CONTENTS

1. INTRODUCTION

 VSP STEEL PLANT

2. PROFILE ON "VSP"
 VERIOUS DEPARTMENTS IN BRIEF

3. COKE OVENS AND COAL CHEMICAL PLANT

 COAL AND ITS ORIGIN , TYPES , PROPERTIES
 NEED FOR MANUFACTURE OF COKE FROM COAL
 COAL CHEMICAL PLANT
 INTRODUCTION

The role of ferrous metals in general and of steel in particular in national economy is enormous.
One cannot name an economic branch where ferrous metals find no applications. The economic
power of country is determined by its output of steel, since it determines the progress in the
principle economic branches, be it mining, transport, manufacture engineering or agriculture
implements is unthinkable without steel.

An additional impetus for increasing the scope of steel manufacturers had been the vigorous
progress in chemical engineering. It has turned out that steel can be very profitable combined with
certain novel materials for instance plastic combined with stainless steel are excellent materials fore
making furniture, decorating automobiles internal lining of houses and building purposes. As a
result the manufacture of stainless steel has been appreciably increased in order to cover these new
demands in recent years. The world for the steel rises continuously and is expected to reach the
level of thousand million tons per year by the end of this century. The steel will obviously remains
the principle structural material in for seeable.

To meet the above requirements the following iron and steel companies were
established:

 Tata iron and steel company is the first ever-integrated steel plant in India in 1908 at
Jamshedpur.
 TISCO in Bihar
 IISCO in Burnapur
 Bhadravathi steel in Karnataka
 Hindustan steel plant at Bhilai, Roerkela and Durgapur
 Visakhapatnam steel plant at Visakhapatnam
 VISAKHAPATNAM STEEL PLANT

In order to increase the steel production reasonably high in the nation and remove the
regional imbalances in industrial developments, the government of India took a great step in
setting up the coastal-based steel plant of India is visakhapatnam steel plant in Andhra
Pradesh. This plant is located 16km south west of the city limits. A great emphasis has been
made on total automation, seamless integration and efficient up gradation at Visakhapatnam
steel plant. This has resulted in a great demand for Visakhapatnam steel plant product in India
and abroad which are having international standards. Visakhapatnam steel plant is considered
to be the first integrated steel plant in India to become fully ISO-9002 certified company. This
certificate covers quality systems of training and marketing functions over four regional
marketing functions and 22 stock yards located allover the country. The decision of the
government of India to set up an integrated steel plant at Visakhapatnam was announced by
the Prime Minister Smt.Indira Gandhi. The plant was inaugurated formally on 20 th January
1971 by the prime minister.

The project was estimated to the cost of rupees 3,897.28 crores based on process on
th
4 quarter of 1981 but during the implementation of VSP is has been on served that the project
cost as increased substantially over the sanctioned coast mainly due to this and the approved
concept were studied in 1986 the rationalization has basically been from the point of view of
obtaining maximum output from the equipment already installed paneled for procurement,
achieving the higher level of operation efficiency and procurement over what was envisaged
earlier under the rationalized concept. 3.0 million tons of liquid steel is to be produced in a year
and the project is estimated to cost 5,822 crores based on 4th quarter of 1987.

VSP’S FRUITFUL ACHIVEMENTS:

  It has crossed many milestones in the fields of production, productivity and exports.
 Coke rate at an order of 543kg/tonn hot metal
 Average converter life of 649 heats.
 An average of 11.5 heats per sequence in continuous bloom caster.
 Specific energy consumption of 7.51 Kcal/ton of liquid steel.

PROFILE ON "VSP"

MAJOR DEPARTMENTS IN VSP:

1. Raw materials handling plant
2. Coke ovens and coal chemical division
3. Sinter plant
4. Blast furnaces
5. Steel melt shop
6. Rolling mills
a. LMMM (Light and medium merchant mill)
b. WRM (Wire rod mill)
c. MMSM (Medium merchant and structure mill)

VARIOUS DEPARTMENTS IN BRIEF:

1. Raw material handling plant:
VSP annually requires quality raw materials like iron ore, fluxes (dolomite, limestone) coking
coal and non-coking coal. It requires 12-13 million tones of raw materials, which produce three million
tones of liquid steel. It is provided with unloading, stacking and reclaiming facilities, which include
wagon , tippler , ground and track hoppers. The various features are:

 Peripheral unloading system for railway wagons

 Blender reclaimed for blending of ores and fluxes
 Storage yards to facilitate comfortable storage and supply of raw materials
 Ring granulators for crushing of boiler coals
 PLC control of all systems
 Mixer for mixing lime is purchased and generated fines
 Cone crushers for the crushing of lump ore.
 2. Coke ovens and coal chemical division:
Coke is manufactured by heating of crushed coking coal in absence of air at a temperature of
1000c and for about 16-18 hrs. a coke oven comprises of two hallow chambers namely coal chamber
and heating chamber. In heating chamber a gaseous fuel such as gas, coke oven gas is burnt. The heat
so generated is conducted through the common wall to heat & carbonize the coking coal placed in
the adjacent coal chamber. Various features of coke oven are:

 7 mts tall coke oven batteries.

 Coke dry cooling or quenching using Nitrogen.
 Recovery of BY-Product from coke oven gas by Distillation process.
 Twin fuel gas regenerative system for power generation from coke oven gas.
 Back pressure turbine station for power generation from coke oven gas.
 Selective coal crushing.
 High productivity.
 High capacity of coke ovens.

