This work is concerned with the applicability of modelling swirling pulverised coal flames with ideal chemical reactors. The objectives were to predict the emissions of NO and CO, and the burnout of char. The fluid dynamics were simplified by use of a system of ideal chemical reactors. The near burner zone was modelled as a well-stirred reactor, the jet expansion as a plug flow reactor, the external recirculation zone as a well-stirred reactor, and the down stream zone as a number of well-stirred reactors in series. A reduced model of a detailed reaction mechanism was applied to model gas phase chemistry and a novel model was developed for soot oxidation. A population balance was used to keep track of size and density changes for the char combustion. Individual particle temperatures were calculated for each size fraction. The model includes only one burner specific calibration parameter which is related to the mixing of air and fuel. The model was validated against experimental results from a 160kWthpulverised coal burner. For single staged combustion at varying stoichiometries, for two stage combustion, and for different coals good agreement between model and experiment was obtained for NO emissions and carbon in ash. This work also indicates that the interaction between the homogenous gas phase chemistry and the heterogeneous chemistry (soot and char), due to recombination of radicals on the surfaces, is of importance for the nitrogen chemistry in coal flames, especially for ammonia formation.
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