.
(2) The distribution of quantities in the chamber such as
temperature and concentration of gas is uniform.
(3) The distribution of gases in-and-out chamber is also
uniform.
(4) Oxygen needed in the combustion must be excessive,
that is to say the concentration of oxygen is steady in the
combustion process. Simultaneously, the volatile and the fixed
carbon are completely burnt immediately after separating out
from coal.
(5) Physical properties of all components are constant, and
the gas is regarded as ideal gas.

3 MATHEMATIC FORMULATION
The coal combustion in thermobalance complies with the
law of mass conservation, energy conservation, and species
conservation. According to these laws, we can get the
conservation equations for mass, species and energy in the
chamber.
International Conference on Power Engineering-2007, October 23-27, 2007, Hangzhou, China

1386

3.1 Mass conservation equation
The study is focused on the burning chamber in Fig.1. The
mass conservation equation describes that the total mass in the
chamber keeps conservative, including the mass of gases
flowing into the chamber, the mass of gases flowing out of the
chamber, the mass of gases in the burning chamber, and the
mass change of the coal.
out in ves coal
m m m m + =
(1)
Where is the gas mass flowing out, is the gas
mass flowing in, is the gas mass change in the burning
chamber, and is the mass change of the coal.
out
m
in
m
ves
m
coal
m
3.2 Energy conservation equation
The energy conservation equation describes that the total
energy keeps conservative, including heat flowing into the
chamber with gases, heat flowing out of the chamber with
gases, heat in the burning chamber, the enthalpy of gases in
the chamber, heat from the coal combustion and electric
heating.
out in ves coal h
H H H Q Q + = +

(2)
Where
out
H

is the gas enthalpy flowing out,

in
H

is the
gas enthalpy flowing in,
ves
H

is the enthalpy change in the

burning chamber, and is the heat release rate from coal
combustion, is the heating rate from electric heating.
coal
Q

h
Q

3.3 Componential conservation equation

Componential conservation equation is the supplement of
mass conservation equation. In this paper, the coal is divided
into volatile, easy-burning fixed carbon, hard-burning fixed
carbon, and ash. The componential conservation equation
describes that, the sum of the volatile separating out, the
consumption of easy-burning fixed carbon and hard-burning
fixed carbon equals to the mass decrease of pulverized coal.
( )
e d coal
V C C m + + =


(3)
Where is the volatilization rate of volatile, is the
burning rate of easy-burning fixed carbon, is the burning
rate of hard-burning fixed carbon.
V

e
C

d
C

Based on the forementioned simplification assumption,

physical quantities in the chamber is uniform in space, and
only the function of time. Then, the change rate of variables
can be described by the ordinary differential equations of time.
3.4 Derivation of the ordinary differential equations
By using the detail formations to substitute the
mathematical quantities in basic equations, we can complete
the ordinary differential equations. For the mass conservation
equation (4):
ves ves ves
2
0
273 d d
d d
T
m V V
t t T

= =
(4)

Where V
ves
is the volume of the burning chamber, m
3
;
0

is the density of the gas under standard condition, kg/m
3
; T is
the temperature in the chamber, K; t is the time, s.
( )
coal e d
m V C C = + +


(5)
Volatiles can account for up to 70% of the coal mass loss
during the overall combustion process so an accurate
knowledge of the volatilization process is necessary to
develop predictive models for coal combustion. Here for the
volatilization rate equation, the Fu-Zhang model[6] is used.
( )
v
0 v
d
e
d
v
E
RT
V
V V V K
T

= =

(6)
Where V
0
is the total amounts of the volatile matters
separating out, kg; V is the total amounts of volatile, kg; K
v
is
the frequency factor of the volatile, 1/s; E
v
is the activation
energy, J/mol; R is the universal gas constant, 8.314J/(molK).
The Arrhenius law[7] is used for the burning rate of fixed
carbon(including easy-burning and hard-burning fixed
carbon).
2
c c
d
e
d
C
E
RT
O
C
C f C C K
t
|

