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Discussion on the Application of Blast Furnaces with Wide Carbonization Chambers in China

2009-03-21View Original

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The resource conditions of coking coal are key to ensuring the quality of coke; therefore, the process design of coke ovens must take these resource conditions into account. Regarding China’s coking coal resources, it has long been believed that they are abundant and diverse in variety, but the reality is not so. Recently, it was learned from the **resource exploration and coal sector that the previously reported total proven coal reserves in our country amount to slightly over 1 trillion tons, of which coking coal reserves total more than 270 billion tons. However, due to various factors such as burial depth, current mining technology, and coal quality, assessments in recent years indicate that, for a considerable period to come, the actual recoverable coal reserves will range from 110 to 190 billion tons. Of this amount, only 66 billion tons are coking coal, which represents about 24% of the originally estimated reserves – a reduction of 3/4. Among the originally proven reserves, the proportion of each type of coal is 23.61% for coking coal ; Fatty coal, fatty gas coal: 12.8% ; Bituminous coal, l/3 coking coal 45.73% ; Lean coal and poor lean coal: 15.89%. Among all coking coal reserves, only a small proportion consists of coal with good cohesiveness; most of it is gas coal with poor cohesiveness. The ash and sulfur content of bituminous coal in our country is lower than that of coking coal and fat coal, and its washability is also better than that of coking coal and fat coal. Therefore, in terms of the ash and sulfur content of washed coking coal, bituminous coal is superior to coking coal and fat coal. The ash and sulfur content of washed coking coal is lower than that of bituminous coal and fat coal. Geographically, the distribution is also extremely uneven; 56% of the proven reserves of coking coal are located in Shanxi Province, followed by Anhui Province with 8.5%, Shandong Province with 6.1%, Guizhou Province with 3.6%, Heilongjiang Province with 3.5%, and Hebei Province with 3.3%. The combined share of other provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government is less than 20%. In Shanxi Province, coking coal and fat coal each account for about 45% of the proven reserves. In summary, it can be concluded that China’s coking production should rely on process technologies that make use of gas coal and other types of coking coal. The width of the coking chamber has an impact on the quality of coke; in particular, it significantly affects the quality of coke produced from different types of coking coal. The Anshan Thermal Energy Research Institute, as well as countries such as Japan, have conducted relevant experiments, and the findings indicate that when the width of the coking chamber exceeds 500 mm, it has a significant impact on the quality of coke produced from coaling ores of different properties. That is, coke produced from coal with good adhesiveness exhibits excellent performance in all relevant parameters ; In coal materials with poor cohesion, the porosity and average pore diameter of the resulting coke increase, while the pore walls become thinner, which leads to reduced wear resistance (M.). ) and the microstrength deteriorates, with a tendency for strength to decline as well after thermal treatment. The mechanism underlying the use of coal with poor adhesiveness can be attributed to the fact that, in a wide carbonization chamber, as the carbonization process progresses, the coal located further away from the furnace walls – especially that in the central area – experiences a slower increase in temperature. Its softening and melting range becomes narrower, its expansion properties deteriorate, and the gaps between the coal particles are not sufficiently filled with colloids, resulting in an increased gas pore volume and thinner gas pore walls. In particular, when the coking time is long, the final dry distillation temperature in the center of the coke cake is low, resulting in a larger difference in the holding time between the center and the areas near the furnace wall; this in turn increases the unevenness in the quality of the coke. In the narrower carbonization chamber, coal with poor cohesion, due to rapid heating, results in an increased rate of production of pyrolysis products; this leads to a larger amount of non-volatile liquid phase. Before these substances can leave the surface of the coal, they further react to form liquid compounds with higher molecular weights, which then fill the spaces between the coal particles. This process ultimately results in the formation of a solid structure, yielding coke with good cold strength properties. Research and practice on coke for large blast furnaces in recent years have shown that coke produced from gas coals with poor caking properties has a high degree of isotropy in its optical structure; under alkaline conditions in the blast furnace, its resistance to CO1 erosion is better than that of coke formed from coals with strong caking properties. Therefore, by using an appropriate amount of bituminous coal, the coke produced in coke ovens with a suitable width of carbonization chambers can also have its thermal reactivity (CSI) and strength after reaction (CSR) maintained at a certain level, to meet the requirements of the blast furnace ironmaking process. The technical parameters currently used in