The Formation Of Cenosphere

The formation of cenosphere involves four steps, namely decomposition, sintering, melting and cooling.

1. Coal-fired power plants grind coal into pulverized coal and spray it into the furnace of power generation boiler to make it suspend for combustion.

2. Most of the combustible components of coal (carbon and organic matter) burn, while the non-combustible components of clay (silicon, aluminum, iron, magnesium, etc.) begin to melt at the high temperature of 1300 ℃ in the furnace, forming a porous symbiosis of quartz glass and mullite, and its hole is filled with gas.

3. When the furnace temperature reaches 1400 ℃, the surface tension of the molten particles will reduce the surface energy to the lowest value, the edges and corners will shrink away from the surface energy, and the molten particles will float and roll to form a sphere. At this time, gases in the porous body, such as CO, CO2, N2, H2, are wrapped in the ball. When the furnace temperature continues to rise, the gas in the glass ball expands, making the ball larger and the shell thinner, forming a hollow ball.

4. When the hollow sphere leaves the furnace and cools rapidly, it becomes cenosphere with a hard shell.

The formation of cenosphere is related to many factors such as coal type, coal quality, combustion temperature and combustion mode.