Carbonisation of coal Heating of coal in absence of air at high temperature to Produce a residue coke, tar and coal gas is called as ‘carbonisation. i Caking of coal When coal ts heated strongly, the mass becomes soft and ‘coherent, then itis called caking of coal. i. Coking of coal Otherwise if the mass produced is hard, porous and strong then it is called coking of coat Alll the caking coals do not form strong, hard and coherent residue coke. Hence all the caking coals are not necessarily ‘coking coal but all the coking coals have to be necessarily caking im nature.Carbonization process-Metallurgical coke-Manufacture of coke by Otto Hoffmann process. METALLURGICAL COKE, Good coke for metallurgy should possess the following requisi (®) Purity: 11 should have moisture, ash, sulphur and phosphorus contents as low as possible, A low percentage of moisture helps in Keeping down the heating expenses. Excess of ash hinders the hheating and also helps in slag formation, which is not desirable in fuels. According to Dr. Mott, 2% ‘of excess coke is required for the removal of 1 % ash. Presence of S and P gives on buming, undesirable products like SO: P,03 and P.Os, which adversely affect the quality of the metal being produced. Moreover, presence of sulphur makes the coke brittle. (@) Porosity : Coal should be porous, so that oxygen can easily come in contact with the carbon of coke, thereby helping in complete combustion at a high rate. (3) Strengths: The coke should be quite compact, hard, strong to withstand cropping abrasion as well as the pressure of the over-burden (are + fuel + flux) in the furnaces. It would be useless to employ weak coke in blast furnaces, as the weight of ore, etc., would crush the coke to breeze and thus Prevent the essential passage of gases up the furnace. (A) Size: The size of metallurgical coke should be neither too big nor too small. In case the size is too big, the uniformity of heating is never maintained, but on the other hand, if the coke size is too ‘small, choking will result. (5) Cost: Coke should be cheap and easily available near the site of the metallurgical plant, so that the tansportation cost is low. (6 Combustibitity: Coke should bum easily. The combustibility of coke depends upon the nature of the coal, carbonization temperature and reaction temperature. Cokes obtained from strongly coking coals are not as combustible as those derived from weakly caking and non-caking coals. At a given temperature, cokes obtained by high-temperature carbonization process are less combustible compared to those obtained by low-temperature carbonization. However, at high combustion temperatures (800° - 900°C), all cokes appears to be equally reactive. At about 1,000°C, it appears that the rate of combustion depends only on the rate of oxygen/air supply. (9) Calorific value: The calorific value of coke should be high. (8) Low ash, $ and P contents to avoid the incorporation of these in the metal to be extracted. (9) Reactivity to steam: Reactivity towards steam increases with the reaction temperature and varies inversely with carbonizing temperature at which the coke was produces. Moreover, coke derived ‘from non-caking coals are more reactive to steam than those derived from taking coals. Coal versus coke in metallurgical processes: (1) Coal does nor possess as much strength and porosity as cake. (@) By coking, much of undesirable sulphur is removed. (@) Coke bums with short flame, cue to expulsion of much of its volatile matter during carbonization. Because of these reasons, "coke is preferred to coal for metallurgical purposes", particularly in blastfurnaces. On the other hand, coal burns with 2 long flame, which is suitable only for reverberatory furnaces. Coking quality: The coals which on heating, in the absence of air, becomes soft, plastic and {use together to large coberent masses, ate called caking coals. Consequently, such coals are difficult to ‘be oxidized. If the residue (Le.: coke) obtained after heating is porous, hard, strong and usable for ‘metallurgical purpose, the original coal, is known as coking coal, ‘TYPES OF CARBONIZATION OF COAL ‘These are two types of carbonization of coal: (2) Low-temperature carbonization: In this process, the heating of coal is carried our at 500 - 700°C. The yield of coke is about 75-80% and it contains about 5-15% volatile matter. It is not ‘mechanically strong, so it cannot be used as a metallurgical coke. However. it bums easily giving practically a smokeless, hot and radiant fire, Hence, itis suitable for domestic purposes. The by- product gas produced (about 130-150 m3itonne) by this process is richer in heating value (about 6,500-9,500 keal’m3) and is, therefore, a more valuable gaseous Fuel. (2) High-temperature carbonization is carvied out at 900 - 1,200°C with the object of producing ‘coke of the right porosity, hardness, purity, strength, etc, so that it can be used in metallurgy. Nearly all the volatile maiter of coal is driven off and the yield of coke is about 65-75%, containing only 1- 3%6 volatile matter. The by-product gas produced is high in volume (about 300-390 m3/tonne), but its calonific value is low (about 5,400-5,000 keal/m3), MANUFACTURE OF METALLURGICAL COKE ‘The coke, for metallurgical purposes, is obtained by either of the following processes: Otto Hoffman's by-product oven: br) henge Oe trl fi oe ain pst cr sl stg tne wl Oe ptt cree Ge ct ame raion tener eae, Eten ante nectar bpm a neate ioe ate Spe esc oyreniee ean esc maeshce ‘The by-product coke oven consists of number of narrow silica chambers (each about 10 10 12 m Jong. 3 to 4 am high and 0.40 to 0.45 m wide) erected side-by-side with vertical flues in-between them to foum a sort of battery. Each chamber is provided with a charging hole at the top, @ gus off-take and a refractory-lined cast iron door at eacl ends for discharging coke. A charge consisting of finely crushed coal is introduced through the charging holes at the top of chambers, which are then closed tightly at both ends to prevent any access of air. The coke ovens are hneated to 1,200°C by burning gaseous fuel (like producer gas) and usually employing a regenerative principle to achieve as economical heating as . The flue gases produced curing combustion, before escaping to chimney, pass on their sensible heat to one of the two sets of checker brick-work, until this brick-work has been raised to a temperature of about 1,000°C. The flow of heating gases i than reversed and the inlet gases are