Hydrogen Evolution during Devolatilization To Predict Coking Potential of Metallurgical Coals

• Published in: Energy & fuels 2017-02, Vol.31 (2), p.1091-1099
• Main Authors: Biswas, Pinakpani, Panda, Jeetendra Nath, Nag, Debjani, Chougale, N, Chandaliya, V. K, Ghosh, G, Dash, Pratik Swarup, Meikap, B. C
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0887-0624; 1520-5029
• DOI: 10.1021/acs.energyfuels.6b01704

Evolution of hydrogen during the plastic state is a key parameter in coke making for the production of quality coke. Based on this phenomenon, a new devolatilization method has been developed for accessing the coking property of coals using the evolution of H2 during thermogravimetric–mass spectrometer (TG-MS) analysis. Four coals having different coking potentials, commonly used in steel industries, were considered. The investigation was performed at temperatures up to 1100 °C in an argon atmosphere under a constant heating rate of 3 °C/min to simulate the coking environment. Nonisothermal kinetics is considered as a good indication of different reaction regimes during pyrolysis, which is generally done through TGA alone. In this study evolution of H2 is used to develop nonisothermal kinetics through a new quantification approach. Finally, a definite and more generic correlation was established, based on H2 enrichment in volatiles around specific temperature zones, for measuring the exact coking behavior of coal through TG-MS analysis. This method is very robust and has the ability to predict the exact coking behavior of coal. The results are also compared with the blended coal used in plants which is in very good agreement with developed H2 enrichment correlation.