3. SINTER PLANT:
Sinter is hard, porous ferrous material obtained by agglomeration of iron fines, coke
breeze, lime stone fines, metallurgical waste like dust, mill scale, LD slag. Usage of sinter in B.F
increase productivity by decrease in the coke rate and imposing the quality of hot metal produced.
Parameters of the machines are:

 Effective area 312 m2

 Sintering area 276 m2
 Capacity 450 m 2

 Sinter bed height 300mm

4. BLAST FUENACE:
Hot metal is produced in blast furnace, which are tall and vertical. Raw materials are Iron
Ore, Coke, Dolomite, and Limestone. It is charged from the top and hot blast at 1100c-1300c.
there are two B.F’s each with a volume of 3200m3, each with 4 tap holes and with a daily
production of 9720 tons of liquid steel. The technical parameters are:

 Effective volume 3200m3

 Capacity 4860TPD
 Height 33.1m
 Number of tap holes 4
Each furnace is facilitated with two Cast Houses, Slag Granulation Plants. There are 4 Pig
Casting Machines to handle the pig iron to cast into PIGS.

5.Steel Melt Shop:

 Steel is an alloy of iron with carbon up to 18%. Hot metal produced in B.Fcontains
impurities such as carbon (3.5-4.25%), silicon (0.4-0.5%, manganese (0.3-0.4%),
sulphur(0.04%max) and phosphorous(0.14%max). to improve the quality of steel, the
impurities have to be removed by oxidation process which is done in converter shop having 3
LD converters. Operational parameters are:
 Useful volume 133m3
 Capacity 150 tons
 Temporary Lining Tarred Dolomite
 Permanent lining Chrome magnesite
 Oxygen working pressure 16kg/cm2

5. Rolling mills:
Blooms produced in SMS-CCD do not have much application as they are. So they are
shaped into Billets, Rounds, Squares, Angles, Channels, Wire Rods, Rein Forced Bars etc. by
rolling them in 3 sophisticated high capacity, high speed, fully automated rolling mills namely
LMMM, WRM, MMSM.

a).Light and Medium Merchant Mill:

It is unique rolling mill; it consists of Billet Mill and Bar Mill. It is facilitated with 2 walking
beam furnaces of 200 TPH heating capacity and 2 stand roller hearth furnaces. The roller hearth
furnace connects the billet with bar mill.

b).Wire Rod Mill:

It is a 4-stand mill and is fully automated. The mill has 4 zone combination type pre heating
furnace of 2100 TPH capacity. The mill products include rounds and ribbed wire in size of 5.5mm-
12.7mm dia. Wire rods are made in coil from having maximum weight of 1200kg. The mill is
equipped with retarded still more lines for improving the quality of wire rods.

c).Medium Merchant & Structure Mill:

This mill is installed at ground level and has the capacity of roll 8,50,000 ton of medium
merchant products per annum. The feed materials to mill are 250mm x 250mm blooms. MMSM is
a high capacity continuous rolling mill consists of 20 stands arranged in 3 train i.e. roughing,
intermediate and finishing trains.
 COKE OVENS AND COAL CHEMICAL
PLANT

ORIGIN OF COAL:
Coal originated from the arrested decay of the remains of trees, bushes, mosses, vines and
other forms of plant life, which flourished in huge swamps and bogs millions of years ago, during
prolonged periods of humid, tropical climate and abundant rainfall. Streams into the swamps and
lake basins to form the coal beds carried an enormous amount of vegetations. Owing to pressure,
the streams have generally been crushed to an elliptical section and formed coal.

USE OF COAL IN VSP:

Coal is used in the form of coke to serve the purpose of iron ore reduction in blast furnace.
It also serves as a heat source.

TYPES OF COAL:
There are 2 types of coal:

(1) Coking Coal. (2) Non-Coking Coal.

The different coking coals used in VSP are:

1) M.C.C - Medium coking coal - BENGAL, BIHAR

2) I.C.C - Imported coking coal - AUSTRALIA
3) I.S.S.A.C - Imported coking coal - AUSTRALIA
4) SOFT - Imported coking coal - AUSTRALIA
In VSP coking coal is used for producing metallurgical coke where as non-coking coal is used for
producing thermal power (in boilers).

TYPES OF COAL AND PROPERTIES:

S.NO TYPE OF COAL % MOISTURE % ASH MEAN MAX REFLUTANC
1. M.C.C 25-28 17-22 0.9
2. I.C.C 24-26 8-10 1.10-1.3
3. I.S.S.A.C 23-25 8-10 1.16-1.3
4. SOFT 30-34 8-10 0.9-1.0

COKE:
It is a strong porous hard mass that is obtained by heating of the coal in the absence of air at high
temperature. It is a reactive fuel and satisfies the need for blast furnace.

FUNCTIONS OF COKE:
1. It acts as heat producer in blast furnace
2. It acts as reducing agent by carbon reduction in blast furnace with oxygen reaction.
3. It gives a permeable bed and also as a slag carrier.

CARBONIZATION OF COAL:
Heating of coal in the absence of air at high temperatures to produce residue coke, coke
oven gas is called “CARBONISATION OF COAL” or “DESTRUCTIVE DISTILLATION”. Its
main purpose is to produce coke and the by-product known as coke oven gas from which various
products are obtained and this is used as fuel of high calorific value.

