Gasification, coal carbon-oxygen-steam systems

An important variant of the Fluid Bed system is under development. This variant eliminates use of air or oxygen in the actual gasifier. Steam and coal are the reactants. Since we know from Table 3 that the reaction of steam with coal is endothermic, a heat source must be provided. Hot solids in the form of char are heated in a combustor and are transferred to the gasification reactor as one these processes. In another, hot alkaline oxides react with the carbon dioxide in the gas to form carbonates. The exothermic reaction of carbonate formation supplies the heat requirements of the steam-carbon reaction. Both of these processes depend on a reactive coal or char to implement the steam-carbon reaction. 

A process that is similar to carbon activation is coal gasification. Here coal, consisting primarily of carbon, is reacted at high temperatures with various mixtures of air, oxygen, and steam to produce a fuel gas. We have applied some of the techniques used to analyze the thermodynamics of coal gasification systems to develop a technical data base. 

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