The char combustion mechanisms were analyzed and a comprehensive fractal char combustion model was developed to give a better understanding and better predictions of the char combustion characteristics. Most of the complex factors affecting the char combustion were included, such as the coupling effects between the pore diffusion and the chemical reactions, the evolution of the char pore structures and the variation of the apparent reaction order during combustion, the CO/CO_2 ratio in the combustion products and the correction for oxy-char combustion. Eleven different chars were then combusted in two drop tube furnaces with the conversions of the partly burned char samples measured by thermogravimetric analysis. The combustion processes of these chars were simulated with the predicted char conversions matching very well with the measured data which shows that this char combustion model has good accuracy. The apparent reaction order of the char combustion decreases, stabilizes and then increases during the combustion process. The combustion rates in the oxy-mode are generally slower than in the air-mode and the effect of the char-CO_2 gasification reaction becomes obvious only when the temperature is relatively high and the O_2 concentration is relatively low.
The effect of varying pore structures on the kinetics of S02-CaO reactions is not fully understood in the previous studies. Combining fractal pore model, gas molecular movement model and two-stage reaction model, a new desulfurization model is established in this paper. Fractal pore model is used to simulate CaO particle and gas molecular movement model is used to simulate gas diffusion in pores. Fractal dimension is used to characterize complexity of pore structure instead of tortuosity factor. It is found that the reaction is significantly affected by pore structures. A modulus φ is introduced to characterize the relationship between varying pore structures and apparent reaction parameters. And this relationship is verified by thermo-gravimetric analysis （TGA） data. Comparing to the previous models, the effect of varying pore structure on the kinetics of the reaction is described more accurately by the desulfurization model.
