Pilot plant testing of Illinois coal for blast furnace injection. Quarterly report, 1 December 1994--28 February 1995 [report]

J.C. Crelling
1995 unpublished
A potentially new use for Illinois coal is its use as a fuel injected into a blast furnace to produce molten iron as the fist step in steel production. Because of its increasing cost and decreasing avdabiity, metallurgical coke is now being replaced by coal injected at the tuyere area of the krnace where the blast air enters. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the combustion of Illinois coal in the blast fiunace injection process in a new and unique pilot plant test facility. This
more » ... ation is significant to the use of Illinois coal in that the limited research to date suggests that coals of low fluidity and moderate to high s u b r and chlorine contents are suitable feedstocks for blast furnace injection. This study is unique in that it is the first North American effort to directly determine the nature of the combustion of coal injected into a blast h a c e . This proposal is a follow-up to one funded for the 1993-94 period. It is intended to complete the study already underway with the Armco and Inland steel companies and to demonstrate quantitatively the suitability of both the Herrin No. 6 and Springfield No. 5 coals for blast furnace injection. The main feature of the current work is the testing of lllinois coals at CANMET's (Canadian Centre for Mineral and Energy Technology) pilot plant coal combustion facility. This facility simulates blowpipe-tuyere conditions in an operating blast &ace, including blast temperature (900" C), flow pattern (hot velocity 200 d s ) , geometry, gas composition, coal injection velocity (34 d s ) and residence time (20 ms). The facility is M y instrumented to measure air flow rate, air temperature, temperature in the reactor, wall temperature, preheater coil temperature and flue gas analysis. During this quarter there were two major accomplishments. A sample of the Hemin No. 6 coal (IEI 112) was sucessfilly tested in the CANMET facility and the results of the evaluation IE3CSP samples for blast furnace injection using the CANMET computer model completed.
doi:10.2172/207580 fatcat:3a2qxlufc5erxngdserpjjqduy