= =

(7)
Where f is the specific surface area, m
2
/kg; is the density
of gas in the chamber, kg/m
2
; is the mass fraction of
oxygen; C
c
is the mass fraction of carbon; | is the equivalence
ratio of carbon and oxygen; K
c
is the frequency factor of fixed
carbon burning, m/s; E
c
is the activation energy of fixed
carbon burning, J/mol.
2
O
C
For the energy conservation Eq. (2), the gas enthalpy flux
flowing out of chamber is
out out p
H m c T =

J/s
(8)
The gas enthalpy flux flowing in the chamber is
in in p in
H m c T =

J/s
(9)
The change rate of gas enthalpy in the chamber is
0
ves ves p ves p
273 d d
d d
T T
H V c V c
t T

= =

t
J/s (10)
The release rate of coal is the sum of release rate of the
volatile,easy-burning fixed carbon, hard-burning fixed carbon,
e d
coal v c c
d d d
d d
C V
Q Q Q Q
t t
= + +

d
C
t
J/s (11)
The heat release rate is given from electric heating
rate.
h
Q

After the model introduced above, the equation set (12) of

coal combustion in the chamber can be gotten.
A Mathematic Model with Total Differential Equations of Combustion in Thermobalance

1387
( )
2
2
v
ce
cd
0 e d
out in ves
2
0 e
out p in p in ves p v c h
0 v
e
o ce ce
d
o cd cd
c
273 d d d d
d d d d
273 d d d d
d d d d
d
e
d
d
e
d
d
e
d
E
RT
E
RT
E
RT
C C T V
m m V
t t t t T
C C T V
m c T m c T V c Q Q Q Q
T t t t t
V
V V K
T
C
f C C K
t
C
f C C K
t

|
|

= + +
+ = + + +
=
=
=
| |
|

\ .

| |
|
\ .

d

(12)
There are five unknown variables in the equation set, ,
T, V, C
e
, C
d
, and five equations. So the differential equation
set is closed, and can be solved. The initial conditions are
shown as the Eq. (13).
out
m
The ordinary differential equation can be solved by many
methods, and we choose four-class four-order Runge-Kutta
method[8] for this case.
out in
0
in
0
0
0
e e
0
d d
0
t
t
t
t
t
m m
T T
V V
C C
C C
=
=
=
=
=
=

0
0

(13)
In order to compare with the experiment results, the
constants in the model are set as the experiment operating
condition. The condition used in the calculation is that, the
heating rate is 20/min, N
2
flux is 14ml/min, O
2
flux is
40ml/min, the vessel volume is 2000ml, the initial temperature
is 20. And the heat values of volatile, easy-burning fixed
carbon, hard-burning fixed carbon are all 32850kJ/kg. The
frequency factors and the values of activation energy of
volatile, easy-burning fixed carbon, hard-burning fixed carbon
are shown in Table 1.
No matter what kinds of coal, we assumed the three
components above have the same combustion characteristic.
Of course, different combustion characteristic (parameters in
Table 1) for different coals can be used. But in this paper, for
the comparability of results, all kinds of coal are set with the
same parameters shown in Table 1.
Table 1 The constant of ordinary differential equation model
Frequency factor
(unit1/s for volatilem/s for fixed carbon)
Activation energy
(unitJ/mol)
Volatile 110
6
7510
3

Easy-burning fixed carbon 110
6
7510
3

Hard-burning fixed carbon 110
10
15010
3

For each coal sample, we suppose the coal particle to be
spherical, then the special surface area of the particle is
2
3
6
1

6
D
f
D
D

= =

. (14)
The volatilization rate and burning rate of fixed carbon are
different for each particle size. If the coal sample is constituted
by multi-sized particles, the volatilization rate and burning rate
should be considered according to different particle size. In
this paper, we suppose the particle sample has only one kind
of particle size for easy calculation.

