Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-27gpq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-28T09:22:11.296Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Characterization of a Lignite Ash from the Metc Gasifier I. Mineralogy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 February 2011

Gregory J. McCarthy
Affiliation:
Department of Chemistry, North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND 58105
Lindsay P. Keller
Affiliation:
Department of Chemistry, North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND 58105
Robert J. Stevenson
Affiliation:
Natural Materials Analytical Laboratory, University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, ND 58202
Kevin C. Galbreath
Affiliation:
Department of Chemistry, North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND 58105
Aaron L. Steinwand
Affiliation:
Department of Chemistry, North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND 58105
Get access

Abstract

Utilization or disposal of gasification ash requires detailed characterization of its chemistry and phase formation (mineralogy). A North Dakota lignite ash produced in the Morgantown Energy Technology Center (METC) gasifier has been studied in detail by x-ray diffraction and electron microprobe analysis. The ash was coarse (84% of grains larger than 1.0 mm) but a typical grain was composed of a dozen or more crystalline phases with dimensions on the micrometer scale as well as less abundant glass phases. Hard centimeter-size clinkers suggested partial melting followed by crystallization. Silicates (dicalcium silicates (C2S), merwinite, Ca-Na-silicate (CNS), quartz), aluminosilicates (melilite, nepheline, carnegieite), oxides (ferrite spinels, periclase, hematite), calcite and minor zeolites comprised the dominant mineralogy. Microprobe analyses were obtained for large numbers of grains of the C2S phases, CNS, merwinite, melilite, ferrite spinels and calcite. The remaining phases had crystal sizes too small for analysis. A model is proposed for the genesis of this ash based on the inorganic constituents of lignite and the gasifier operating conditions.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1985

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1. Manz, O., Cem. Concr. Res. 14[4], 513520 (1984).10.1016/0008-8846(84)90127-3Google Scholar
2. Severson, D. E., Manz, O. E. and Mitchell, M. J., this volume.Google Scholar
3. McCarthy, G. J., Keller, L. P., Schields, P. J., Elless, M. P. and Galbreath, K. C., Cem. Concr. Res. 14[4], 479484 (1984). [Correct Table II on p. 474.]10.1016/0008-8846(84)90122-4CrossRefGoogle Scholar
4. Stevenson, R. J., Cem. Concr. Res. 14[4], 485490 (1984).10.1016/0008-8846(84)90123-6CrossRefGoogle Scholar
5. Stevenson, R. J. and Larsen, R. A., this volume.Google Scholar
6. Hassett, D. J., Henke, K. R., McCarthy, G. J. and Korynta, E. D., this volume.Google Scholar
7. Galbreath, K. C. and McCarthy, G. J., “Literature Review and Evaluation of the Correlation of Chemical Composition and Vitrification Behavior of Low Rank Coal Ash,” in Characterization, Extraction and Reuse of Coal Gasification Solid Wastes, G. H. Groenewold (Ed.), April-June Quarterly Report to the Gas Research Institute, pp. 80–97 (1984).Google Scholar
8. McCarthy, G. J., Swanson, K. D., Keller, L. P. and Blatter, W. C., Cem. Concr. Res., 14[4], 471478 (1984). [Correct Table I on p. 482.]10.1016/0008-8846(84)90121-2CrossRefGoogle Scholar
9. Paulson, L. E., Beckering, W. and Fowkes, W. W., Fuel 51, 224227 (1972).10.1016/0016-2361(72)90086-5Google Scholar
10. Schott, D., unpublished report, Grand Forks Energy Technology Center, 1980.Google Scholar
11. Benson, S. A., Rindt, D. K., Montgomery, G. G. and Sears, D. R., Ind. Eng. Chem. Prod. Res. Dev. 23, 252256 (1984).10.1021/i300014a016CrossRefGoogle Scholar