• Journal of the Korean Society of Combustion
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.22-29
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• 2010

In this study, carbon conversion was measured using an electronic mass balance. In a lab scale furnace, each coal sample was pyrolyzed in a nitrogen environment and became coal char, which was then gasified with steam under isothermal conditions. The reactivity of coal char was investigated at various temperatures and steam concentrations. The VRM(volume reaction model), SCM(shrinking core model), and RPM(random pore model) were used to interpret experimental data. For each model the activation energy(Ea), pre-exponential factor (A), and reaction order(n) of the coal char-steam reaction were determined by applying the Arrhenius equation into the data obtained with thermo-gravimetric analysis(TGA). According to this study, it was found that experimental data agreed better with the VRM and SCM for 1,000 and $1,100^{\circ}C$, and the RPM for 1,200 and $1,300^{\circ}C$. The reactivity of chars increased with the increase of gasification temperature. The structure parameter(${\psi}$) of the surface area for the RPM was obtained.