Oxygen-enriched anthracite gasification

A renewed interest in producer gas from air-blown gasification of anthracite coal is emerging in the northeastern US. As a result, Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. has developed a two-zone model to simulate a fixed-bed reactor using an oxygen-enriched air/steam blast as the gasification medium. Model-generated predictions of the increase in fuel gas production with oxygen enrichment agree well with published data from tests in the U.S. The results show that for a 10% enrichment of the air feed with oxygen, a 100% increase in energy production is realized, reflecting both increased heat content of the product gas as well as increased throughput.