Modeling changes of fractal pore structures in coal pyrolysis

Coal pyrolysis processes are numerically investigated in mathematically produced coal pore models which simulate real coal pores in the parameters of the porosity and fractal dimension. The simulations include FG-DVC chemical reaction model, gas molecular diffusion in pores, energy conservation model and coal swelling model. Numerical results are verified by experimental results qualitatively, and they revealed that both the porosity and volatile contents of the parent coal can affect the fractal dimension of the final char pores after pyrolysis linearly. A formula to predict the fractal dimension of char pores from its parent coal properties is obtained by curve fitting in numerous results. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.