An Introduction to Coal and Its Uses

Nov 26, 2008 en.sxcoal.com

Coal is an 'Ancient Gift Serving Modern Man'. About 300 million years ago, plants and trees grew in swamps that covered much of the earth. After the vegetation died and the build-up of silt as well as other sediments, together with movements in the earths crust (known as tectonic movements) would bury these swamps and peat bogs, often to great depths. With burial, the plant material would be subjected to high temperatures and pressures generated by the tectonic forces in the earth. This would cause physical and chemical changes in the vegetation, transforming it over time into peat and ultimately into coal. To sum up, coal is the altered remains of prehistoric vegetation that originally accumulated in swamps and peat bogs. Coal formation first began about 360 million to 300 million years ago (mya), during a period which geologists referred to as the Carboniferous Period. Coal formation continued into the Permian (~300 mya), Triassic (~250 mya), Jurassic (~ 200 mya), and Cretaceous (~ 145 to ~65 mya) Periods. By some accounts, the earth is over 4.5 billion years old. Coal is classified as a nonrenewable energy source because it takes millions of years to form. The energy we get from coal today comes from the energy that plants absorbed from the sun by photosynthesis millions of years ago. After the plants die, this energy is released as the plants decay. During coal formation, however, the decay process is interrupted, preventing the further release of the stored solar energy. The type and quality of a coal deposit is determined by the temperature and pressure and by the length of time in formation. Initially peat is converted into lignite or brown coal. Over many, many more millions of years, the continuing effects of temperature and pressure, arising from the earths tectonic activities, would produce further changes in the lignite, progressively transforming it intosub-bituminous coals, generally found during the Jurassic and Triassic Periods. As we go further back in time, further chemical and physical changes would occur until these coals would become harder and blacker, forming a hard coal, or bituminous coal, generally found in the more older Permian deposits. Under the right conditions, the progressive changes would continue, finally forming anthracite. The rank of the coal is based on the degree of change undergone by a coal as it matures from peat to anthracite Lower rank coals, i.e., lignite and sub-bituminous coals are typically softer, friable materials with a dull, earthy appearance. They are characterized by high moisture levels and low carbon content, and therefore a low energy or heat value. Higher rank bituminous coals are generally harder and stronger and often have a black, vitreous luster. They contain more carbon, have lower moisture content, and produce more energy. Anthracite is at the top of the rank scale and has a correspondingly higher carbon and energy content and a lower level of moisture. After coal comes out of the ground, it typically goes on a conveyor belt to a preparation plant that is located at the mining site. A "prep" plant cleans and processes coal to remove dirt, rock, ash, sulfur, and other impurities. Removing the impurities increases the calorific value of coal. A breakdown of coal reserves on a worldwide basis Rank Lower Type of coal Lignite Sub-bituminous Higher Hard coal or bituminous anthracite % 17 30 47 52 1 53 100 WHAT ARE THE USES OF COAL 100 Total%

Coal is plentiful on earth. It is combustible. It has a relatively high energy density. It is transportable. Therefore, one of the most widespread uses for coal is as a fuel. Over 95% of the worlds total coal production is consumed by or in: power plants to produce electricity Coal is burned in large industrial-size boilers lined on the inside perimeter with water-filled steel tubes to create high-pressure, superheated steam. The steam is passed to and moves through a series of large steam turbine generators. The steam would lose its pressure and would expand in volume. In the process, the thermal energy would be converted into mechanical energy, which would turn the blades in the turbine generator to make electricity. Coal supplies about 39% of the worlds electricity. About 60% of the electricity in the U.S. and in China is from coal-fired power plants. kilns to produce cement Limestone and a mixture of certain raw materials are heated to a very high temperature in a kiln to produce a substance known as clinker. Clinker is then mixed with gypsum and ground to a fine powder to make cement. Cement, when mixed with water, sand and gravel becomes concrete and is the basic building material in the construction industry worldwide. In 2006, worldwide production of cement is over 2.5 billion metric tons. China ranks #1 in the world in cement production at 1.23 billion metric tons (2006). high-temperature coke ovens to produce coke, which in turn is used to make iron and steel. The first two commercial uses of coal (producing electricity and cement) select the type of coal to use primarily based on its heat content. Such coals are commonly referred to as either steam coal or thermal coal. Lower rank lignite and sub-bituminous coals with lower sulfur and other objectionable mineral contents are generally the coal of choice. Some lower quality bituminous coal is also used to raise steam for power generation. Steam coal prices are always indexed to its heat content. To produce coke for making iron and steel, coals thermal energy is only a small part of the decision in choosing the type of coal to use. The type and quality of the coal are the more important considerations. Good quality coke is highly sought after by iron and steel producers. In recent years, the market price for good quality coke and therefore good quality coal has escalated and buyers are paying a substantial premium for it. An understanding of coke and its role in iron and steel making would be necessary to explain the qualities to look for in a coal suitable for coke making.