NEED FOR MANUFACTURE OF COKE FROM COAL:

1. Natural coal is too dense and fragile to be used as a fuel in the furnace.
2. Coal is not strong enough to withstand nearly 25 mts of burden lying on it inside the
furnace.
3. Coal is nearly “VOLATILE MATTER FREE” so it does not create problems of hot
shortness and coal shortness.
4. As compared to coal coke is of high quality and is highly reactive.
5. Coke is highly porous mass and it equalizes the blast coming from the bottom of the charge.
6. As coke is a rigid hard mass it does not create the problems of dust nuscence.
7. The ASH CONTENT in coke is very low i.e.) around 10%. So it does not arise problems of
striking on the grates.
The coke oven and coal chemical plant is mainly divided into the following department:

1. Coal Preparation Plant (C.P.P)

2. Coke Oven Batteries
3. Coke Dry Cooling Plant (C.D.C.P)
4. Coke Sorting Plant (C.S.P)
Coal Chemical Plant (C.C.P)

COAL PREPARATION PLANT :

The main purpose of this plant is to prepare the coal by removing the foreign matter and
bringing to the size suitable for carbonization or coking process.

PROPERTIES:
 VOLATILE MATTER:

It is the matter which is unstable at high temperature and converts itself into
gaseous state like tar, benzene compounds etc. it is around 20-25%.

 MEAN MAXIMUM REFLUCTANCE:

It is a coal ranking. It decides the properties of coal. It is around 1.12-1.14.

 FIXED CARBON:

The carbon left behind after the removal of the volatile matter is fixed carbon.

 ASH CONTENT:

The % of ash present in coal. It can known by testing in the laboratory. It is

around 17-22 in Indian coking coal & 8-10 in imported coking coal.

 TOTAL MOISTURE:

The amount of total moisture present in coal. There lies some internal
moisture also.

CONTENTS IN 1 TON OF COAL:

 1. Coke - 746 kgs
2. Crude Tar - 32 kgs
3. Crude Benzol - 6.9 kgs
4. Ammonia - 4.1 kgs
5. CO Gas - 150 kgs
6. Losses - 61 kgs

IT CONSISTS OF FOLLWOING SECTIONS:

 Foreign material separation section.
 Dogimeters.
 Selective crushing section.
 Pneumatic separation.

1. FOREIGN MATERIAL SEPERATION SECTION:

The coking coal is taken from coal yard by using bucket elevators on the conveyors.
Then it is sent to foreign material separation section.

In foreign material separation section the following equipment exists:

1. 2 Cylindrical screens.
2. 2 Suspended iron separators.
3. 2 Self unloading suspended iron separators for separating the magnetic particles in the coal.

PROCESS:
First the suspended iron separators separate the iron particles in the coal. After it is
demagnetized, the separated coal falls on self-unloading suspended separators. it works for 19
seconds. After that coal is separated into +150 mm & -150 mm sized particles in rotary screens.
+150 mm sized particles fall in the chute and are sent back for crushing. Where as -150 mm
particles are transferred to reversible conveyors. There are further connected to shuttle conveyors
for filling the bins. There are a total of 16 bins, equally divided into 2 rows. All the odds like 1, 3, 5,
7, 9, 11, 13, 15 & the evens 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16. The capacity of each bin being 800 T and a
height of 20 mts.

Specifications of cylindrical screen:

Inclined angle - 8°

Feed end length - 1.5 m

Discharge end length - 0.8 m

 Mesh size - 150 mm

2. DOGIMETERS
These are arranged under each bin for blending the coal to produce quality of coke. Mixing
of different coals depending upon blend composition does blending of coal.

In the old dogimeters the doors at the chute were operated and coal discharge was
controlled. There occurred some jamming of coal. So vibrators were used to clear the jamming
which is removed now. In the new dogimeters the chute is made uniform and “RATE OF
DISCHARGE IS EQUAL TO SPEED AT WHICH THE ROTOR OF THE CONVEYOR
ROTATES”

3. SELECTIVE CRUSHING SECTION:

Blended coal is send to selective crushing section for crushing of coal from -150 mm to -
3mm size. In selective crushing section there are 3 primary crushers and 2 secondary crushers
for crushing the coal. First coal is crushed in primary crushers. Then crushers are connected
from 6.6 KV motors via variable speed coupling and gear box. Speed of motor is controlled
from 1000 rpm to 400 rpm by variable speed coupling in order to avoid the breakage of
crushers and sudden stoppage of crushers. In primary crushers there are 88 hammers in 12
rows of universal crushing.

Total no. of crushers - 5

Primary crushers - 3

Secondary crushers - 2

Cap. of primary crusher - 400 T/hr

Cap. of secondary crusher - 600 T/hr

No. of hammers - 88(12 rows)

Wt of each hammer - 19.7 kgs

Wt of arm - 6.0 kgs

Length of arm - 45.0 kgs

Material of construction - Nickel Chromium Steel

Rotations of hammer - 400 rpm

4. PNEUMATIC SEPERATION:
The separation and collection of required size materials by utilizing air pressure is known
as pneumatic separation. The crushed coal is subjected to pneumatic separator. There by +3mm
coal is transferred to coal towers at battery. There are 2 coal towers each with capacity of 4000 T of
coal. There are junction houses, which maintain the elevation of conveyors of different sections.

COKE OVEN BATTERIES:

Coal is converted into coke by high temperature carbonization in the ovens of the battery. There
are 3 batteries working and the Battery – 4 is being constructed for more production of hot metal.

