Energy Conversion and Management 47 (2006) 14161428 www.elsevier.

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Conceptual design and simulation study of a co-gasication technology

Zhao Yuehong, Wen Hao *, Xu Zhihong
Institute of Process Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Zhongguancun, Beijing 100080, PR China Received 11 August 2004; received in revised form 23 February 2005; accepted 25 August 2005 Available online 10 October 2005

Abstract As a promising clean coal technology, co-gasication has been extensively investigated. In this paper, a new co-gasication technology and a conceptually designed gasier for such technology are proposed. The distinct advantages of this technology are its fuel exibility and the availability to establish the gasier by reconstructing a blast furnace or similar shaft furnace. Based on the idea of the new co-gasication technology, process modeling is conducted using the ASPEN Plus process simulator. By comparison with the laboratory scale experimental measurements on the co-gasication process, it is shown that the developed model reasonably describes the thermodynamic features of the co-gasication process and, thus, provides a useful tool for the analysis of this process. The obtained results also demonstrate that the cogasication process provides an ideal thermodynamic condition for the co-gasication reactions and can operate at a quasi-equilibrium condition without employing catalysts at 1273 K. Lastly, the eects of changes of oxygen, steam and natural gas in the feedstock on the co-gasication process are studied by sensitivity analysis using the developed model. 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Co-gasication; Blast furnace; Gasier; ASPEN Plus

1. Introduction Coal is a major source of energy, accounting for 25% of the world energy supplies and 40% of the world electricity generation. It is predicted that coal will continue to play an important role in meeting the worlds increasing energy demands in the foreseeable future. However, the use of coal faces several challenges. The major one is the considerable emission of CO2, SOx and NOx, which leads to climate change and air pollution. Co-gasication of coal with other less carbon containing fuels, such as natural gas, coke oven gas, biomass and waste plastics with the aid of oxygen and steam, is considered to be a promising technology to reduce such emissions, even in dealing with high ash content coals and has been extensively investigated [16]. Furthermore, the urgent needs for producing alternative liquid fuels and chemical products from syngas prompt

Corresponding author. Tel.: +86 10 62626704; fax: +86 10 62561822. E-mail address: hwen@home.ipe.ac.cn (W. Hao).

0196-8904/$ - see front matter 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.enconman.2005.08.024

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the study of such a process. Up to now, studies of co-gasication processes have been performed using entrained, uidized bed and xed bed gasiers and hybrid systems. China is the largest coal consumer in the world, accounting for 28% of the total consumption. However, 80% of the coal consumed in China is burned directly, which leads to severe atmospheric pollutions and CO2 discharges [7]. By 2000, Chinas CO2 emission had amounted to 30.52 108 ton [8], making China the second largest CO2 producer following the US. It is indeed a challenge for China to reduce the waste emissions and CO2 discharges without impeding social and economic development. Besides increasing the use of clean fuel, co-gasication may be a promising way for China in view of the higher price of natural gas and oil in China. On the other hand, the alternative liquid synfuel from syngas is being researched in China to meet the rapidly increasing demand for liquid fuel. These two conditions lead to the idea of studying fuel exible co-gasication technology. In the present work, a new co-gasication technology with the feature of fuel exibility is proposed. The core of this co-gasication technology is a shaft furnace type gasier, which can be established by restructuring a blast furnace or similar shaft furnace [911]. The literature survey shows that no information on such technology is currently available in the open literature. This paper deals with the conceptual design and modeling study of this new co-gasication technology. The sensitivity analysis of this co-gasication process is also conducted for analyzing the eects of its major operating parameters with the model developed in this paper. 2. Conceptual design of the co-gasication process Fig. 1 depicts a schematic diagram of the conceptually designed gasier, which is the core of the proposed co-gasication technology. The gasier is a shaft furnace type reactor, derived from a blast furnace or similar

Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of the gasier.

