Thermogravimetric analysis of gasification reactivity of coal chars with steam and CO2 at moderate temperatures

Comparative study on the gasification reactivity of the three types of Chinese coal chars with steam and CO₂ at 850–1050 °C was conducted by isothermal thermogravimetric analysis. The effects of coal rank, pore structure, ash behavior, and gasification temperature on the gasification reactivity of coal chars were investigated. It is found that the gasification reactivity difference between different coal chars changes with reaction degree and gasification temperature, and has no immediate connection with coal rank and initial pore structure. Ash behavior plays an important role in the char reactivity, and changes with gasification temperature and reaction degree due to the variation in the compositions and relative amount. The influence of pore structure is more noticeable during a relatively moderate reaction process. The relative reactivity ratio of steam to CO₂ gasification generally decreases with the increasing temperature, and is related with the catalytic effect of inherent minerals. The characteristic parameters of the chars were analyzed, finding that the value of half reaction specific rate is approximate to the average specific rate under the same conditions. The nth-order distributed activation energy model is proposed to describe the coal char gasification process, and the results show that the activation energy increases with the increasing carbon conversion.