Thermal coupling study during the co-processing of coal and biomass in the lab-scale adiabatic reactor

A lab-scale adiabatic reactor has been self-made to characterize the coupled properties of heat and reactions during the co-thermal-processing of coal and biomass with steam or steam/O₂ gasification agents. Results showed that the synergistic effects caused by heat transfer between corncob and coal at different mixing ratios were heavily determined by coal rank and gasification agent. During steam co-processing, the heat transfer from corncob char to adjacent bituminous coal char promoted the water-gas reaction on coal char and contributed to synergistic effects; the heat transfer from anthracite char to adjacent corncob char reduced the kinetic rate of the water-gas reaction on coal char and contributed to inhibitory effects, and the inhibitory effect caused by heat transfer was greater than the promotion effects of biomass mass transfer. The introduction of O₂ diminished the impact of inter-particle heat transfer and altered the intensity of synergy, decreasing the values of synergy factor of bituminous coal/corncob blends by 17% and increasing the value of synergy factor of anthracite/corncob blends by 142.5%. This study provides sufficient support for the process conditions selection for the production of syngas with specific H₂/CO molar ratios and the desired level of gasification performance.