Simulation of coal pyrolysis by solid heat carrier in a moving-bed pyrolyzer

A one-dimensional, steady state, numerical model for coal pyrolysis by solid heat carrier in moving-bed has been developed. The multiple-reaction model of coal pyrolysis and the gas–solid–solid three phases heat transfer theory in packed bed have been applied to account for the pyrolysis process. The results show that the axial temperature distribution of the coal particles increase with a heating rate more than 600 K/min. Coal particle size has significant influence on the heating rate, while blending ratio is the determinant factor of pyrolysis temperature. Given the main operating parameters, product distributions (H2, CO, CH4, tar, etc) are calculated by the model. The modeling results are found to agree the experimental data using a moving-bed pyrolyzer with processing capacity 10 kg h−1 of coal.