Mathematic Modeling for Vegetal Coal Activation in a Rotating Cylindrical Furnace

Abstract

The activation of vegetal coal by applying physical or thermal methods is carried out under an atmosphere containing air, carbon dioxide or water vapor at temperatures ranging from 800 °C and 900 °C. This investigation was completed based on the mathematical modeling for the coal activation process in order to estimate the gas distribution and coal temperatures inside a rotating cylindrical kiln. The model consists of a system of non-lineal differential equations and equations to calculate the temperature of the cylinder internal wall and heat transfer coefficients. The 4th order Runge–Kutta method was used for the calculations. The comparison of the results obtained from modeling gas temperatures in the interior of the cylinder and the experimental data indicated that the variation is insignificant with an error margin below 5 %.

Keywords

• modelo matemático
• activación
• carbón vegetal
• horno cilíndrico rotatorio.