China to evaluate coke quality, such as MM, CSI, and CSR, are all determined under alkali-free conditions; however, under the alkaline conditions present in blast furnaces, some of these parameters change. Due to a lack of domestic resources, Japan has to import the vast majority of its coking coal. As coal with high caking properties is expensive, Japan tries to use as much coal with lower caking properties in its blend coal. This blend coal has a relatively high volatile matter content, yet it still meets the quality requirements for coke in large blast furnaces. The CIS **(former Soviet Union) has abundant coal resources, but in order to make effective use of these resources, coal with poor caking properties has been used in significant quantities alongside bituminous coal for a long time. This explains why the width of the coke baking chambers in Japan and the CIS is generally between 410 and 450 mm, and does not exceed 500 mm. In contrast, Germany continues to increase the width of its carbonization chambers. The reason for this is that, for a long time, Germany has used coal with high bonding properties in its mixtures, with such coal accounting for 70% or more of the total mixture, while the volatility content of this coal ranges from 22% to 25%. Since wider carbonization chambers facilitate the contraction of coke cakes and their pushing out, the volatility of the coal used in these chambers has been reduced to 21%–22% in recent years. To ensure the stability of coke quality, there must be a stable and reliable supply source of coking coal. Our country is a major producer of coke. It is estimated that in 2005, China’s pig iron production could reach around 300 million tons, with a corresponding demand for coke of around 180 million tons (including usage in other industries, excluding exports). With such a scale of coke production, the coal required cannot rely on imports; it must be sourced from domestic resources. It is precisely because the coal resources available for coking in our country differ significantly from those in Germany that a very cautious approach should be taken regarding the transition of top-loading coke ovens to wider carbonization chambers (≥550 ram), and further thorough research is needed. Of course, the adoption by individual or a few companies cannot be ruled out, but before adopting it, coal blending tests should be conducted based on the requirements for coke quality and the types of coking coal to be supplied, in order to determine its feasibility. Otherwise, once the coke oven with a wide carbonization chamber is built, a large amount of highly cohesive coal will need to be purchased (or imported), which not only creates difficulties in production but also increases the production costs for the enterprise. The introduction of 7.63m coke ovens also reflects that China’s existing range of coke oven types is not yet capable of meeting the demands for various scales of coke production. Looking at the development history of coke ovens, the increase in the size (or effective volume) of the carbonization chamber of these ovens corresponds to an increase in the scale of coke production. Practice has shown that, from capital investment to operational management, the most economical and rational layout for coke ovens is to have 2 ovens in one unit, operated by a single set of machinery and staff to achieve the desired amount of coke production. If the annual demand for coke is around 1.5 million tons, it is not economical to choose coke ovens with an effective chamber volume of 38.5 m or less than 70 m. At present, the amount of coal powder injected into the blast furnaces in China’s large-scale steel enterprises amounts to around 200 kg per ton of iron produced, the coke ratio has dropped to around 300 kg per ton of iron, and the output of pig iron has reached around 10 million tons per year. For a blast furnace complex of this scale in terms of pig iron production, it is most economical to pair it with a coke oven complex capable of producing 1.5 to 1.7 million tons of coke per year. Based on the above circumstances, we recommend that a large-capacity coke oven with a carbonization chamber length of about 18 m, a height of about 7 m, a width of 500 mm or slightly more than 500 mm, and an effective volume of around 60 m³ be designed as soon as possible. Such coke ovens can also use high-quality thin furnace wall bricks with high strength, high density, and low reheat expansion rate as needed; oven arrays consisting of about 2×60 cells of such bricks can achieve an annual coke production of 1.5 to 1.7 million tons. These coke ovens with a furnace width of no more than 550 mm still maintain a high coke production rate per unit time and per unit of effective volume, as is the case with conventional coke ovens; moreover, they have an appropriate coking speed, which allows them to take advantage of the use of coal with high volatility and poor cohesion. The design of this model of furnace should be superior to that of existing coke ovens in terms of equipment standards and environmental protection measures. China’s coking technology has undergone remarkable development, accumulating extensive experience. The coking design level possesses strong innovation capabilities and is now among the best in the world. With reform and opening up, as well as the continuous improvement in equipment manufacturing capabilities and automation levels, it is entirely feasible to develop this new type of coke oven and ensure its stable operation.

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