Effect of CaO on catalytic combustion of semi-coke

Generally, adding a certain amount of an additive to pulverized coal can promote its combustion performance. In this paper, the effect of CaO on the combustion characteristics and kinetic behavior of semi-coke was studied by thermogravimetric (TG) analysis. The results show that adding proper amount of CaO can reduce the ignition temperature of semi-coke and increase the combustion rate of semi-coke; with the increase in CaO content, the combustion rate of semi-coke increases first and then decreases, and the results of TG analysis showed that optimal addition amount of CaO is 2 wt%. The apparent activation energy of CaO with different addition amounts of CaO was calculated by Coats–Redfern integration method. The apparent activation energy of semi-coke in the combustion reaction increases first and then decreases with the increase in CaO addition. The apparent activation energies of different samples at different conversion rates were calculated by Flynn–Wall–Ozawa integral method. It was found that the apparent activation energies of semi-coke during combustion reaction decreased with the increase in conversion.