Professional Documents
Culture Documents
522-529, 1995
Copyright kc 1995 Elsevier Science Ltd
Printed in Great Britain. All rights reserved
0016-2361/95/$10.00+0.00
Ghosal
and Sidney
A. Self
of Mechanical
Engineering,
The results are reported of detailed physical characterization of six ashes from coals representative of those
burned in US power plants. Centrifugal separation was used to classify the ashes into six density categories
in the range < 1.6 to > 3.2 g cm- 3. The size distributions of all density classes were determined in the range
l-200 pm. For most of the density classes, log-normal functions, truncated outside the measurement limits,
described the size distributions quite well. For all six ashes, the median diameter initially decreased and
then increased with increasing particle density. The influence of particle structure on this large variation
(up to sixfold) in size is discussed. Centrifugal separation using a liquid of density 2.2 g cm- 3 was used to
estimate the mass fraction of cenospheres (i.e. particles with trapped interior bubbles) in the ashes. This
fraction varied from < 5 to > 95 wt%. The cenosphere content was apparently uncorrelated with coal rank
but was positively correlated with the total mineral content of the coal. The median diameters of the
cenospheric fractions were found to be two to three times those of the non-cenospheric (solid) fractions.
The density-size data were used to determine the Fe,O, distribution in the ashes.
(Keywords: fly ash; siz.e-density relation; cenospheres)
522
Lexington,
Fuel 1995
KY 40506, USA
Volume
74 Number
University
Physical characterization
EXPERIMENTAL
Fly ash samples
Table 1
Analyses
Proximate
Volatile
(wt% as-received)
analysis
matter
of parent
Kentucky
No. 9
Illinois
No. 6
Upper
Freeport
Eagle
Butte
Beulah
San
Miguel
29.9
36.9
20.6
32.8
29.3
25.3
Ash
18.4
9.4
23.6
4.9
9.6
40.4
Moisture
12.1
12.2
3.2
31.2
30.2
20.3
23.1
Ultimate analysis
Carbon
58.2
61.3
62.5
41.3
41.3
Hydrogen
3.8
4.3
4.2
3.6
2.9
2.8
Oxygen
1.6
7.8
2.8
12.0
13.8
11.8
1.0
1.2
0.7
0.6
0.8
0.4
4.3
3.8
3.0
0.4
1.3
1.3
2.3
1.2
2.0
1.1
0.3
2.0
2.6
1.0
0.2
1.0
Nitrogen
Sulfur
Forms of sulfur
Pyritic
Organic
R. W. Bryers, personal
communication,
Table 2
Compositions
1987
microprobe
analysis
U. Freeport
Illinois
Kentucky
E. Butte
S. Miguel
Beulah
SiO,
51.36
49.39
47.19
28.53
64.61
30.81
Al@,
27.51
21.09
28.95
17.44
21.49
32.51
Fe@,
13.05
18.96
12.59
6.88
2.75
16.40
CaO
2.59
2.94
5.17
33.00
4.85
7.35
MgO
0.23
0.90
0.15
7.47
0.10
3.27
Na,O
0.53
1.44
2.27
1.76
3.34
6.49
K,O
3.16
2.17
2.24
0.00
1.80
1.45
TiO,
1.08
0.68
1.06
1.11
0.9 1
0.65
P*O,
BaO
0.40
0.19
0.25
0.27
0.03
0.38
0.08
1.58
0.12
2.50
0.12
0.60
Clb
0.02
0.64
0.00
1.04
0.01
0.02
SO,b
0.00
0.02
0.00
0.01
0.00
0.01
From ref. 9
b Most of the S and Cl volatilized
during
slag preparation
523
Physical characterization
Density classljkation
AND DISCUSSION
Density classification
Class
Density (g cmm3)
1
<1.6
2
1.6-2.0
3
2.0-2.4
4
2.4-2.8
5
2.8-3.2
6
> 3.2
Density of
whole ash
(gcme3)
Kentucky No. 9
1.0
7.6
26.1
59.6
1.4
3.1
2.15
Illinios No. 6
1.2
7.2
42.8
42.0
2.8
4.0
2.12
1.3
0.5
0.2
35.6
6.1
0.2
2.1
52.9
27.0
3.5
10.2
7.0
57.0
21.4
16.3
3.5
2.4
68.5
8.9
1.0
5.6
5.9
2.3
0.0
2.29
2.16
2.31
1.73
Upper Freeport
Eagle Butte
Beulah
San Miguel
524
Physical characterization
dF:,bD)
(
d(ln D) =
-l(zr]
Inb
s lna ./L
exp[ -kr$y]d(lnx)
In IT,
D
a6Ddb
(1)
525
Physical characterization
0.8
0.6
8
I?