CONSTRUCTION:
The total length of the battery is 100 mts. It consists of rectangular chambers of length 16 mts, 7
mts high and 0.14 mts width with removal door ends. Coke oven battery is a combination of ovens
and heating chambers in alternatively. There are 67 ovens and 68 heating chambers in a battery.
These ovens are OTTO-HOFFOMEN’S by-product oven type. On the roof there are metal lids for
the sake of charging purpose. The width of the coke discharge side is slightly more than the pusher
side for easy transport of coke outside. Heating flues are arranged in the walls between the ovens.
There are regenerators underneath the battery. The oven walls are lined with silica bricks of high
thermal conductivity. There is no shrinkage in the refractory walls. These bricks ensure long life.
All doors are sealed with refractory clay and water mixture.

Battery has 4 machines:

1) Pusher car
2) Charging car
3) Door extractor car
4) Loco car

PROCESS:
Coal is transported from coal preparation plant to coal tower above the battery. a charging
car travels on the battery and under the coal tower. 32 T of coal is charged in each oven up to a
height of 6.7 mts out of 7 mts by charging position in each oven. Since the coal drops by gravity, it
should be leveled which is done by a leveling bar fixed to the pusher car. After leveling all lids and
doors are replaced and coking process is continued until most of the volatile matter is removed.
This process takes a coking period of 17-18 hrs by indirect heating with coke oven gas or mixed gas
(CO gas + BF gas) in absence of air at 1150°c.
 After complete carbonization, coke oven gas is collected by hydraulic main that is connected
to the ovens, which are sent to recovery plant for cleaning of gas. Later it is sent to recovery plant
for cleaning of gas. After cleaning CO gas is recycled back to the battery for heating purpose. The
product is 1-3% moisture contained coke. Yield of coke by HIGH TEMPERATURE
CARBONIZATION at 900°c - 1200°c is 65-75%.

SPECIFICATION:
 Total no of Batteries - 3
 No of ovens in each Battery - 67
 Heating walls - 68
 Height of each oven - 7 mts
 Length of each oven - 16 mts
 Width of each oven(P/S,C/S) - 38.5 / 43.5 mm
 Heating wall thickness - 0.105 mts
 Coal charging in each oven - 34 ton’s
 Output coke from oven - 25 ton’s
 Coking period - 17-18 hrs
 Coking temperature - 1050°c

COKE DRY COOLING PLANT:

After pushing the coke from the Battery with a temperature of 1050°c, it is transferred into
C.D.C.P for cooling purpose. The C.D.C.P technology is adopted only in VISAKHAPANAM
STEEL PLANT only because in wet cooling the strength of the coke is reduced.

The advantages of DRY COOLING are:

1) Waste heat recovery (by producing steam)

2) Pollution control (done by closed circuit)
3) Better Coke strength (there is no thermal shock as in wet cooling)

PROCESS:
Coke form Battery falls into loco on the coke side, which is brought into C.D.C.P. The loco
is lifted up and coke is charged into the cooling chambers. Later the chambers are closed by lid and
N2 gas is passed inside through a temperature of 55°c by a mill fan. The hot coke is cooled from
1050°c to 180°c-200°c. There occurs no chemical reaction, as N2 is an inert gas. The heated gas is
utilized for producing steam in boilers. These boilers are water tube boilers, which are of capacity
25 T/hr. the temperature and pressure of the steam, are 440°c and 40 Kg/cm2. Cooled coke i3s
convey6ed to C.S.P and the steam is used to run back pressure turbine station for producing power
of 15 MW.

SPECIFICATIONS OF C.D.C.P:
  No of C.D.C.P - 3/3 Batteries
 No of chambers - 4 Chambers/each C.D.C.P
 Capacity of each C.D.C.P - 50-52 T/hr
 Coke temp before cooling - 1050°c
 Coke temp after cooling - 180°c-200°c
 Coolant used - N2 gas
 Dry coolant temperature - 55°c

COKE SORTING PLANT:

Coke from C.D.C.P enters the C.S.P section. Here coke is crushed, screened and later conveyed to
different consumers.

PROCESS:
In C.S.P dust will be removed from the coke with the help of dedusting fans. After that coke is
sent to crushing section to crush into 80mm size particles. There B.F coke (25-80mm) is separated
through 14- roll screen and sent to Blast Furnace. The remaining 0-25 mm fractions will be sent to
vibrating screen. Here 0-10 mm particles called BREEZE COKE is conveyed to Sinter Plant and
10-25 mm called NUT COKE to Blast Furnace.

COAL CHEMICAL PLANT

Many by products are extracted from the coke oven gas at this department. It consists of the
following sections:

1. Exhauster house.
2. Ammonium sulphate plant.
3. M.B.C plant.
4. Tar distillation plant.
5. P.C.L.A
6. Naphthalene fraction crystallization.
7. Benzol plant.
 Benzol distillation plant.
 Hydro refining.
 Extractive distillation.
 PRIMARY GAS COOLER
The coke oven gas from the separator is fed to the PGC from the top. The cooler consists of three
zones. This is a shell and tube heat exchanger in which the CO gas exchanges with service water in
the top two zones and with chilled water in the bottom zone the tubes are inclined in all the zones.
The inclination is maintained at 15°c with the horizontal. This provides any naphthalene
condensate to drain easily. The main purpose of PGC is to cool the gas from 90°c to 30°c.

During this cooling process the naphthalene and traces of tar present in the gas condense and
this is collected at the bottom of the PGC. The liquid collected at the bottom is sent to the seal pot
by gravity. The level in the seal pot should be maintained constant as this acts as a seal to the gas in
the cooler.

Tar at a temperature of 90°c is flushed from the top of the cooler to remove the condensed
naphthalene on the tubes. The tar is then collected at the bottom in the seal pot. Tar and
naphthalene from the seal pot is fed to the storage tank of the CPH. The CO gas from the bottom of
the PGC is fed to the electrostatic precipitator.