Main Characteristics and Functions of Various Kinds of Coals

Oct 21, 2010 en.sxcoal.com

1.Lignite Lignite, as the lowest rank of coal, is consisted of young lignite with Pm30% and old one with Pm>3050%. It is characterized with high moisture, relatively low density, non-caking, humic acid-included, high oxygen around 15-30%. It would break down when being heated, due to its strong chemical reaction and weak heat stability, and may even breaks into pieces or slack as it is prone to weathering when being piled up in air. Lignite has low calorific value, coal ash fusion point and more CaO and less Al2O3 in its ash content.

It is mainly used to generate power at the mine-mouth, extract lignite wax, make organic fertilizer and active carbon, and produce crude oil after being added oxygen and liquefied. 2.Long-flame coal It has rather weak caking quality with the lowest metamorphism. Of that, the youngest long flame coal is easy to weathering in stockpiles because of humic acid it contained, and the old one, when being heated, will produce certain quantity of gel. Long flame coal is high in volatility and coal tar production rate. It is used as fuel for power generation, locomotives, gas-making and general boiler, in addition to low-temperature carbonization, residential use and to produce crude oil after being added hydrogen and liquefied. 3.Non-caking coal It is one type of bituminous coal from low to middle level of metamorphism as it has been oxidized in its early formation stage. Its moisture content is higher than common bituminous coal, in addition to over 10% oxygen and high fusain. In general, it will not produce gel when being heated. Non-caking coal is mainly used for power generation, locomotives, gas-making, cement production and as fuels for boilers and residents. 4.Weakly caking coal It, as a transitional coal type between coking coal and non-coking coal, and a bituminous coal from low to middle level of metamorphism, with weak caking quality. Being heated, it will produce a little gel. If used in coking plants, the coke produced has low quality and more coke powder. Weak-caking coal is mainly used for power generation, and to substitute gas coal, coking coal and lean coal as properly blended for coke-making. 5. 1/2 Medium caking coal 1/2 Medium caking coal is of medium viscidity and medium and high volatility. It can be used as the raw material for coking coal blend, and the coal for gasfication and power fuel. 6.Gas coal Gas coal is high in volatile matter, low in caking property and massive contraction, thus could form vertical cracks perpendicular to oven wall. If more gas coal is added in coking coal blends, the coke produced would be frangible and low in strength. Proper proportion of gas coal can help coke pushing, reduce swelling pressure, and improve the yield of coal gas and chemical products. 7.Gas-fat coal Gas-fat coal has the features of high volatility and viscidity. Its cokability lies between gas coal and fat coal. When coked individually, plentiful gas and liquid chemical substance will be generated. It is most suitable for producing gas by means of high temperature carbonization. Whats more, it is a qualified material for coking with coal blend. 8.Fat coal With high caking property, fat coal can help improve the caking property of coking coal blends. Coal with weak caking property could be added into coking coal blends, if fat coal is used. Meanwhile, fat coal could help improve the yield of chemical products and gas coal, mainly attributed to its high volatile matter. When fat coal is used for coking, there would be horizontal cracks in parallel with the oven wall. Therefore, coking coal blends with more fat coal, though possessing high caking property, would produce frangible coke that is inferior in coke strength.

9. 1/3 primary coking coal 1/3 primary coking coal is a transitional coal which comes in between coke, fat coal and gas coal. It is of strong viscidity and comparatively high volatility. When coked individually, it can help generate the coke of good fusion and strength. Therefore, it is deemed as the fundamental coal for coking with coal blend 10.Primary coking coal While being heated, primary coking coal can form plastic mass of good thermal stability. It could be used to produce large-size coke with less cracks and favorable abrasion resistance. The coke strength would improve, if primary coking coal is blended with coking coal blends. 11.Lean coal Though low in caking index, lean coal can help improve the mechanical strength of coke produced from coking coal blends, as it helps lower the contraction of semi-coke to reduce cracks. When excess lean coal is used, the caking property of coal blends would be extremely low. Accordingly, the abrasion resistance of coke produced would be poor, and coke fines but not quality coke would be easily produced. 12.Meager lean coal Meager lean coal is of low volatility, poor viscidity and cokability. When coked individually, large quantities of coke powder will be produced. But it can serve as the coke blend for coking. In addition, it can be used as domestic fuel and power fuel. 13.Meager coal It is one kind of bituminous coal with the highest metamorphism and non or weak caking property, hence can not turn into coke in the layered coke oven. It burns well with short flame and high calorific value. Meagre coal is mainly used as thermal coal, as well as raw material for synthetic ammonia and fuel after being gasified. 14.Anthracite As high-rank coal, it is characterized with high fixed carbon, low volatility, high density, strong rigidity, high burning point, long-time burning with no smoke. #01 is the old anthracite, represented by Beijing anthracite, #02 is the classic one, represented by Jincheng coal, and #03 is the young one, represented by Yangquan coal. Anthracite is mainly used as gas-making in chemical industry, blast furnace injection and power generation.

