Measurement of coal particle combustion behaviors in a drop tube furnace through high-speed imaging and image processing

This paper presents the measurement and characterization of single coal particles in a drop tube furnace through high speed imaging and image processing. A high speed camera coupling with a long distance microscope is employed to acquire the images of the particle during its residence time in the furnace. A set of physical quantities of the particle, including size, shape and boundary roughness, are defined and computed based on the images obtained, which are then used describe the combustion behaviors of the particle. Experimental results show that the combined high speed imaging and image processing technique has provided an effective means for measuring and quantifying the characteristics of single coal particles during combustion.