Gas temperature before PGC 80-95°c

Gas temperature after PGC 27-30°c

Service water inlet temperature 32-33°c

Service water outlet temperature 43°c

Gas condensate flow to each PGC 10-15 Nm3/hr

Chilled water inlet temperature 11-12°c

Chilled water outlet temperature 20°c

Total number of tubes 409

ELECTROSTATIC PRECIPITATOR:
The CO gas enters the ESP from the bottom. Electrostatic precipitators are cylindrical vessels
with a conical bottom. Each ESP is provided with a seal pot. A round disk having electrodes in
suspended state is present inside the precipitator. Electrodes are nothing but SS metal rods. Three
are present at the top of precipitator, which supplies the necessary power to each ESP. high voltage
of about 50,000 volts is supplied to each electrode. Due to high voltage the fine and foggy tar get
sticked to the walls of the electrodes and they fall down due to gravity. The liquid thus collected at
the bottom is fed to the seal pot. Each electrode is covered to prevent the connection between any
two electrodes.

Capacity 30,000 Nm3/hr

Voltage 70KV

Number of electrodes 148

ESP insulator boxes temperature 80°C

EXHAUSTERS:
These are centrifugal fans necessary to drive the gas from the batteries itself to various plants
like ASP. Benzene recovery and finally to the main header of the coke oven gas. Exhauster sucks
the CO gas from the batteries. The pressure at the suction side of the exhauster is -350mm WC and
the discharge side is +2500mm WC. Due to increase in the pressure the temperature is increased to
55-60°c.

The flow of gas is controlled by Askania valve, which is a butterfly valve. The function of this
valve is to control the flow of gas to the exhauster. When the quantity of gas is low then the valve is
closed and when the gas quantity is high valve is opened. If any condensate is collected and when
the gas lines and sent to the storage tank of the condensate pump house.

Capacity 67,000-76,000Nm3/hr

Power 1250KW

Maximum suction at inlet 500mm WC g

Maximum pressure at delivery 2700mm WC g

CONDENSATE PUMP HOUSE:

Flushing liquor separated from the separators is fed to the condensate pump house. This
consists of decanters and storage tanks. The tar and flushing liquor collected from the exhauster
house is stored in the storage tanks.

DECANTERS:
Decanters are used to settle the flushing liquor by gravity. These are mechanical decanters
provided with scraper mechanism. This scraper is a chain like arrangement provided at the
bottom. The flushing liquor is fed at the middle of the decanter. In decanters due to density
difference, flushing liquor, tar & sludge form as three layers from top, and the flushing liquor is
then sent to the storage tanks.

A telescopic valve provided to the decanter removes the tar settled in the middle layer. The
valve works on the principle of ‘U’ tube manometer. Sludge removed by scraper mechanism
provided at the bottom of the decanter. The scraper then dumps the sludge into a bunker provided
at the end of the scraper. A motor provided with a gearbox runs the scraper. The sludge from the
bunker is removed periodically.

Tar collected from the flushing liquor decanter is stored in the tar storage tanks. Then it is
pumped to tar decanters. The tar from the tar decanters contains less moisture and sludge.
Flushing liquor from the decanter is stored in the storage tank and again pumped to batteries. If
the flushing liquor is excess then 60% is sent to excess flushing liquor tanks.

AMMONIUM SULPHATE PLANT

Coke oven gas with a pressure of 2500mm WC from exhauster is fed to the ASP. Ammonia present
in the CO gas is recovered in ASP as ammonium sulphate fertilizer.

PROCESS:
The CO gas from the exhauster is fed to the pre-heater to preheat the gas to 60-70°c. But
according to our atmospheric temperature, this temperature is obtained after the exhauster. So the
gas is directly fed to the saturator.

SATURATOR:
Saturator is a cylindrical vessel with conical bottom. It is provided with a bubbler hood,
which is duct prolonged to the middle of the saturator. The duct has a hood at the bottom provided
with vanes like arrangement. Another ring like structure with small openings is provided at the
conical portion, which is used for nitrogen feeding. Hot water rings are provided at the top of the
saturator. Saturator is always maintained with acid bath called mother liquor, which contains 4-
5% of sulphuric acid.

The CO gas enters through the bubbler hood which is dipped in the bath. The gas rises through the
mother liquor. During this period, the ammonia present in the gas reacts with the sulphuric acid in
the liquor.

NH3 + H2SO4 NH4 (HSO4)

 NH4 (HSO4) + NH3 (NH4)2SO4

Ammonium sulphate thus formed settles at the bottom of the saturator. Pure nitrogen is
purged into the saturator through N2 rings at 4-5 kg/cm2. N2 purging increases the crystal growth.
Pure sulphuric acid (98%) is fed to the saturator to maintain the acidity in the saturator. The gas
collected at the top of the saturator is fed to the acid trap. As the gas rises up, some of the crystals
may be carried with the gas and they get stacked to the walls of the saturator at the top. Then the
hot water is sprayed to the rings provided. The crystals attached to the walls of the saturator are
washed away. When hot water is sprayed the concentration of the liquor decreases. So inlet acid
concentration increases to 6-7% at that period. After the reaction mother liquor is continuously
drawn to the circulating tank provided at the side of the saturator. This acts as a seal for the
saturator. From the circulating tank, mother liquor is fed to the mother liquor tank. The crystals
collected at the bottom are fed to the crystal receiver tank by using pump.

