Influence of coal fluidity on coal blend and

coke quality
P. Prachethan Kumar*, S. C. Barman, S. Singh and M. Ranjan
The blast furnace coke quality depends on the characteristics of coal blend, precarbonisation
techniques adopted such as stamping, vibrocompaction etc., and coking conditions. Of the
above, coal blend plays a significant role in the production of quality coke. Furthermore,
the quality of the blend depends on the quality of individual coals and their interaction making up
the blend. Coal, being a highly heterogeneous material, requires special care for determination of
its properties and blending of individual coals for coke making. Coal fluidity is one such important
coking property which highly influences the coke quality. The hard coking coals having good
fluidity, which yield good coke, however are not only very expensive, but also are limited in
reserves. Unlike, other properties, coal loses its fluidity on weathering, i.e. oxidation in presence of
air on long storage in the yard, and the fluidity value changes on blending with different coals. To
understand the effect of coal fluidity on coal blending and there by the coke quality, studies have
been conducted using the industrial scale coals and coal blends. An empirical relation has been
developed between actual blend fluidity and calculated fluidity using logarithmic weighted
average from fluidity of individual coals. Blending of non-coking coals above 20% with the hard
coking coals used in this research decreases the blend fluidity and impairs the coke quality. It
was seen that the coals lose their fluidity on weathering, and the value becomes less than half
after a two months of storage at site. Weathering appears to be more rapid in case of semisoft
than hard coking coals. The present paper discusses the influence of coal fluidity on coal blend
fluidity and changes on weathering.
Keywords: Non-coking coal, Coke, Coke ovens, Weathering, Fluidity, Plastic range

Introduction coke properties. However, the least costly method to

predict the quality of coke is by using data from coal
In coke making, the bitumen of the coal undergoes fluidity tests.
destructive distillation in the oven during heating. As the Coal loses its properties on weathering2 leading to
bitumen is distilled out of the coal, the coal goes through gradual impairment of thermoplastic properties and
a plastic phase in the coke oven. As the temperature hence deterioration in coke quality. Several studies have
rises, the bitumen is fully destroyed and the coal is been performed on weathering of coals at temperatures
finally annealed into coke at temperatures of over above the ambient.3 Weathering studies have been
1050uC. The formation of plastic phase and resolidifica- carried out on industrial scale coal blend by Alvarez
tion is most critical in coke making and affects the et al.4 to study the influence of coal weathering on the
quality of coke made. One measure of coal’s ability to chemical structural changes and coking properties of a
form plastic phase and make quality coke is fluidity. coal blend and the effects on coke quality. Hence,
Fluidity is a test which measures the rheological fluidity studies have been conducted using the industrial
properties of coal. In industrial scale, testing of fluidity scale coals to understand the variation in fluidity on
of individual coal samples and the blends made using blending different coals and the change in plastic
these coals is important in predicting coke quality. properties on weathering. This paper is intended to
Studies carried out by, for instance, Coin and Broome1 provide an understanding of Gieseler plastometer
de-emphasise the importance of fluidity and suggest that measurements of coal fluidity and how they influence
its usefulness for predicting coke quality is extremely the coke quality and its change on weathering.
limited. They point out many problems with the various
models that use coal rheology or petrography to predict
Fluidity and its effect on coke quality
Fluidity is measured using the Geiseler plastometer,
JSW Steel Limited, Vijayanagar Works, Toranagallu, India which documents the changing fluidity of a coal sample
*Corresponding author, email prachethan@yahoo.com in air as it is heated at a constant rate of 3uC min21

ß 2008 Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining

Published by Maney on behalf of the Institute
Received 11 March 2008; accepted 10 May 2008
416 DOI 10.1179/174328108X335113 Ironmaking and Steelmaking 2008 VOL 35 NO 6
 Kumar et al. Influence of coal fluidity on coal blend and coke quality

