Combustion of micron-sized iron particles in a drop tube reactor

Combustion of micron-sized particles of iron, a promising renewable alternative to fossil fuels, was investigated in a drop tube reactor (DTR) under overall lean conditions. A bimodal particle size distribution was observed after combustion: black micron-sized particles consisting of a mixture of iron oxides, with oxidation degrees ranging from 60% to 90%, and reddish fine particles of Fe₂O₃. The oxidation degree of the products showed no obvious variation with the reactor temperature. The coarse product particles were comparable in size with those of the raw iron particles, independent of temperature. The evaporation of iron represented a mass loss of 1%–2%. The primary nm-sized particles agglomerated to form aggregates of the order of 1μm. A simplified model for the combustion was used to analyze the results. It was based on the Particle Equilibrium Composition approach by van Gool et al. (Appl Energy Combust Sci 2023;13:100115) that assumes the oxidation from Fe to FeO to be limited by external diffusion and further oxidation by thermodynamic equilibrium. The model predicted larger oxidation degrees than observed experimentally. The difference was believed to be due mainly to stratification in the drop tube reactor, resulting in local fuel-rich conditions. The small impact of reactor temperature on the final oxidation stage indicated that diffusion limitations, rather than kinetic barriers, were rate controlling.