ACID TRAP:
The outlet gas of the saturator carries some acid mist. In order to remove the acid mist, the
gas is sent to the acid trap. It is a hollow cylindrical vessel. The coke oven gas from saturator enters
tangentially to the trap. Due to the centrifugal motion, the acid mist gets separated. The acid
collected a the bottom is fed to the circulating tank. The CO gas is fed to the Benzol recovery.

CRYSTAL RECIEVER TANK:

Ammonium slurry from the bottom of the saturator is pumped to the crystal receiver tank
with conical bottom. The ammonium sulphate crystal settled at the conical portion of the tank,
which is wet with liquor. The mother liquor from the top of the receiver is fed to the saturator. The
slurry from the bottom is fed to the centrifuge.

CENTRIFUGE:
Centrifuge is a horizontal cylindrical structure having two drums inside it. One drum moves
with rotary motion and the other in reciprocating motion. The feed enters at the center of the
rotation drum through pipe known as cone pipe. Crystals present in the slurry are separated by the
centrifugal force of the rum. Hot water is sprayed into the centrifuge to wash of the free acidity that
is the acid layer on the crystal.

The cleaned crystal is discharged into the outer drum which is reciprocating. The
reciprocating drum pushes the material into the discharge chute. The liquor seper4ated is then sent
to the saturator. The discharge chute of crystals opens onto a conveyor.
DRIER:
Drier is fluidized bed type. The principle is based on the loose materials property to acquire
fluidity in the airflow under a definite air velocity. The crystal from the centrifuge contains some
amount of moisture. To remove this moisture crystals are to be dried. The drier is provided with a
screen at the bottom, ceramic rings are arranged at the bottom of the screen. The drier is provided
with forced draught fan and air, heated in the duct. A spreader at the feed chute of the drier
spreads the feed in all directions.
Forced draught fan sucks the atmospheric air and feeds to the drier. The discharge
chute of the fan is divided into 2 sections. One for hot air and the other for cold air. The hot air
duct is provided with a steam heater. The air is heated to 120-150°c by using steam and this hot air
is fed form the bottom of the screen. The ceramic rings distribute the air in all directions and allow
the crystals in fluidized state. The temperature of the air is sufficient the moisture of the crystals. At
the discharge end of the drier, cold air is passed which cools the crystals.

When the pressure level of the fluidized bed reaches the set point (300-400 mmWc) an automatic
discharge feeder discharge the dry ammonium sulphate to the bucket elevator .The elevator
discharges the dry product into the bunker, which in turn feeds the product to the bagging
machine. The zone above the fluidized bed is kept under 5-10 mmWc in order to avoid carryover of
the ammonium sulphate particles out of the dr4ying unit to the dust catcher.

CYCLONES:
The air form the drier is sucked by the suction fan and fed to the cyclone separators.
Cyclone separators separate fine ammonium sulphate crystals in the air and feed to the bunker.
The air from the cyclones is fed to the dust collecting tank which contains flushing liquor up to
certain level. The dust – laden air is then fed to the bottom of the tank. The crystals then dissolved
in the water and the air is vented into the atmosphere.

MOTHER LIQUOR TANK:

The excess liquor from the saturator enters the mother liquor tank. Each saturator is
provided with two mother liquor tanks. One is vertical and the other is horizontal. First the liquor
enters the horizontal tank. As the liquor has less density than the tar it floats. Then the clear
mother liquor from the bottom is fed to the vertical tank. Form the bottom of the vertical tank
mother liquor is fed to the saturator through the pumps provided. The concentration of the liquor
is maintained 10-12%. If the concentration decreases, the density of the liquor decreases and it may
be contaminated. Then crystals may become back.
AMMONIA COLUMN:
During carbonization of coal ammonia gets vaporized and flows along with flushing
liquor in gas collecting mains, a little amount of ammonia gets absorbed in flushing liquor. The
excess ammonium liquor after separation of tar, containing free and fixed ammonia, phenols,
pyridine bases and cyanides, rodents are pumped to the fourth plate of the ammonia column for
distillation of free ammonia.

The column consists of 24 bubble cap trays. 40% of liquor level is maintained in the column. Steam
is injected at the bottom by steam coils. The purpose of steam is to supply the necessary heat
required for distillation. As the liquor is distilled, free ammonia present in the flushing liquor
evolves and rises tot the top of the column. The distilled liquor from the bottom of the column is fed
to the pitch tank. Certain level of the flushing liquor is maintained in the tank and the over flow
from the tank is fed to the M.B.C Plant for treatment. The pH of the flushing liquor at the
discharge end of the column should be 7-7.5 and the free ammonia should be less than 50 PPM.

(NH4)2S 2NH3 + H2S

NH4CN NH3 + HCN

(NH4)2CO3 2NH3 + CO2 + H2O

NH4HCO3 NH3 + H2O + CO2

NH4HS NH3 + H2S

The ammonia vapors collected at the top of the column are fed before primary gas coolers.
The gases are not fed to the saturators directly as the temperature of the vapors is high and
secondly the vapors contains not only ammonia but also some traces of rhodonides and cyanides.

These chemicals should not be present in the ammonium sulphate fertilizer. To remove some
content of fixed ammonia in the liquor, dilute NaOH solution is injected at the inlet of the ammonia
column. The NaOH reacts with the fixed ammonia compounds and forms as ammonia gas.