4 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The results of numerical simulation are shown in Fig.2,
Fig.3, Fig.4, compared with the experiment results[9].
The temperature, mass loss and rate of mass loss are the
most important indexes in combustion process. Coal is
distinguished into anthracite, bituminite, lignite by the content
of volatile. In order to validate the model, the parameters of
three kinds of coal are employed in the simulation (Table 2).
With the increase of the volatile and easy-burning fixed
carbon, the rate of mass loss increases too, in the meanwhile,
the peak appears earlier, but the durations of peaks becomes
shorter.
0
5
10
15
20
25
T
e
m
p
e
r
a
t
u
r
e
(
o
C
)
R
a
t
e

o
f

m
a
s
s

l
o
s
s
(
m
g
/
m
i
n
)
M
a
s
s

l
o
s
s
(
m
g
)
Time(min)
-10 0 10 20 30 40
0
5
10
15
20
Mass loss
Rate of mass loss
Temperature
0
200
400
600
800
1000

(a)
International Conference on Power Engineering-2007, October 23-27, 2007, Hangzhou, China

1388
0
5
10
15
20
-10 0 10 20 30 40
0
5
10
15
20
25
Temperature
Time(min)
M
a
s
s

l
o
s
s
(
m
g
)
0
200
400
600
800
1000
T
e
m
p
e
r
a
t
u
r
e
(
o
C
)
Rate of mass loss
Mass loss
R
a
t
e

o
f

m
a
s
s

l
o
s
s
(
m
g
/
m
i
n
)

(b)
Fig.2 The simulation(a) and experiment(b) results of coal
No.1 combustion curve in thermobalance

-10 0 10 20 30 40
0
5
10
15
20
25
T
e
m
p
e
r
a
t
u
r
e
(
O
C
)
R
a
t
e

o
f

m
a
s
s

l
o
s
s
(
m
g
/
m
i
n
)
M
a
s
s

l
o
s
s
(
m
g
)
Time(min)
0
5
10
15
Mass loss
Rate of mass loss
Temperature
0
200
400
600
800
1000

(a)
0
5
10
15
20
-10 0 10 20 30 40
0
5
10
15
20
25
Mass loss
Temperature
Time(min)
M
a
s
s

l
o
s
s
(
m
g
)
0
200
400
600
800
1000
Rate of mass loss
T
e
m
p
e
r
a
t
u
r
e
(
o
C
)
R
a
t
e

o
f

m
a
s
s

l
o
s
s
(
m
g
/
m
i
n
)

(b)
Fig.3 The simulation(a) and experiment(b) results of coal
No.2 combustion curve in thermobalance


Fig.4 The simulation(a) and experiment(b) results of coal
No.3 combustion curve in thermobalance

The simulation results and experimental results of
combustion procedure of the coal No.1 are shown in Fig.2.
The curves of mass loss and rate of mass loss are similar in
Fig.2(a) and (b). There are two obvious peak values on the
curve of rate of mass loss. The first one is the combustion
peak of the volatile, and the second one is the combustion
peak of the fixed carbon. It is shown that the combustion
procedures of the volatile and fixed carbon of coal No.1 are
independence with each other.

.

Table 2 The operating condition of ordinary differential equation in the thermobalance
Coal Kind of Coal Volatile mass
fraction V
Easy-burning fixed
carbon mass fraction C
e

Hard-burning fixed
carbon mass fraction C
d

No.1 anthracite 0.1 0.3 0.2
No.2 lean coal 0.2 0.4 0.1
No.3 bituminite 0.3 0.5 0.1

The simulation results and experimental results of
combustion procedure of the coal No.2 are shown in Fig.3.
The peak value of rate of mass loss in Fig.3(a) is higher than
that of (b). That is to say, the combustion rate in numerical
simulation is higher than that in experiment. This is because of
that the combustion condition in the numerical simulation is
ideal, but the combustion condition in the experiment is
limited by some factors such as limited mass transfer rate. And
the distance between two peak values of Fig.3(a) is shorter
than that of Fig.2(a), and the two peak values almost merge to
one. In Fig.3(b), there is no obvious second peak value.
Because the volatile mass of coal No.2 is more than that of
A Mathematic Model with Total Differential Equations of Combustion in Thermobalance

