An Investigation of Slurry Fuel Combustion.

A theoretical and experimental investigation of the combustion properties of carbon slurry fuels was performed. This involved observing the combustion of individual drops 400-1000 micrometer in diameter supported at various positions within an open, turbulent diffusion flame. When a slurry drop was exposed to the flame, the liquid fuel in the slurry evaporatd in the first stage, leaving a carbon agglomerate consisting of all the carbon particles originally in the slurry. The second stage of the process involved heat-up reaction of the agglomerate consumption of the agglomerate was the slowest step in the process, requiring 90-95 percent of the lifetime of the particle, even in reions where agglomerate reaction was fast. An analysis was developed to provide predictions of agglomerate reaction rates and lifetimes. The model was tested with measurements in the lean portions of the flame equivalence ratios in the range 0.272-0.778.