Study on kinetics of coal pyrolysis at different heating rates to produce hydrogen

It deals with pyrolysis of Shenhua coal at different heating rates with a thermal analyzer and a fixed-bed reactor. Kinetics of coal pyrolysis was acquired on the basis of numerical calculation. It finds that both initial and final temperatures for thermal chemical reaction rise with the increase of heating rate during coal pyrolysis, and further giving rise to change in pyrolysis reaction and in kinetics. Largest activation energy appears in the temperature between 850 °C and 930 °C during coal pyrolysis. And activation energy is the largest at the rate of 10 °C/min, but the lowest at the rate of 15 °C/min. It is in good conformity to results of hydrogen production pyrolyzed at the rate of 15 °C/min on a fixed bed reactor.