The physical and chemical properties
of H2O (oxy-steam
combustion) and N2 (air combustion) are different, which
has influence on the char properties in oxy-steam combustion. Measuring in situ char (without any cooling) kinetic parameters is
very important, especially at oxy-steam atmosphere. Both in
situ and ex situ char properties were investigated
in this paper. Ex situ char was obtained at different
cooling rates. Char properties were measured by X-ray diffraction,
H/C ratio, Raman spectrum, and specific surface area. The effect of
steam on in situ and ex situ char
combustion kinetics were determined. We found that the combustion
reaction rates of different chars are in order of in situ > rapid cooling (103–104 K/s) >
medium
cooling (10–100 K/s) > slow cooling char (0.1 K/s). The
rapid
cooling char structure is disordered and has a high active surface
area, which results in the high reactivity. In situ char has a shorter burn-out time, a faster combustion rate, and
a higher reaction constant. For example, at 903 K, it appears the
reaction rate of 0.048 s–1 for ex situ char (Vientiane coal char) in oxy-steam atmosphere (30% O2 + 15% H2O), while that of in situ char
is 0.07 s–1. The reactivity of in situ char is higher than that of ex situ char. The activation
energy of in situ char (e.g., 20.9 kJ/mol) is much
lower than that of ex situ char (e.g., 82.24 kJ/mol)
in oxy-steam atmosphere (e.g., 30% O2 + 10% H2O). The reaction reactivity of both ex situ and in situ char increase in oxy-steam atmosphere when compared
with those from O2/CO2 combustion.