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shaft furnace, in which a packed coke bed is formed. It can be divided into three functional zones, which are a gasication zone in the packed coke bed, a lower combustion zone below the packed coke bed and an upper combustion zone on the top of the packed coke bed. As a blast furnace, the gasier is charged at the top in a conventional manner with the mixture of solid carbonaceous material, which can be coal or coke, and slag producing material, such as limestone. By adding the slag producing material, it is possible to desulphurize the produced syngas in the gasier and to control the composition of the slag phase that determines the smelting characteristics of the slag. In the upper combustion zone, the charge introduced into the gasier moves downwards due to gravity and meets the oxygen and steam introduced through tuyere set T3, as shown in Fig. 1. The presence of oxygen, steam and high temperature gas from the gasication zone prompts the process of devolatilization, pyrolysis of the coal and further cracking of volatiles, producing the hot char that, in turn, moves downwards to the gasication zone. Reactions (1)(3) present the major reactions occurring in this zone. Wet coal ! dry coal + H2 O Coal ! CH4 + light hydrocarbons + tar + CO + CO2 + H2 + H2 O + coke CH4 + light hydrocarbons + tar + coke + O2 ! CO + CO2 + H2 + H2 O 1 2 3

In the gasication zone, the high temperature gas stream from the lower combustion zone passes through the coke bed and provides a high temperature atmosphere. The remaining carbonaceous materials, tar and light hydrocarbons from the upper combustion zone, trapped in the coke bed, increase their residence time, allowing for further cracking and reforming gasication in accordance with the reactions of char gasication, hydrocarbons reforming and the watergas shift, as shown in the following reactions (4)(8). The reactions of desulphurization and heat exchange between the char and the gas stream also occur. C + CO2 = 2CO C + H2 O = CO + H2 Cm Hn + m CO2 = 2m CO + n/2 H2 Cm Hn + m H2 O = m CO + (n + 2m)/2 H2 CO + H2 O = CO2 + H2 4 5 6 7 8

According to the successful experience of Corex technology [12], the temperature of 1273 K is sucient to cause complete disassociation of ammonia, phenols, tars and other condensable hydrocarbons. Therefore, the produced syngas is designed be withdrawn in the middle of the gasier, as shown in Fig. 1, where the gas temperature is at 1273 K. As a result, the heavy hydrocarbons contamination of the produced syngas is expected be greatly reduced. However, in order to avoid the possible ash sintering, the maximal temperature in the gasication zone should be controlled below the fusion point of the ash (1573 K). In the lower combustion zone, the fuels, which can be natural gas, oil, waste plastic or pulverized coal, mixed with oxygen and with lime if desired, are injected into the gasier through tuyere set T1 just above the hearth line of the gasier, as shown in Fig. 1. As a result, an oxidizing atmosphere is formed in this zone, and the injected fuel and the residual char from the gasication zone are ignited and partially combusted, producing the gaseous products that move upward into and through the coke bed in the gasication zone. The ash components in the injected fuel and char are melted in the resulting high temperature atmosphere, dripping and accumulating in the hearth, which is periodically discharged from a tapping hole. The input lime is also melted and removes some sulfur from the produced syngas. Steam is injected through tuyere set T2 located above T1 in order to adjust the gas temperature. The injected steam steals some heat and reacts with the hot carbonaceous material, thus reducing the gas temperature and enriching the produced syngas with additional hydrogen and carbon monoxide. The major representative reactions occurring in this section are listed as reactions (9)(13). C + O2 = CO2 9

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C + 1/2 O2 = CO Cm Hn + (m + n/4) O2 = m CO2 + n/2 H2 O Cm Hn + m/2 O2 = m CO + n/2 H2 C + H2 O = CO + H2

