Gasification of coal and PET in fluidized bed reactor

Blended fuel comprising 23 wt.% polyethyleneterephthalate (PET) and 77 wt.% brown coal was gasified in an atmospheric fluidized bed gasifier of laboratory-scale. The gasification agent was composed of 10 vol.% O2 in bulk of nitrogen. Thermal and texture analyses were carried out to determine the basic properties of the fuel components. The influence of experimental conditions, such as the fluidized bed and freeboard temperatures on major and minor gas components and tar content, as well as features of the blended fuel gasification in comparison with the single coal gasification, were studied. In the case of coal with PET gasification, only the fluidized bed temperature showed significant influence on CO, CO2, CH4 and H2 content in the producer gas, whereas the effect of the freeboard temperature was insignificant. In single coal gasification both temperatures had considerable and almost the same influence. The content of minor components, such as ethane, ethylene, acetylene and benzene, was found to be more dependent on the freeboard temperature than on the fluidized bed temperature. It was observed that the higher the freeboard temperatures get, the lower is the concentration of the minor components, with the exception of acetylene. The absolute contents of almost all minor and tar components were approximately three times higher in blended fuel gasification than that in single coal gasification. Finally, partition of carbon (char) and selected metals into bottom and cyclone ash in gasification of both fuels is discussed.