Pressurized fluidization is a promising new technology for the clean and efficient combustion of coal. Its principle is to operate a coal combustor at a high inlet gas velocity to increase the inflow of reactants, and at an elevated pressure to raise the overall efficiencey of the process. Unfortunately, commercialization of large pressurized fluidized beds is inhibited by uncertainties in scaling up units from the current pilot plant levels.
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Flow visualization experiments in a scale-model fluidized-bed boiler
using an infrared camera. These experiments allow for a better
understanding of heat transfer mechanisms at the walls of fluidized beds.
Our objective is to conduct a study of the fluid dynamics and solid capture of a large pressurized coal-fired unit. The idea is to employ dimensional similitude to simulate in a cold laboratory model the flow in a Pressurized circulating fluidized bed "Pyrolyzer" which is part of a High Performance Power System developed by Foster Wheeler Development Corporation under the DOE's combustion 2000 program.