10 11 12 13

In order to avoid the blocking problem arising from the deposited SiO powder in downstream gas pipelines, as well as to keep a reasonable refractory life, the temperature in the lower combustion zone should be controlled in the range of 16732073 K [13] to prevent the formation of SiO. Besides adjusting the quantity of injected steam, the temperature control can also be realized by adjusting the quantity of injected oxygen or by injecting liquid carbonaceous materials (oil or tar) mixed with the steam, if necessary. Compared to the separate coal gasication and natural gas reforming, the proposed co-gasication technology conceptually possesses several distinct advantages. First, it is of excellent fuel exibility. It ensures the ecient and economical operation of gasication as certain fuels become scare or more costly. Second, it is of low capital costs and great engineering availability. Since the new gasier can be reconstructed from an existing blast furnace, which has been extensively studied in the elds of oxygen enriched blasts and injecting heavy oil, natural gas, pulverized coal or waste plastics as secondary fuels [14,15], it provides a gasier having low capital costs and a reliable technological basis. Third, it is environmentally friendly. The co-gasication of coal with less carbon containing fuels makes it possible to produce syngas with a moderate CO2 discharge. The input of slag producing material and high operating temperature make it possible partially to remove sulfur and condensable hydrocarbons from the produced syngas in the co-gasication process. Moreover, the hot coke bed formed in the gasication zone provides a longer residence time for the char particles and hydrocarbons to react with the CO2 and steam, thus achieving fewer particles carried by the produced syngas and complete carbon conversion. Therefore, this new co-gasication technology provides a practical, economical and clean alternative for producing syngas for various purposes. 3. Modeling of the co-gasication process 3.1. Model development Gasication that proceeds at temperatures above 873 K causes the kinetic barriers to be largely minimized, and the gaseous mixtures leaving many types of gasiers are found to approach equilibrium [16]. Therefore, the co-gasication process operated at 1273 K can be successfully described by means of a thermodynamic model. In modeling the co-gasication process, a model is developed by using the ASPEN Plus process simulator in an attempt to analyze the eects of its major parameters. The ow chart of the model is presented in Fig. 2 [17,18]. In the model, an overall equilibrium approach is employed while neglecting the hydrodynamic complexity of the gasier. The gasier is treated as a well mixed reactor with uniform composition and status. The Gibbs

Gas-slag mixture

SSPLIT

Product gas

Molten slag

Coal/ Coke

RYIELD

RGIBBS

Heat O2 Natural gas

Fig. 2. The ow chart of the model.

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reactor module (RGIBBS) is used to predict the equilibrium composition of the produced syngas, as presented in Fig. 2. Coke is fed into the RYIELD module and converted into a stream composed of the equivalent elemental components of the coke at the same enthalpy level, since the RGIBBS module in ASPEN Plus cannot handle coke. This stream, as well as the injected fuel and oxygen, are then directed into the RGIBBS module, and the products of the co-gasication process are specied. The RGIBBS module calculates the equilibrium composition of the produced syngas at the specied pressure and temperature. The separation of the gas and slag is simulated using a SSPLIT module that can completely separate the liquid from the gaseous products. According to Ref. [18], no hydrocarbon, other than CH4, is thermodynamically stable under the gasication conditions. Although C2H2, C2H4 and C2H6, as well as oils and tars, are produced in the gasier, they are accepted as non-equilibrium products. Therefore, CH4 is the only hydrocarbon taken into consideration in the calculation in this study. No eort is devoted to the tar yields. The sulfur contained in the coal is assumed to be converted mainly into H2S and COS. Therefore, the equilibrium products are specied as C, ash, H2, CO, H2O, CO2, O2, N2, CH4, H2S and COS in the present work. This developed model is capable of predicting the composition of the produced syngas and reactor temperature under various operating conditions, including the ow rate, composition and temperature of the feed materials, as well as the operating pressure and temperature. It can be used for gaining fundamental understanding of the engineering process and optimization of the co-gasication process, even for a scaled up gasier. However, before the developed model can be used for these purposes, it has to be validated using experimental results. 3.2. Model verication As an eort to demonstrate the validity of the developed model, the syngas composition obtained from the model is compared with that from the experimental studies at various operating conditions using coke and natural gas as feedstock. Tables 1 and 2 present the composition of the natural gas and coke used in the experimental study. Fig. 3 shows the schematic of the laboratory scale experimental system. The gasier, connected with steam, natural gas and oxygen feed and product gas lines, is made of a quartz tube 50 mm in diameter and 800 mm long with coiled heating elements. The gasier is lled with a certain amount of coke before the experiment. The steam is produced in a steam generator, and its ow rate is controlled by a water pump. The natural gas,
Table 1 Main compositions of natural gas Component Composition (vol%) CH4 93.38 C2H6 1.67 C3H8 0.19 N2 2.68 CO2 1.86 O2 0.94

Table 2 Proximate and elemental analysis of coke Component Proximate analysis Volatile Fixed carbon Ash Moisture Elemental analysis C H O N S Cl Ash Composition (wt% dry) 3.9 83.3 12.2 0.6 84.82 0.69 0.71 1.16 0.51 12.2

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Fig. 3. Schematic diagram of laboratory scale experimental system.