Brief Introduction to Coking Coal

Nov 26, 2008 en.sxcoal.com

Coking coal is a bituminous coal that can be used in the production of coke which in turn is used in the blast furnace in the production of pig iron. Coking coals are able to be softened, liquified and resolidified into hard and porous lumps when heated in the absence of air.

Coking coal when converted into coke, yields a fuel with high carbon content. High carbon content is what iron/steel manufacturers look for in a coke for a cost-effective reduction of iron ore. Besides high carbon content, a coke must be physically strong to withstand the violent reactions and the massive weight of materials above it in an oven. A coke must also be sufficiently porous to allow full reactivity with the oxygen in the hot air, while it is itself being consumed as fuel. Finally, a coke needs to have few, if any impurities. In the selection of coal as candidates as a coking coal, coke producers look for coal with low sulfur and low ash. Besides carbon, volatile matter and moisture content, sulfur and ash are the other two principal constituents in a coal. Not all bituminous coal qualifies as a good coking coal. Chinese engineers and scientists have sub-classified bituminous and sub-bituminous coal into 24 subcategories. Only three of them, designated at Jiaomei JM can be used pretty much by itself as raw material for coke making. Different types of coals can be blended to make coke. When coal is heated to a very high temperature, the heated material begins to soften and it passes from a solid state to a fluid, plastic state. As volatiles are being driven off, the material swells. With the gases liberated, the plastic mass begins to reconsolidate to become a solid material, which is coke. If coal has too much volatile material, the resulting coke would not be strong enough. The walls in a much too porous coke would be thin and weak. If the coal has too little volatiles, the resulting coke would not be porous enough to provide the necessary environment to allow a robust interaction between the carbon in the coke and oxygen in the hot air. In a traditional coke oven, it has been found that blending only works for a limited number of coal types. Higher volatile coal generally is not suitable in a traditional oven technology. High quality Jiaomei JM is harder to come by and is expensive. Industry looked for alternatives. Blending different types of coal has been an accepted practice. In China, engineers have commercialized the technology of utilizing a wide variety of blended coals in a no-byproduct, heat recovery oven to produce coke. In the latter, instead of being captured, volatiles are being burned off in an oven. The technology and design are substantially different from traditional coke oven. The difference lies in part in the oven design and in part in the heat transfer mechanism to allow a full combustion of the volatiles. To compensate for the loss of revenue from giving up the high-value by-products, heat is recovered instead for use in producing electricity.

Brief Introduction to Pulverised Coal

Nov 26, 2008 en.sxcoal.com

PCI is the short form of Pulverized Coal injection. Declining supply of quality coking coal and escalating prices of coke have led iron and steel manufacturers to seek other carbon-based products to reduce the consumption of the more expensive coke. One solution is the technology of injecting pulverized coal into a blast furnace as an auxiliary fuel to reduce the amount of coke consumed and therefore to reduce operating costs in the production of pig iron and then ultimately crude steel. The technology involves injecting very fine particles of coal at high rates into the chamber of the blast furnace as a fuel. Most modern furnaces are equipped with a coal grinding and coal injection system. In the West, early adopters of the PCI technology used higher volatile, softer sub-bituminous coals. In China, it was the opposite. Early Chinese adopters

began with very low volatile, hard anthracite. The scorecard was to find the highest possible level of coke replacement. The major incentive is cost savings. A coal grinding and injection system requires much less capital cost compared to a coke oven installation. There is also significant fuel cost savings. Nowadays, coal favored for use in PCI applications is gradually shifting from the two ends of the volatile spectrum to the middle. The type of coal most favored for PCI is the semi-anthracite with low ash and low sulfur for its high calorific values, high carbon content, and low volatiles. In the Chinese coal classification system, Pinmei PM fits those criteria. The replacement ratio of low volatile PCI coal to coke varies according to the requirements of each blast furnace, however replacement ratios are continuing to improve in favour of low volatile PCI coal. Typically, 1.0 tonne of low volatile PCI coal can replace 1.5 tonnes of more expensive coking coal. Low volatile PCI coal is increasingly sought by steel mills in preference to high volatile coal that has traditionally been used as PCI coal. Low volatile PCI coal provides superior performance in the blast furnace due to its higher carbon and energy content. The worldwide shortage of coke and its relatively high price further enhance the appeal of low volatile PCI coal.

