Investigation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons from coal gasification

Article type: Research Article

Authors: ZHOU, Hong-cang | JIN, Bao-sheng | ZHONG, Zhao-ping | HUANG, Ya-ji | XIAO, Rui | LI, Da-ji

Affiliations: Key Laboratory of Clean Coal Power Generation and Combustion Technology of Ministry of Education, Thermoenergy Engineering Research Institute, Southeast University, Nanjing 210096, China

Note: [] Corresponding author. E-mail: zhouhongcang@163.com

Abstract: The hazardous organic pollutants generated from coal gasification, such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), are highly mutagenic and carcinogenic. More researchers have paid particular attention to them. Using air and steam as gasification medium, the experiments of three kinds of coals were carried out in a bench-scale atmospheric fluidized bed gasifier. The contents of the 16 PAHs specified by US EPA in raw coal, slag, bag house coke, cyclone coke and gas were measured by HPLC to study the contents of PAHs in raw coal and the effects of the inherent characters of coals on the formation and release of PAHs in coal gasification. The experimental results showed that the distributions of PAHs in the gasified products are similar to raw coals and the total-PAHs content in coal gasification is higher than in raw coal (except Coal C). The total-PAHs contents increase and then decrease with the rise of fixed carbon and sulfur of coal while there has an opposite variation when volatile matters content increase. The quantities of PAHs reduce with the increase of ash content or the drop of heating value during coal gasification.

Keywords: polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), coal gasification, fluidized bed, coal rank

Journal: Journal of Environmental Sciences, vol. 17, no. 1, pp. 141-145, 2005