煤炭地下气化腔扩展规律研究:进展与挑战

Cavity Growth in Underground Coal Gasification: Advances and Challenges

  • 摘要: 煤炭地下气化(Underground Coal Gasification,UCG)是一项极具应用前景的煤炭清洁高效利用技术,其规模化开发有望缓解我国“富煤、贫油、少气”的资源禀赋与日益增长的低碳能源需求之间的矛盾。气化过程中,煤炭被原位转化为燃料气体并形成气化腔,气化腔的扩展不仅决定了合成气产出与资源回收率,更关系到工程运行安全及环境影响。揭示气化腔扩展机制与控制规律是实现原位气化炉高效、稳定运行的关键前提。综述了国内外学者在气化腔形态、结构及其扩展过程方面的研究认识,系统归纳了扩展控制因素并理清其作用机制。研究表明,气化腔通常沿注气井至生产井方向呈对称形态,受传质作用控制,腔体内径向生产井逐渐收缩。在轴向上,气化腔根据反应类型可划分为氧化区、还原−热解区和干燥区;径向上,则根据有机碳含量与水分含量差异划分为灰分区、干煤区与湿煤区。腔体扩展本质上是传热、传质、反应动力学与煤岩热机械行为共同作用的复杂结果,并受工艺参数与地层条件共同控制。此外,还总结了气化腔扩展研究的常用方法,指出数值模拟是当前研究的重要手段,然而限于对煤岩热机械行为的系统认识不足,缺乏可靠的定量数据和经验方程,气化腔实际形态的精确预测仍面临挑战。未来应通过物理模拟实验系统研究不同工况下的煤岩热机械行为,揭示其与工艺参数和地质条件之间的关联机制,从而为准确模拟气化腔扩展、实现原位气化炉经济、安全、高效运行提供理论支撑。

     

    Abstract: Underground Coal Gasification (UCG) is a highly promising technology for the clean and efficient utilization of coal. Its large−scale development is expected to effectively alleviate the contradiction between China’s resource endowment—characterized by being abundant in coal yet relatively scarce in oil and natural gas—and its growing demand for low−carbon energy. During the gasification process, coal is converted in situ into fuel gas, forming a gasification cavity. Its growth governs syngas production and resource recovery efficiency, and crucially determines operational safety and environmental impact. Therefore, elucidating the growth mechanisms and control laws of gasification cavity is a foundational prerequisite for achieving stable and efficient operation of in situ gasifiers. This paper reviews domestic and international research on the morphology, structure, and growth process of gasification cavities, systematically summarizes the factors influencing cavity growth, and clarifies their underlying mechanisms. Studies indicate that the gasification cavity generally exhibits a symmetrical morphology along the direction from the injection well to the production well, with the cavity gradually tapering radially toward the production well controlled by mass transfer. Axially, the cavity can be divided into the oxidation zone, reduction−pyrolysis zone, and drying zone based on reaction types; radially, it is categorized into the ash zone, dry coal zone, and wet coal zone according to differences in organic carbon content and moisture content. Cavity growth is essentially a complex outcome of heat transfer, mass transfer, reaction kinetics, and the thermo−mechanical behavior of coal rock, jointly influenced by process parameters and geological conditions. Furthermore, this paper summarizes common research methods for studying cavity growth and highlights numerical simulation as a crucial tool in current research. However, due to limited systematic understanding of the thermo−mechanical behavior of coal rock and a lack of reliable quantitative data and empirical equations, accurately predicting the actual morphology of the gasification cavity remains challenging. Future work should focus on systematically investigating the thermo−mechanical behavior of coal under various working conditions through physical simulation experiments, revealing its correlation with process parameters and geological conditions. This will provide theoretical support for accurately simulating cavity growth and achieving economical, safe, and efficient operation of in situ gasifiers.

     

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