Quality Requirement on the Coal for Industrial Use

Sep 29, 2007 en.sxcoal.com

1.The coal for coking Coking is the process of having coal heated in retort oven. With the increasing temperature (till 1000), the organic substances in coal will be gradually decompressed. In the heating process, the volatile matter will emit in the state of gas or steam and turn into gas and coal tar. What remains in the furnace is the non-volatile matter----coke which performs the function of deoxidizing and melting iron stone, providing heat energy, supporting charging and preserving air permeability. Therefore, the coal for coking is required to serve the purpose of obtaining quality metallurgical coke characteristic of high mechanical strength, homogenous lumpiness, low ash and sulfur content. State sets the special quality requirements on metallurgical coke. 2.Coal for gasfication In coal gasfication oxygen, water, carbon dioxide, hydrogen serves as media. Through thermochemical treatment, coal is turned into coal gases for various purposes. After the gasfication, gases obtained can be used as industrial and domestic fuels as well as materials for chemistry compounding. There are two ways to produce gases: fixed bed gasfication. In present-day China, it is customary to make use of anthracite and coke as gasification feed to produce synthetic ammonia gas. The requirements on the coals as raw materials are as follows: fixed carbon80%; ash content (Ag) 25%;sulfur content (SgQ)2%; the grains should be uniform2575mm, 1950mm or 1325mm; mechanical strength 65%; thermal stability S+13 60%; ash melting point (T2)1 250; volatility 9%; the more chemical reactivity is , the better. boiling bed gasfication. The quality requirements on the coals as raw materials are shown belowchemical reactivity 60%; no or a little agglomeration; ash content (Ag)25%;sulfur content (SgQ) 2%; moisture (WQ)10%; ash melting point (T2)1 200; grain grade10mm; lignite, long-flame coal and noncaking coal are mainly applied.

3.Coal for oil refining In terms of coals for oil refining, lignite and long-flame coal constitute lions share but non-caking coal and gas coal can also be used. The choice of coal depends upon the means of refining oil. Low temperature distillation: to carbonize the coal at the temperature of 550 to produce low-temperature tar and half-coked and low-temperature coke oven gas. The coals include lignite, long-flame coal, non-caking or weakly-caking coal and coal gas. The quality requirements on the coals as raw materials are shown belowthe rate of producing tar (Tf)7%; the thickness of gelatinous layer9mm; thermal stabilityS+1340%; grain grade 613mm, optimally 2080mm. hydrogenation liquefaction: to have coals, catalyst and heavy oil mingled at high temperature to break up the organic matter; then under the stimulation of hydrogen, damaged organic matter is converted into low molecular liquid or gas product; Further processing will produce such fuels as gasoline and diesel oil. The coals as raw materials are by and at large lignite, long-flame coal and coal gas. The requirements on coal are: hydrocarbonizaion (C/H)16; volatility 35%; ash content 5%; fusite content 2%. 4.Gas for fuel Any coal can serve as industrial and domestic fuels. The requirements on coal vary from one industrial sector to another. The requirements on the coal used for steam engines are rigid. In accordance with the national requirements, volatility (Vr)20%; ash content (Ag)24%; ash fusing point(T2)1 200; sulfur content (SgQ) for long tunnels and tunnels 1%; low heat value: above 2.093121072.51174107J/kg. Power plants should try their best to use low-quality coals of ash content (Ag)30%. Some large boilers can make use of coals of 30% ash content (Ag). To apply quality coals to metallurgy and chemistry engineering, China has recently popularized the use of low calorific value coals and made great progress. Low quality coals and gangue with calorific value of 8 372.5J/ kg have been utilized in average plants, of which some use the gangue which amounts to 30 % of total materials. Coals can as well serve other purposes. For instance, lignite and oxidized coal can generate humic acid manure. From lignite we can extract the montan wax for electricity, printing, precision casting and chemistry engineering. Quality anthracite can be applied to producing carborundum, carbon sand, artificial corundum, man-made graphite, electrode, calcium carbide and the fuels for injecting in blast furnace and casting. Carbon fiber made of coal pitch is one thousand times steel in terms of tensile strength. It is one of the most significant materials for developing aerospace technology. In addition, coal pitch can be adopted to produce needle coke and new-type electrode, and enhance efficiency of producing steel with electric cooker. In the final analysis, with the advance in modern science and technology, integrated utilization of coal has been developing and the field comprehensive utilization of coke is used in will surely be further expanded.