1389
coal No.1, the combustion of the volatile helps the ignition of
the fixed carbon and cause the combustion of fixed carbon to
be earlier. So, the peak values of volatile and fixed carbon are
more closed to each other when the volatile mass increases.
The conclusion is verified by both numerical simulation and
experiment.
The simulation results and experimental results of
combustion procedure of the coal No.3 are shown in Fig.4.
The peak value of rate of mass loss in Fig.4(a) is higher than
that of Fig.2(a) and Fig.3(a). The results of numerical
simulation show that the combustion rate of bituminite is
obviously higher than that of anthracite and lean coal. But the
peak value of rate of mass loss in Fig.4(b) is almost same to
that of Fig.2(b) and Fig.3(b), and there are many small peaks
on the curve of rate of mass loss in Fig.4(b). This is because of
that coal No.3 has the most volatile mass. The volatile of the
coal is burnt rapidly in the procedure of heating. So, the
oxygen in the air cant rapidly transfer to the surface of coal
particles. Then the combustion rate in experiment is limited by
the mass transfer.
In Fig.2(a), 3(a), and 4(a), the temperature curves are lower
than those of Fig.2(b), 3(b), and 4(b). Because we suppose that
temperature in the chamber is uniform, but in fact, the
temperature near the coal is higher than other space in the
chamber. So, the temperature measured in the experiment is
higher than that in numerical simulation.
The results can be used in analyzing the degree of
combustion difficulty of coal. The phenomenon shows
different procedure of different kind of coal. The simulation
results agree with the experiment results well. It shows that the
ordinary differential model can well describe the effects of
components of coal in combustion process.

5 CONCLUSION
The coal combustion process was simplified in this paper,
and the model was proposed. The equation sets were obtained
based on mass conservation, energy conservation, and
componential conservation law. The results of numerical
simulation show that the anthracite combustion procedures of
the volatile and fixed carbon of coal are independent with
each other. The combustion rate of bituminite is obviously
higher than that of anthracite and lean coal. The volatile helps
the ignition of the fixed carbon and causes the combustion of
fixed carbon to be earlier. The peak values of rate of mass loss
of different coals are the same. The simulation results agree
with the experiment results well, which indicated the model
provided in this paper can be used in the simulation of
combustion in a thermobalace, and could reflect the process of
coal combustion in the thermobalance. In summary, the
numerical simulation method can provide a useful reference to
the coal combustion model.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The work is supported by the National Nature Science
Foundation of China (Contract No. 50476050), and the
National Basic Research Program of China (Contract-No. is
2005CB221206).

REFERENCE
[1] S. Singer, Pulverized coal combustion, Recent
Developments, Noyes Publications, New Jersey, 1984.
[2] M.Sami, M.Annamalai, Co-firing of coal and biomass
blends, Progress in Energy and Combustion Science 27,
pp.171-214, 2001.
[3] G Varhegyi, P Szabo, E Jakab, F Till, Mathematical
modeling of char reactivity in Ar-O
2
and CO
2
-O
2

mixtures, Energy Fuels, Vol.10, No.6, pp.1208-1214,
1996.
[4] NV Russell, TJ Beeley, CKMan, JR Gibbins, Williamson
J, Development of TG measurements of intrinsic char
combustion reactivity for industrial and research
purposes, Fuel Process Technology, Vol.57, No.2, pp.
113-30, 1998.
[5] VT Ciuryla, RF Weimer, DA Bivans, SA Motika,
Ambient-pressure thermogravimetric characterization of
4 different coals and their chars, Fuel, Vol.58, No.10, pp.
748-754, 1979.
[6] YH Zhao, Ho Young Kim, Sam S. Yoon, Transient group
combustion of the pulverized coal particles in spherical
cloud, Fuel, vol.86, pp.1102-1111, 2007.
[7] W.B Fu, J.B Wei, Combustion physics, Beijing, 1984.
[8] J.Z Deng, R.J Ge, Computational method, Xian, 2001.
[9] Q.L Zhou, Experimental Study and Numerical Simulation
of Dual Channel Swirling Burner with Radial Dense-dilute
P.C. Stream, Doctor Dissertation, Xian.
.