Equilibrium Model of Steam Gasification of Coal

Coal gasification is a complex process of parallel-consecutive chemical reactions at high temperature between the organic part of coal matter and the gasifying agent. The following two approaches are applied in modelling the coal gasification process: equilibrium and kinetic. The methods of determining the thermodynamic equilibrium can be divided into two groups: stoichiometric and non-stoichiometric methods. This article presents the equilibrium model of the steam gasification of coal developed for a laboratory experiment (Smoliński 2008, 2011). The scope of this paper includes the development of the concept concerning the division of the reaction system into two zones, where the result of one of the stages constitutes the input data for the subsequent stage. The composition of the gas mixture has been evaluated on the basis of the fundamental physical and chemical rights. The estimated content of the gases in the mixture correlate with the results of the experiment.