Strength and hydration products of reactive MgO-silica pastes

The reaction between MgO and microsilica has been studied by many researchers, who confirmed the formation of magnesium silicate hydrate. The blend was reported to have the potential as a novel material for construction and environment purposes. However, the characteristics of MgO vary significantly, e.g., reactivity and purity, which would have an effect on the hydration process of MgO-silica blend. This paper investigated the strength and hydration products of reactive MgO and silica blend at room temperature up to 90 days. The existence of magnesium silicate hydrate after 7 days' curing was confirmed with the help of infrared spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis and X-ray diffraction. The microstructural and elemental analysis of the resulting magnesium silicate hydrate was conducted using scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive spectroscopy. In addition, the effect of characteristics of MgO on the hydration process was discussed. It was found that the synthesis of magnesium silicate hydrate was highly dependent on the reactivity of the precursors. MgO and silica with higher reactivity resulted in higher formation rate of magnesium silicate hydrate. In addition, the impurity in the MgO affects the pH value of the blends, which in turn determines the solubility of silica and the formation of magnesium silicate hydrate. © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The Deposition and Burning Characteristics During Slagging Co-Firing Coal and Wood: Modeling and Numerical Simulation

Numerical analysis was used to study the deposition and burning characteristics of combining co-combustion with slagging combustion technologies in this paper. The pyrolysis and burning kinetic models of different fuels were implanted into the WBSF-PCC2 (wall burning and slag flow in pulverized co-combustion) computation code, and then the slagging and co-combustion characteristicsespecially the wall burning mechanism of different solid fuels and their effects on the whole burning behavior in the cylindrical combustor at different mixing ratios under the condition of keeping the heat input samewere simulated numerically. The results showed that adding wood powder at 25% mass fraction can increase the temperature at the initial stage of combustion, which is helpful to utilize the front space of the combustor. Adding wood powder at a 25% mass fraction can increase the reaction rate at the initial combustion stage; also, the coal ignitability is improved, and the burnout efficiency is enhanced by about 5% of suspension and deposition particles, which is helpful for coal particles to burn entirely and for combustion devices to minimize their dimensions or sizes. The results also showed that adding wood powder at a proper ratio is helpful to keep the combustion stability, not only because of the enhancement for the burning characteristics, but also because the running slag layer structure can be changed more continuously, which is very important for avoiding the abnormal slag accumulation in the slagging combustor. The theoretic analysis in this paper proves that unification of co-combustion and slagging combustion technologies is feasible, though more comprehensive and rigorous research is needed.