Development of Slag Management System

Degradation of refractory liners is one of the key factors limiting the service life of entrained flow slagging gasifiers, which is caused primarily by refractory/slag interactions. Slag originates from impurities in the carbon feedstock, typically coal and/or petcoke, which melt and coalesce during gasification, flowing over the refractory liner in the gasifier and interacting with it. Slagging gasifier operators attempt to minimize refractory degradation by controlling slag viscosity (and interactions) through the gasification process temperature. A computer model utilizing empirical and neural network calculations was developed to predict T₁₀₀, T₂₅₀, fluid temperature, and liquidus temperature of slag compositions based on chemistry and a newly developed “similarity index”. Development of the model and its application in designing slags to minimize refractory degradation will be discussed.