Investigation of sulfur-containing particles generation by numerical simulation

Numerical simulation was used to investigate the influences of different combustion conditions on the generation of sulfur-containing particles in the process of coal combustion. The concentration fields of soot particles, SO₂, CO₂, and other substances were obtained by changing the combustion temperatures and oxygen mole fractions, on which the analyses were based. The results of simulation can display the generation trend of main productions and processes of reactions in the furnace accurately. The results suggest that the generated soot particles enrich a portion of the sulfur element from coal. On the other hand, soot particles that are not oxidized after coal combustion are an important source of sulfur-containing particles. When the molar fraction of O₂ changes from 0.1 to 0.5, generated soot particles are oxidized rapidly. Thus, the amount of sulfur-containing soot particles decreases gradually at the outlet. In addition, it is difficult for the generation of soot particles when the temperature increases from 1 200 K to 1 600 K, so the number of sulfur-containing particles from soot particles decreases gradually.