The transport reactor development unit (TRDU) was modified to accommodate oxygen-blown operation in support of a Vision 21-type energy plex that could produce power, chemicals, and fuel. These modifications consisted of changing the loop seal design from a J-leg to an L-valve configuration, thereby increasing the mixing zone length and residence time. In addition, the standpipe, dipleg, and L-valve diameters were increased to reduce slugging caused by bubble formation in the lightly fluidized sections of the solid return legs. A seal pot was added to the bottom of the dipleg so that the level of solids in the standpipe could be operated independently of the dipleg return leg. A separate coal feed nozzle was added that could inject the coal upward into the outlet of the mixing zone, thereby precluding any chance of the fresh coal feed back-mixing into the oxidizing zone of the mixing zone; however, difficulties with this coal feed configuration led to a switch back to the original downward configuration. Instrumentation to measure and control the flow of oxygen and steam to the burner and mix zone ports was added to allow the TRDU to be operated under full oxygen-blown conditions. In total, ten test campaigns have been conducted under enriched-air or full oxygen-blown conditions. During these tests, 1515 hours of coal feed with 660 hours of air-blown gasification and 720 hours of enriched-air or oxygen-blown coal gasification were completed under this particular contract. During these tests, approximately 366 hours of operation with Wyodak, 123 hours with Navajo sub-bituminous coal, 143 hours with Illinois No. 6, 106 hours with SUFCo, 110 hours with Prater Creek, 48 hours with Calumet, and 134 hours with a Pittsburgh No. 8 bituminous coal were completed. In addition, 331 hours of operation on low-rank coals such as North Dakota lignite, Australian brown coal, and a 90:10 wt% mixture of lignite and wood waste were completed. Also included in these test campaigns was 50 hours of gasification on a petroleum coke from the Hunt Oil Refinery and an additional 73 hours of operation on a high-ash coal from India. Data from these tests indicate that while acceptable fuel gas heating value was achieved with these fuels, the transport gasifier performs better on the lower-rank feedstocks because of their higher char reactivity. Comparable carbon conversions have been achieved at similar oxygen/coal ratios for both air-blown and oxygen-blown operation for each fuel; however, carbon conversion was lower for the less reactive feedstocks. While separation of fines from the feed coals is not needed with this technology, some testing has suggested that feedstocks with higher levels of fines have resulted in reduced carbon conversion, presumably due to the inability of the finer carbon particles to be captured by the cyclones. These data show that these low-rank feedstocks provided similar fuel gas heating values; however, even among the high-reactivity low-rank coals, the carbon conversion did appear to be lower for the fuels (brown coal in particular) that contained a significant amount of fines. The fuel gas under oxygen-blown operation has been higher in hydrogen and carbon dioxide concentration since the higher steam injection rate promotes the water-gas shift reaction to produce more CO{sub 2} and H{sub 2} at the expense of the CO and water vapor. However, the high water and CO{sub 2} partial pressures have also significantly reduced the reaction of (Abstract truncated)
