NOVEL DIAGNOSTICS FOR PARTICULATE PROPERTIES IN COMBUSTION-

IN COAL COMBUSTION, KNOWLEDGE OF RADIATIVE HEAT TRANSFER IS IMPORTANT IN PREDICTING THE HEAT-UP OF THE INCOMING COAL AND THE EMISSION OF HEAT FROM THE BURNING CHAR, VOLATILES, AND ASH. THE CALCULATION FOR PARTICULATES REQUIRES KNOWLEDGE OF MANY LITTLE KNOWN PARAMETERS INCLUDING: THE RADIATIVE PROPERTIES, SIZES, AND NUMBER DENSITIES OF THE COAL, CHAR, SOOT, AND ASH; THE COAL'S REACTIVITY (TO PREDICT PARTICLE TEMPERATURES); ITS RELATIVE TENDENCY TO PRODUCE SOOT; AND ITS IGNITION BEHAVIOR. IN A COMPLETE MODEL, THESE PROPERTIES ARE COMBINED WITH GAS PROPERTIES AND THE TRANSPORT PHENOMENA TO PREDICT THE COURSE OF COMBUSTION AND HEAT TRANSFER. THIS PROGRAM IS TO DEVELOP AN INSTRUMENT AND METHODOLOGY FOR THE ROUTINE DETERMINATION OF THESE PROPERTIES FOR COALS TO BE BURNED COMMERCIALLY. THE APPARATUS EMPLOYS A FLOW REACTOR COUPLED TO A FOURIER TRANSFORM-INFRARED (FT-IR) SPECTROMETER TO MEASURE BOTH EMISSION AND TRANSMISSION ON THE SAME SAMPLE. PARTICLE SPECTRAL EMITTANCE HAS BEEN MEASURED WITH THIS APPARATUS AS HAS THE TOTAL EFFICIENCY FACTOR FOR EXTINCTION. THE MEASUREMENTS CAN PROVIDE DATA ON THE GASEOUS SPECIES AND GAS TEMPERATURE AS WELL. PHASE I WILL MEASURE HEATED STREAMS OF SIZE-GRADED COAL, CHAR, AND ASH, AND SEVERAL STANDARD MATERIALS IN A SET OF EXPERIMENTS DESIGNED TO VALIDATE THE TECHNIQUE FOR OBTAINING PARTICLE SIZE, NUMBER DENSITY, TEMPERATURE, EMISSIVITY, AND SCATTERING CROSS-SECTION.