steam and oxygen are fed to the gasier until it is heated and maintained at a certain temperature of 1273 K at atmospheric pressure. The experimental system operates at this condition for a suciently long time to ensure that steady state is reached before the produced syngas samples are collected for analysis. The syngas samples are analyzed for a complete determination of its composition by gas chromatography. The reproducibility of the experimental results is checked to ensure that their experimental errors are lower than 5%, and each syngas composition presented is the mean value of at least two trials. The comparisons of the syngas composition predicted by the model and measured by the experiments are performed at atmospheric pressure and a temperature of 1273 K. In the present work, the coke feed is xed at 1500 g/batch, the natural gas, oxygen and steam are varied in the range: O2/CH4 ratio 02.5 mol/mol, H2O/O2 ratio 0.10.7 mol/mol. The results of the comparisons of the two major syngas contents, H2 and CO, are shown in Figs. 4 and 5. Figs. 4 and 5 show that the syngas composition predicted by the developed model agrees well with that of the experimental measurements under the various operating conditions. The maximum discrepancies between the experiment and simulation results are lower than 5%. This indicates that the developed model represents the thermodynamic features of the co-gasication process well and, thus, provides a useful tool for the analysis of the co-gasication process. In addition, it also shows that the co-gasication process provides an ideal thermodynamic condition for the gasication reactions and can operate at a quasi-equilibrium condition without employing catalysts at 1273 K. The discrepancies between the experiments and predictions are probably due to the present model not considering the kinetic factors and the mass transfer barriers inside the gasier, as well as the random experimental error. When a scaled up gasier is modeled, the developed model may give a better performance prediction for the probably improved conditions of the kinetics and mass transfer in the scaled up reactor. Although the developed model is veried for the case of natural gas and coke mixtures as feedstock, it could also be applied to other feedstock having similar chemical characteristics. 4. Sensitivity analysis The sensitivity analysis is conducted to understand how the operating conditions aect the performance of the co-gasication process. In the present work, the operating conditions to be considered are the changes of oxygen, steam and natural gas content in the feedstock, and the co-gasication performances are the syngas composition and reactor temperature. It is assumed that the co-gasication process is operated at atmospheric pressure using coke and natural gas as feedstock whose composition is listed in Tables 1 and 2, and the coke has a xed molar mass of 12 g/mol with steady feed of 12 kg/min at 298 K. The parameters investigated are the ow rates of oxygen (10003000 mol/min at 298 K), natural gas (10003000 mol/min at 298 K) and steam

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100 90 80

(a)H2O/O2=0.2

Composition, Vol.%

70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5

Measured Data H2 CO

Predicted Data

(a)
100 90 80

O2/CH4, mol/mol

(b)H2O/O2=0.31

Composition, Vol.%

70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5

Measured Data H2 CO

Predicted Data

(b)
100 90 80

O2/CH4, mol/mol

(c) H O/O =0.48 2 2

Composition, Vol.%

70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5

Measured Data Predicted Data H2 CO

(c)

O2/CH4, mol/mol

Fig. 4. Comparison of predicted and measured syngas composition at various H2O/O2 ratios. Natural gas ow rate is 200 ml/min and oxygen ow rate is 0500 ml/min.

(7502250 mol/min at 673 K). In order to plot clearly, only the major syngas compositions, H2, CO and CH4, are presented in the gures. 4.1. Eect of oxygen content in feedstock The eect of oxygen content in the feedstock on the syngas composition and the reactor temperature are presented in Fig. 6(a) and (b), respectively.

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80 70 60

1423

(a)O /CH =0.85

2 4

Composition, Vol.%

50 40 30 20 10 0 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7

Measured Data H2 CO

Predicted Data

(a)
80

H2O/O 2, mol/mol

(b)O /CH =1
70 60
2 4

Composition, Vol.%

50 40 30 20

Measured Data
10 0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5

Predicted Data

H2 CO
0.6 0.7

(b)
80 70 60

H2O/O 2, mol/mol

(c)O2 /CH4 =1.39

Composition, Vol.%

50 40 30 20 10 0 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7

Measured Data Predicted Data H2 CO

(c)

H2O/O 2, mol/mol

Fig. 5. Comparison of predicted and measured syngas composition at various O2/CH4 ratios. Oxygen ow rate is 1100 ml/min and steam ow rate is 0.10.6 g/min.

