Kinetics of Devolatilization

Quantitative description of coal devolatilization is desired as input for overall descriptions of coal combustion mechanisms. Devolatilization is very complex, involving multiple chemical reactions coupled with transport processes, and a purely fundamental description is not yet feasible. In practice we resort to the use of simplified global devolatilization models, which can be an effective approach if properly used. However, failure to observe the inherent constraints of simplified models can lead to inaccurate conclusions. These topics are addressed in the next section.