Factors affecting primary fragmentation during combustion of Serbian coals

Abstract

A two-phase experimental method to establish primary fragmentation behavior of Serbian lignites is presented. The first phase was fragmentation quantification, and second was measuring temperature response of center of coal particle during devolatilization. A dynamic simulation model gave thermal properties of coal used. The influence of various factors such as original size of coal, bed temperature, and coal rank on fragmentation is presented and discussed. A new factor, ratio of coal volatile content and coal thermal diffusivity, as representative of heat and mass transfer processes inside of coal particle, has been introduced and its influence on fragmentation index was analyzed.