Fig. 6(a) shows that the concentrations of H2 and CO are increased with the increase of O2 ow rate until an O2/fuel ratio around 0.600.70, while the CH4 concentration is decreased. However, there is an inversion of this trend for the H2 concentration, while the CO concentration has only a slight change when O2/fuel ratio is above the range of 0.600.70. It may be observed that there exists an optimum region for the O2/fuel ratio (0.600.70) where the H2 and CO concentrations show maximum values (44 mol% and 24 mol%), respectively,

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45 40 35

H2 CO CH4

Composition (Vol.%)

30 25 20 15 10 5 0 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6

2

0.7

0.8

0.9

1.0

1.1

(a)

O /fuel (mol/mol)

2400 2200 2000

Temp

Temperature (K)

1800 1600 1400 1200 1000 800 600 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6
2

0.7

0.8

0.9

1.0

1.1

(b)

O /fuel (mol/mol)

Fig. 6. Eect of oxygen content in feedstock on syngas composition and reactor temperature. Operating conditions: steam ow rate is 1500 mol/min and natural gas ow rate is 2000 mol/min.

and the CH4 concentration reaches nearly zero. This could be due to the fact that the increase of O2 ow rate favors the partial or complete combustion reactions of natural gas, causing a decrease of the CH4 concentration in the syngas. When the O2/fuel ratio is small (<0.6), the partial combustion of natural gas is dominant and produces more H2 than CO, consequently the concentration of H2 increases more quickly than that of CO. As a result, the CH4 concentration in the syngas is decreased until the O2/fuel ratio reaches 0.68 where the natural gas is completely converted. With further increase of the O2/fuel ratio, more oxygen is available for further reactions of H2 and CO to H2O and CO2, which leads to the consumption of H2 and CO, especially for H2. Therefore, there exists an optimum range for the O2/fuel ratio where the H2 and CO concentrations will reach maxima corresponding to the lowest CH4 concentration. As expected, the increase in O2 ow rate favors exothermic combustion reactions and, therefore, leads to an increase in reactor temperature. However, for the dierent heat released from partial combustion and complete combustion reactions, there exists a turning point on the increasing tendency of the reactor temperature with increasing O2 ow rate, as shown in Fig. 6(b). In the present work, this turning point of the reactor temperature appears in the range where the H2 and CO concentrations reach their maxima. Higher reactor temperature means a decrease of the H2 and CO concentrations in the produced syngas and more O2 consumption. Therefore, it is better to select the O2 ow rate where the O2/fuel ratio is around the optimum region so as to obtain richer syngas, sound oxygen cost and reasonable reactor temperature. For the present work, the oxygen ow rate should be controlled so that the O2/fuel ratio is within the range of 0.600.70.

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4.2. Eect of steam content in feedstock The eect of steam content in the feedstock on the syngas composition and the reactor temperature are presented in Fig. 7(a) and (b). Fig. 7(a) shows that the increase of steam ow rate leads to a moderate reduction of the H2 and CO concentrations. With a 200% increase in the H2O/O2 ratio, the results are 3% and 9% decrease in the H2 and CO concentrations, respectively. This could be due to the fact that the increased steam steals some heat and decreases the reactor temperature, as shown in Fig. 7(b), thus hindering the endothermic reactions of natural gas steam reforming and char gasication. Furthermore, dilution of the produced syngas with the introduced steam also leads to reduction of the H2 and CO concentrations. It also counterbalances the slight increase of CH4 concentration due to the unfavorable natural gas steam reforming reactions, so that the CH4 concentration remains constant for all steam ow rates considered in the sensitivity analysis. For less natural gas input, the CH4 concentration remains very low in the syngas, as shown in Fig. 7(a). However, the lower reactor temperature caused by increasing the steam ow rate prompts the exothermic watergas shift reaction, providing H2. Therefore, no signicant changes in H2 concentration are detected, contrary to the corresponding CO concentration variation. Steam may be an appropriate method to adjust the reactor temperature for its moderate eect on the syngas composition, but it should be pointed out that the eect of steam ow rate on reactor temperature is limited, as shown in Fig. 7(b).

45 40 35

H2 CO CH4

Composition (Vol.%)

30 25 20 15 10 5 0 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1.0 1.1 1.2

(a)
1025

H2O/O 2 (mol/mol)

Temp
1020

Temperature (K)

1015

1010

1005

1000

995 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1.0 1.1 1.2

(b)

H2O/O2 (mol/mol)

Fig. 7. Eect of steam content in feedstock on syngas composition and reactor temperature. Operating conditions: oxygen ow rate is 2000 mol/min and natural gas ow rate is 2000 mol/min.