Capacity 25m3/hr

Total trays 24

Types of trays Bubble cap

Working pressure 0.5 atm

Steam pressure 6 atm

Flow rate of liquor 25m3/hr

Ammonia content before column 4 g/lit

 Ammonia content after column 50 mg/lit

Temperature of vapors at outlet 105°c

Level in the column 40-50%

Steam flow rate 3-3.5 ton/hr

PH of liquor after column 7-7.5

TAR DISTILLATION PLANT

Tar is a viscous fraction obtained by the cooling of coke oven gas with ammonia
liquor. During this cooling coke dust particles mixed with liquor and forms coal tar. It consists of
large chain aromatic compounds, which can be distilled into light oils, phenols, naphthalene oil,
wash oil and pitch. Coal tar in coke oven gas is collected from CPH and final gas a cooler of benzol
recovery is transferred to tar and oil storage. From there it is pumped to mechanized decanter in
tar distillation plant.

COMPOSITION OF COAL TAR COMING TO TDS:

Light oil 0.5%

Phenol fraction 1-1.5%

Naphthalene 5-6%

Wash oil 8-9%

Anthracene oil 18-19%

Moisture 5-6%

Pitch 55-60%

PROCESS:
The tar from the condensate pump house is fed to the tar and oil storage of the TDP. The
tar to the tar distillation section is fed from the tar and oil storage tanks. This tar contains 5% of
moisture, which can be removed in the decanters.
DECANTERS:
The tar from the TOS is fed to the decanters. It is provided with a scraper conveyer to
remove the sludge collected at the bottom and transferred to a bunker in the decanter small
quantities of water and flushing liquor collects at the top of layer which are continuously removed.

The tar from the decanters flows through two strainers to remove suspended matter to a
common suction header of liquor plunger pumps for first stage. A plunger pump consists of three
piston, suction and delivery valves, which pump with high pressure. Tar initially consists chloride
salts and acid, which causes corrosion and damages the piping present in the furnace and the plant.
To prevent the soda ash solution of 8% concentration is injected at the suction side of the pumps.

2NH4Cl + Na2CO3 ---------- 2NaCl + 2NH3 + CO2 + H2O

2HCl + Na2CO3 ---------- 2NaCl + H2O + CO2

The ammonia formed from the above reactions vaporizes along with water vapor and
light oils.

FURNACE:
It consists of two zones one is convection zone and the other is radiation zone. Furnace
is having four burners where CO gas is used as fuel. Air draught is taken from the bottom of the
furnace. The tar from the filter is pumped to convection zone, which is at the top of the furnace.
Here the temperature increases to 120-130°c. Controlling the airflow can control the flame length
more the air longer the flame and vice versa. This arrangement helps in controlling the
temperatures of tar in both the zones.

In radiation zone dehydrated tar is circulated which is pumped from second stage
plunger pumps. The temperature of the tar is increased to 400°c. The temperature of the tar should
not increase beyond 400°c as this cause the formation of B.F grade pitch.

The flue gas from the furnace is sent to the atmosphere through the chimney. It is
provided with a baffle plate in order to assure complete combustion of the gas.

I STAGE EVAPORATOR:
Evaporator is a cylindrical vessel having baffle plates, which change the direction of
gases. Evaporator is designed for the evaporation of water and light oils from the crude tar, which
are fed at the middle of the evaporator. The temperature of the tar at the inlet is about 120-130°c.
Due to this temperature, the moisture in the tar is evaporated. These vapors from the top of the
evaporator are fed to the twin condensed coolers. From the bottom dehydrated tar having less than
2% moisture is fed to the dehydrator tar tank and pumped to the radiation zone of the furnace.

Pressure in the evaporator 0.3 kg/cm2

Temperatures of vapors 102-105°c

Temperature of DTT <110°c

Baffle plates 3

DEHYDRATED TAR TANK:

Tar from the evaporator is fed to the DTT tank, which is used as a intermediate
storage. The tank is always maintained 100% and the over flow tar from the DTT is fed to the
decanter4. Tar is fed to the II stage tar pump from the bottom of the DTT. The pump discharges
this tar to the radiation zone of the furnace where it is heated up to 380-400°c. This tar is fed to the
second stage evaporator at the rate of 10 m3/hr.

II STAGE EVAPORATOR:
In second stage evaporator oil vapors and pitch are separated. Dehydrated tar from the
radiation zone is fed to the evaporator. Two baffle plates are arranged below the vapor inlet and
five above the vapor inlet. Four bubble cap trays are also arranged at the bottom of the evaporator.
This arrangement completely separates tar fraction form pitch. A protective plate is also installed
as in first stage evaporator. The oil vapors from the top of the evaporator are fed to the distillation
column. The tar at the bottom of the evaporator is called as pitch and is supplied to the pitch
cooling section.

Pressure in the evaporator 0.5 kg/cm2

Number of bubble cap trays 4

No. of baffle plates 7

Temperature of the fractions 400°c

DISTILLATION COLUMN:
Fractionating column is designed to separate different fractions from tar. The column
is provided with 59 trays out of which 56 are bubble cap trays and the remaining three baffle
plates. Each tray has 42 bubble caps. Mixed oil vapors from the top the second stage evaporator are
fed to the third tray of the fractionating column at a temperature of 360-380°c.
 As the vapors rises to the top of the column different fractions are obtained from
different trays. Initially vapors enter at about 360-400°c. Pure light oil is supplied as reflux to the
top plate rectification column to maintain top temperature of the column. Reflux is fed as the top
temperature increases. All the fractions are continuously drawn from the column. The vapors,
which are not condensed are collected from the top of the column and fed to the twin condenser
cooler of the second stage.