0.4
0.2
810
20
40
60
80 100
D WI
526
2
a
ISo
40
0
0
Density Class
Figure 2 Distribution of volume median diameter, D,, of densityclassified ashes, as a function of density class
Physical characterization
Table 5
Characterization
of cenosphere
content
Proportion
(wt%) of ash with
density (g cme3)
Kentucky No. 9
Illinois No. 6
Upper Freeport
Eagle Butte
Beulah
San Miguel
Cenosphere
2.O<p<2.2
19.3
14.6
23.9
3.6
7.7
96.9
10.7
6.2
15.9
2.9
5.4
8.4
(B)
55.4
42.5
66.5
80.6
70.1
8.7
content
0.012 F 1
B/A
(%)
l-Pt2.2
J
P22.2
For example,
measurements
I I I III
0.010
s 0.008
A
g 0.006
E!
m
%
0.006
0.004
0.004
0.002
0.002
0
of Upper
Freeport
ash. The
527
Physical characterization
Illinois No. 6
Kentucky No. 9
Upper Freeport
Eagle Butte
Beulah
>2.2
<2.2
Density (g cm-)
100
9
r
3
SO_
cg
(a, b)
D,
og
(a, b)
60 -
32.5
19.3
24.7
40.0
43.3
1.63
1.88
2.01
1.96
1.61
4.9,88.0
3.563.0
3.5,63.0
9.8J80.0
4.9, 88.0
13.7
8.4
7.7
14.4
13.4
3.40
2.10
2.41
3.21
2.17
1.7,33.0
1.7,33.0
1.7,33.0
1.7,33.0
3.563.0
8
u
Keatucky#9
0 Illinois#6
0
UpperFreeport
0 EagleButte
+ Beulah
011
lo1 I
0
10
20
30
40
I-I
50
528
Fuel 1995
Volume
74 Number
CONCLUSIONS
Density classification of six US coal ashes by centrifugal
separation shows that >80 wt% of four of them lies in
the density range 2.c2.8 g cme3. More than 95 wt% of
the San Miguel ash, which consists almost entirely of
cenospheres, is of density < 2.4 g cmm3, and more than
two-thirds of the high-calcium Eagle Butte ash is of
density 2.8-3.2 g cm - 3.
Truncated log-normal functions describe the size
distributions of the ashes very well. The median diameters
of the low-density (cenospheric) classes and the highdensity (rich in CaO, Fe,O, and Al,O,) classes are
considerably larger than that of the whole (unseparated)
ash.
The cenospheric fraction of the ash, defined as that of
density < 2 g cmm3, varies from < 5 wt% for Eagle Butte
to >95 wt% for San Miguel. The median diameter of
the cenospheric fraction is significantly larger (two- to
threefold) than that of the non-cenospheric fraction.
However, for some of the ashes, a considerable fraction
of the cenospheres contains only small bubbles (i.e. its
average density is 2.s2.2 g cm - 3).
Density classification of an ash is a useful technique
in optical characterization because the optical properties
(more specifically, the complex refractive index) of a fly
ash particle depend on its composition, and since density
and composition are correlated, this technique helps in
detecting the distribution of infrared-active oxides such
as Fe,O,.
The scattering and absorption characteristics of a fly
ash particle also depend on its geometry; hence the need
to quantify the cenospheric fraction. However, from
the standpoint of radiative properties, the effective
cenosphere content is somewhat lower than the measured
value because for particles of low porosity ( < 10 vol.%)
the radiation penetrating the particle will be absorbed
before it detects the presence of the bubble(s).
This study, together with complementary data, shows
that as much as half of the Fe,O, in the ash is
concentrated in large (D > 20 pm) spherical particles that
are relatively few in number and some of which are
non-glassy. Hence the influence of iron in radiative
transfer is less than if it is distributed more uniformly in
the ash.
The cenosphere content of an ash is directly related to
the total ash content of the coal.
Physical characterization
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
12
13
14
15
16
REFERENCES
1
17
18
10
11
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
529