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4.3. Eect of natural gas content in feedstock The eect of the natural gas content in the feedstock on the syngas composition and the reactor temperature are presented in Fig. 8(a) and (b). As presented in Fig. 8(a), the concentration of H2 increases proportionally with the increase of natural gas ow rate when the natural gas/fuel ratio is below 0.65, while the concentration of CO has a slight increase. This is probably due to the fact that increased natural gas prompts the reactions of steam reforming and partial combustion of the natural gas, producing H2 and CO. These reactions produce more H2 than CO. As a consequence, the concentration of H2 increases more quickly than that of CO. The concentration of CH4 appears to increase when the natural gas/fuel ratio is above 0.65, probably because the oxygen and steam supply, or the released heat by combustion, are not enough to keep the endothermic natural gas reforming reaction occurring. Furthermore, excessive dilution of the syngas by the unreacted natural gas makes the concentrations of H2 and CO decrease further. However, the concentration of H2 remains at a high level (45%) because of the favored exothermic watergas shift reaction. As shown in Fig. 8(b), corresponding to the increase of natural gas ow rate, the reactor temperature decreases from 1860 K to 1040 K when the natural gas/fuel ratio is increased from 0.5 to 0.65, corresponding with a very low CH4 content in the syngas. When the natural gas/fuel ratio is above 0.65, the decrease of reactor temperature is much slower, corresponding to the increase of CH4 content in the syngas. These results suggest that the natural gas/fuel ratio has a signicant eect on the rector temperature when nearly all the introduced natural gas is converted. Therefore, the natural gas ow rate should be controlled in the range where the natural gas conversion ratio and the syngas
50 45 40

Composition (Vol/%)

H2 CO CH4

35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 0.50 0.55 0.60 0.65 0.70 0.75

(a)
2000

Natural gas/fuel (mol/mol)

Temp
1800

Temperature (K)

1600

1400

1200

1000

800 0.50 0.55 0.60 0.65 0.70 0.75

(b)

Natural gas/fuel (mol/mol)

Fig. 8. Eect of natural gas content in feedstock on syngas composition and reactor temperature. Operating conditions: oxygen ow rate is 2000 mol/min and steam ow rate is 1500 mol/min.

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composition have a good counterbalance. For the present work, the natural gas ow rate should be controlled so that the natural gas/fuel ratio is within the range of 0.630.68. 5. Conclusions In this paper, a new co-gasication technology is conceptually designed and modeled. Compared to separate coal gasication or natural gas reforming, the proposed co-gasication technology conceptually possesses advantages in fuel exibility, emissions reduction, lower CO2 discharge and possibly lower investment. The modeling of this co-gasication process is performed using the ASPEN Plus process simulator, and the performance of the developed model is analyzed in terms of its predictive capabilities of the produced syngas composition in this study. The simulation results are in good agreement with the laboratory scale experimental data. This indicates that the co-gasication process provides an ideal thermodynamic condition for the gasication reactions and can operate at quasi-equilibrium conditions without catalysts at 1273 K. In addition, the validity of the developed model as a useful tool for the analysis of the co-gasication process is demonstrated. The sensitivity analysis shows that the oxygen has a signicant eect on the syngas composition and reactor temperature, and an optimum range of O2/fuel ratios exists where the concentrations of H2 and CO show maximum values and the natural gas is completely converted at an appropriate reactor temperature. The increase of steam ow rate results in a moderate reduction of the concentrations of H2 and CO, as well as the reactor temperature. The eect of natural gas content in the feedstock shows that there exists an optimum choice for the natural gas/fuel ratio where the concentrations of H2 and CO will reach their respective maximum values and natural gas will be completely converted. However, the increase of natural gas ow rate will strongly decrease the reactor temperature, which should be considered for selection of the natural gas/fuel ratio. According to the above discussion, the results are encouraging and useful to guide the continuing work. The future experimental and modeling eorts will focus on the chemical kinetics and associated engineering studies of the co-gasication technology, as well as its economic feasibility and the use of alternative fuels. Acknowledgement Financial supports by the Chinese National Natural Science Foundation for innovative research groups (No. 20221603) and the National High Tech Research and Development (863) Programme (No. 2002AA529090) are gratefully acknowledged. References
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