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Volatile Release and Ignition Behaviors of Single Coal Particles at Different Oxygen Concentrations Under Microgravity

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Abstract

An experimental study on ignition and combustion of single coal particles under different O 2 concentrations was conducted at both normal (1-g) and microgravity (μ-g) in the first time. The surface and centre temperatures of the bituminous coal particle with initial diameter of ∼ 2.0mm were measured by the monochromatic imaging technique using a short wavelength infrared (SWIR) camera and an embedded fine thermocouple respectively. Results revealed that at μ-g, ignition of the tested coal particles was homogeneous. O 2 concentration significantly affects the shape, ignition temperature and ignition delay time of the volatile flames. A mathematical model considering thermal conduction inside the coal particle was developed to describe the ignition process of single particle, adopting the volatile matter flammability limit as the homogeneous ignition criterion. The predicted ignition temperatures were slightly lower but closer to μ-g data. And the predicted variation trends of ignition temperature and delay time under different O 2 concentrations agreed well with the μ-g experimental results.

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Acknowledgments

The supports provided by the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (No. XDA04020200) and Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51476088) are highly appreciated.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory for Thermal Science and Power Engineering, Ministry of Education, Department of Thermal Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, China

    Bing Liu & Hai Zhang

  2. Centre for Energy (M473), The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Hwy, Crawley, WA, 6009, Australia

    Zhezi Zhang & Dongke Zhang

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  1. Bing Liu
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  2. Zhezi Zhang
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  3. Hai Zhang
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  4. Dongke Zhang
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Correspondence to Hai Zhang.

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Liu, B., Zhang, Z., Zhang, H. et al. Volatile Release and Ignition Behaviors of Single Coal Particles at Different Oxygen Concentrations Under Microgravity. Microgravity Sci. Technol. 28, 101–108 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12217-015-9480-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12217-015-9480-7

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