LIGHT OIL:
Light oil is obtained from the column, which is lighter than all of the fractions the top
temperatures of the column are maintained at 100°c. The light oil consists of phenol and phenol
containing water (PWC). The light vapors are cooled in twin condensed coolers and fed to the
separator II.

PHENOL:
Phenol fraction obtained is not in pure state at 160-180°c. It contains 22% phenol and
10-15% naphthalene. Three tapings are provided on 44.46 and 48 trays.

NAPHTHALENE:
Naphthalene fraction can be trapped from 24, 26, 28 and 30 trays. It is obtained at a
temperature of 190-200°c. Steam jacketed lines are provided because decrease in temperature
results in crystallization of naphthalene.

WASH OIL:
There 5 tapping for wash oil on 12, 14, 16, 18, and 20. Normally wash oil will be tapped
at a temperature of 280-290°c. It is tapped from 6 & 8 trays. Anthracene II is heavier than all
fractions. So it is obtained from 1 st or 2 nd trays at 320-330°c.

TWIN CONDENSED COOLERS I & II STAGES:

These are shell and tube heat exchangers to condense the vapors. First stage coolers
condenses the gas coming from I stage evaporator and the II stage cooler condenses the gas leaving
the column. The vapors pass through the shell and service water is used to cool the vapor passing
through the tube side. The vapors of I stage cooler are cooled from 102-50°c. The vapors of second
stage coolers from 100-40°c. After condensation the vapors from both I & II stage condensers enter
into separators I & II respectively.

SEPERATORS I &II:
Separators are used to separate light oils from other fractions (NH 3 water and phenolic
water) obtained form the top of the first stage evaporator and distillation column in separator I &
II respectively. Light oil obtained from the top the two separators flow to light oil tanks by gravity.
At the bottom of the separator I ammonia water will be settled and a the bottom of the separator II
phenolic water will be settled. Both of them are removed through dip tubes to prevent light oil
mixing with them.

SUBMERGED COOLERS:
Submerged coolers contain a coil inside the coolers through which the fractions from
the column are passed. This coil is submerged in the water. The vapors are cooled from 80-50°c are
sent to the collected tanks.

START UP TANK:
During initial starting of the plant, the temperature of the tar does not reach up 400°c
in second stage evaporator will be diverted to start up tank until it reaches the temperature of 290°c
similarly column bottom liquid will also be diverted to start up tank until the temperature of the
column reaches to 330°c. Tar then overflows to the decanters.

USES OF DIFFERENT TAR FRACTIONS:

LIGHT OIL:
 It can be further processed to produce crude tar basis can be used to prepare pyridine
and heavy basis. Light oil can be fractionized to produce small amounts of benzene, toluene, xylene
and heavy solvent naphtha.

PHENOL:
 It is mainly used in plastic industry.
 In thermosetting resins made with formaldehyde.
 In pesticides preparation.
 Insecticides and pharmaceuticals.
NAPHTHALENE:
 Used in manufacturing of pthallic anhydride.

ANTHRACENE:
 It is purified to produce pure anthracene.
 It is used to produce carbozole and phenanthracene.

PITCH:
 Pitch cake.
 Industrial pitches.
 Road tar.
 Refined tar.

PARAMETERS:

TEMPERATURES:

Tar in decanters 75-80°c

Tar after first stage furnace 120-130°c

Tar after DTT 100°c

Vapors from first stage evaporator 105-110°c

Tar after II stage furnace 380-400°c

 Vapors after II stage evaporator’s 300-330°c

Pitch after II stage evaporator 330-350°c

Distillation column top temperature 100°c

FLOW:
Tar in first stage 9-10 Nm3/hr

Tar in second stage 10 Nm3/hr

ANALYSIS:
Water content in I stage tar 5-6%

Water content in II stage tar <1%

PRESSURES:
Tar after I stage pump 2.3 kg/cm2

Tars after II stage pump 4.5 kg/cm2

CO gas before furnace >100 mm WC

I stage evaporator top 0.14-0.5 kg/cm2

I stage evaporator bottom 0.24-0.25 kg/cm2

II stage evaporator top 0.35 kg/cm2

II stage evaporator bottom 0.4 kg/cm2

Distillation column top 0.04-0.06 kg/cm2

Distillation column bottom 0.28-0.3 kg/cm2

 CONCLUSION

The above matter describes the main features of the majority of coke oven by-product plants
around the world. Coal properties and plant design and operation influence the actual quantities.

Blast Furnace , the mother unit of any steel plant require huge quantities of strong, hard and
porous solid fuel in the form of hard metallurgical coke for supplying necessary heat for carrying
out the reduction agent. At VSP there are four Coke Oven Batteries, 7 meter tall and having 67
ovens each. Each oven is having a volume of 41.6 cu. meter & can hold upto 31.6 tonnes of dry coal
charge. There are 4 Coke Dry Cooling Plants (CDCP) each having 4 cooling chambers. Nitrogen
gas is used as the cooling medium. The heat recovery from nitrogen is done by generating steam
and expanding in two back pressure turbines to produce 7.5 MW power each.

The Coal chemicals such as Tar (& its products), Benzole (& its products), Ammonium Sulphate
etc. are extracted in Coal Chemical Plant from C.O. gas. After recovering the coal chemicals the gas
is used as a by-product fuel by mixing it with gases such as BF gas, LD gas etc.
 REFERENCES

 en.wikipedia.org/
 Data from the in charge officers.
 VSP website: https://www.vizagsteel.com/index.asp
 www.google.com