Carbonization of coal

carbonization
Coal carbonization is the process for producing metallurgical coke for
use in iron-making blast furnaces and other metal smelting processes.
The process of converting coal into coke is called as carbonization of
coal.
heat treatment of coal in absence of air so that the coal decomposes
thermally .they produced

Solid fuel-coke
Liquid fuel-coal tar
Gaseous fuel-coal gas,mixture of CH4,H2,CO,CO2

COKE
Coke are the solid carbonaceous material
derived from destructive distillation of lowash, low-sulfur bituminous coal.

 Caking coals
Coal that softens and agglomerates on heating and after volatile matter has
been driven off at high temperatures; produces a hard gray cellular mass of
coke.
All caking coals are not good coking coals.

Coking coals
Coal that can be converted into useful coke that must be strong enough to
withstand handling.

Depending on the behavior of coal, when heated in the

absence of air, the coal is classified into;
(i) Non-coking coal which undergoes practically no
fusing effect and also called as free burning coal.
(ii) Coking coal which gives porous, hard and strong
residue after heating in the absence of air. The residue
is used for metallurgical purposes and is known as
coke. They are quite strong and not crushed under the
weight of ore, flux and coal in big furnaces.

Mechanism of
carbonization of
coal

LTC

HTC

 Carbonization of coal entails heating coal to temperatures as

high as 1100C in the absence of oxygen in order to distill out
tars and light oils .
A gaseous by-product referred to as coke oven gas (COG) along
with ammonia, water, and sulfur compounds are also thermally
removed from the coal.
The coke that remains after this distillation largely consists of
carbon , in various crystallographic forms, but also contains the
thermally modified remains of various minerals that were in the
original coal.
These mineral remains, commonly referred to as coke ash, do
not combust and are left as a residue after the coke is burned

CARBONISATION

LTC

MTC

HTC

(at600C) (at800-1000C) (at1000-1400C)

Low Temp.Carbonisation(LTC)
Generally used for production of soft coke or char or semi coke.
Normally it is a economical upgradation method of low rank coal like lignite.
The major products are semicoke, low temp. liquor,crude low temp.spirit and
gas.
In low temperature carbonization quantity of gaseous product is less while
liquid products are large.

In high temperature carbonization, the yield of gaseous product is more than

liquid products with production of tar relatively low

 Low temperature carbonization : It is done at a temperature off

about 500-700 C. It produces semi coke due to incomplete
carbonization of coal. The coke oven gases produced have a
lower calorific value. The tar produced is aliphatic in nature.
The coke produced is more reactive, weaker in strength and
large in size.
High Temperature Carbonization : Done at a temperature range
of 900-1100 C. It produces metallurgical coke. The coke gases
have a higher calorific value. The tar produced contains more
of the aromatics and the coke obtained is denser and less
reactive

Difference between LTC &HTC

Characteristics

Low Temperature
Carbonisation

High Temperature
Carbonisation

1. Heating temperature

500-7000C

900-1200C

2. Yield of coke

7580%

6575%

3. Volatile matter content

515%

13%

4. Mechanical strength

Poor

Good

5. Calorific value

65009500 kcal/m3

54006000 kcal/m3

6. Quantity of by-product
gases

130150 m3/tone

300390 m3/tone

7. Coke produced

Soft

Hard

8. Smoke produced

Smokeless

Smoky

9. In gas, percentage of
(a) Aromatic hydrocarbons
(b) Aliphatic hydrocarbons

Lower
Higher

Higher
Lower

10. Uses

Domestic

Metallurgy

 Commercially practised in coke oven for coke and in gas retorts

for gas.
Coke oven is of two types; (metallurgical industry)

a. Beehive type (coke completely burnt)

b. By-product slot type (coke by product obtained)

Similarly gas retorts are of three types producing coal gas;

(gas industry)
a.Horizontal type retort
b.Intermittant vertical retort
c.Continuous vertical retort

(Beehive Coke Oven)

(Horizontal Gas Retorts)

Coke Oven gas Composition

Constituents

Amount(in%)

H2

54

CH4

28

CO

7.4

N2

5.6

CO2

2.0

O2

0.4

CnHm

2.6

Gross calorific value =5020Kcal/Nm3 (dry condition)

=4450Kcal/Nm3 (wet condition)

 The commercial coke making process can be broken down into two categories:
By product coke making
A brief description of each coking process is presented here.The majority of
coke produced in the United States comes from wet-charge, by-product coke
oven batteries (Figure 1). The entire cokemaking operation is comprised of the
following steps: Before carbonization, the selected coals from specific mines
are blended, pulverized, and oiled for proper bulk density control. The blended
coal is charged into a number of slot type ovens wherein each oven shares a
common heating flue with the adjacent oven. Coal is carbonized in a reducing
atmosphere and the off-gas is collected and sent to the by-product plant where
various by-products are recovered. Hence, this process is called by-product
cokemaking.
Non- recovery coke making

Coke oven Batteries

Coke oven plant consists of Coke oven batteries containing number of oven
(around 65 ovens in each battery). The coal is charged to the coke oven through
charging holes. The coal is then carbonized for 17-18 hours, during which volatile
matter of coal distills out as coke oven gas and is sent to the recovery section for
recovery of valuable chemicals.
The ovens are maintained under positive pressure by maintaining high hydraulic
main pressure of 7 mm water column in batteries.
The coking is complete when the central temperature in the oven is around 9501000 oC. At this point the oven is isolated from hydraulic mains and after proper
venting of residual gases, the doors are opened for coke pushing. At the end of
coking period the coke mass has a high volume shrinkage which leads to
detachment of mass from the walls ensuring easy pushing.
The coke is then quenched and transferred to coke sorting plant.
The control of oven pressure is quite important because lower pressure leads to air
entry while
higher pressure leads to excessive gassing, leakage of doors, stand pipe etc.
Proper leveling of coal is important and care is taken so that free board space
above (300 mm) is maintained to avoid choking.

BRIQUETTE
A briquette is a block of flammable material used as fuel to
start and maintain a fire.
Common types of briquettes are charcoal briquettes
and biomass briquettes.
Parameter

Value

Briquette density, t/m

1.0-1.2

Heat content, MJ/Kg

19.3-20.5

Ash content, %

0.5-1.5

Briquetting
Briquetting consists in applying pressure to a mass of particles
with or without addition of binders& converting to
agglomerate.
Main objective is to convert low grade solid fuel to one of
higher quality.

(Generalised Briquetting Process)

Briquetting of Lignites
Briquetting used because of structural quality & as is
obtained as fines during mining.
Briquetting requires no binder & comparatively low pressure
suffices compaction of particles.
Some important parameters for briquetting;
Particle size

8mm(after crushing from

250mm)

Moisture

9-11%(reduced from50-56%)

Pressure

1000kg/m

Optimum temperature

70C

Briquetting of Bituminous Coal

Briquetting of fine grade coals like bituminous takes place
with binders like coal,tar,pitch,petroleum bitumen .

( Typical Briquetting Process)