The fluidity measurement is an attempt to provide a

practical test for comparing the rheology of coals.
Samples are crushed to pass 40 mesh, much finer than
used in commercial ovens (about 85% below 3?15 mm
size and 30% below 20?5 mm size). The finer size
inhibits fluidity; samples would exhibit greater fluidity if
crushed to a coarser size.6 The plasticity does not survive
at higher temperatures because the plastic bitumen
looses hydrogen and solidifies into carbon grains that
cement the sample and thereby the instrument provides
information on a number of processes.
Fluidity of coal blend determines the bonding process
during coke making. It has an effect on the coke strength
after reaction (CSR). From Fig. 1 an optimum fluidity
range is observed to achieve required CSR value. It was
1 Effect of fluidity on coke strength
observed7 that below 400 ddpm fluidity, the coke
produced from non-recovery ovens with vibrocompca-
through its softening and melting temperature. The tion precarbonisation technique, had inferior CSR
sample is 5 g of coal crushed and screened to pass 40 (below 63%). This is probably due to the insufficiency
mesh and loosely compacted (as per ASTM D 2639). of inert materials in the blend for high fluid coals. There
The heating rate is similar to that employed in will be no adequate plastic binder in low fluid coals to
commercial coke ovens. The temperature range extends hold carbon atoms together which will give low CSR
from about 350 to 550uC. The maximum fluidity, and value.
the temperatures at which the coal reaches maximum
fluidity, first starts to soften, and finally solidifies are
noted during the test. The difference between the last Experimental
two temperatures is the plastic range (PR). The fluidity The fluidity studies have been carried out using the
is measured using a paddle under constant torque. The industrial scale coals with Geiseler plastometer at JSW
paddle is inserted in the sample and as it softens the Steel.8 The analysis of coals used for the study is given in
paddle starts to rotate, and rotates faster as the sample Table 1. Coals A, B are hard coking coals, coals C, D
becomes more fluid. Eventually at high temperatures the are semi soft and coal E is non-coking coal. To
coal sample hardens and the paddle stops rotating. The understand the variation in fluidity on blending, fluidity
speed of rotation is measured in dial divisions per test is conducted on individual coals and then on blends
minute (ddpm). There are 100 divisions per revolution, prepared in laboratory under controlled conditions.
consequently a fluidity of 100 ddpm corresponds to a Non-coking coals also have been added in varying
speed of 1 rev min21 of the paddle. Most instruments proportions to understand the blending potential with
cannot record a rotation of more than 280 rev min21, hard coking coals, and their ability to make coke. For
therefore, fluidities above 28 000 can not be measured this fluidity tests have been conducted using varying
and measurements over 10 000 probably are not proportions of coal A, a high fluid hard coking coal
reproducible.5 (,5000 ddpm), and coal E, a non-coking coal practi-
Measurements of maximum fluidity (MF), initial cally having no fluidity to know the effect of non-coking
softening temperature (IST), maximum fluidity tem- coal on blend fluidity. To know the drop in coal fluidity
perature (MFT), and re-solidification temperature on oxidation, coals have been stacked in the open yard
(RST) are used to predict the behaviour of the plastic as in the industrial condition for a period of 100 days.
phase during coking. The fluidity temperatures of These stacked coals are then tested for fluidity every 10
individual coals help us in making coal blends, so that days. The fluidity values and temperatures have been
the initial softening and resolidification of individual examined during the studies.
coals being blended are in the range of base coal. The
property of ‘fluidity’ measured by a spinning paddle is
not completely analogous to the properties of softening, Results and discussion
sticking, smearing and binding, which, in loose terms,
describe what is happening in a coke oven. Based on the Correlation of fluidity between individual coals
heating rate of about 3uC min21 coal is plastic for about and coal blend
10 to 30 min in the plastometer or in the coke oven. Fluidity studies have been carried out to understand the
Considering these conditions one can only envisage a variation in fluidity on mixing various coals and the
transitory phase in which the reactive macerals become fluidity of coal blends. Relations have been developed to
soft, sticky and swell as vesicles form. This phase forms learn about the fluidity of coal blend from the individual
a front, which moves slowly inwards towards the centre coal fluidities. It was observed that on blending the
of the coke oven, leaving behind it semicoke heated to fluidity did not change as per the weighted proportion
temperatures greater than the solidification temperature like other coal properties but dropped drastically to their
of the coal. The process is not one in which large logarithmic base 10 values. Correlation has been
volumes of coal become fluid for long durations during developed between the calculated blend fluidity and
coke making. The MF is an empirical and approximate actual tested blend fluidity. The most commonly used
measure of the minimum viscosity of the sample logarithmic weighted average as in equation (1) was
achieved at a particular temperature. used to calculate the blend fluidity:

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Kumar et al. Influence of coal fluidity on coal blend and coke quality

3 Drop in fluidity of hard coking coals on weathering

The changes in fluidity on use of non-coking coal

(coal E) with coal A are shown in Table 4. It indicates
that once non-coking coal increases above 30%, the
fluidity drops below 400, at which good coke (CSR
2 Relation between calculated and actual fluidity above 65%) cannot be made. It was observed that
addition of 10% of non-coking coal to hard coking coal
fluidity of blend~ decreases the blend fluidity to less than half. Hence use
antilog½S(%coalAi|Log10 (fluidity of coal Ai)
(1) of non-coking coals should be restricted to 20% for
maintaining the blend fluidity with use of hard coking
coals such as coal A, B.
Figure 2 shows the relationship between actual
measured fluidity of coal blends tested and theoretically Effect of weathering on fluidity
calculated fluidity using the logarithmic weighted Coals lose their fluidity on weathering due to oxidation.
average from the individual coals in the blend as per They absorb oxygen from the environment and loose
equation for 40 various blends using coals given in volatile matter. As fluidity is largely depended on coal
Table 1. It can be observed that (R250?87) relation volatile matter, so it decreases due to oxidation along with
between actual and predicted values holds good and the other coal properties. There is a fluidity range over which
empirical relation is used to know the fluidity of the desired (65%) CSR can be achieved. The blend fluidity
blend for deciding on the suitability of coal blend for
coke oven. The repeatability of blend fluidity has been Table 2 Repeatability of fluidity tests
verified, which was well within ¡5% (Table 2). Calculated Actual
Effect of non-coking coal on fluidity fluidity, fluidity, Difference,
Coal A Coal E ddpm ddpm %
The non-coking coal addition in the blend will affect the
blend fluidity. As non-coking coals have less reactives 70 30 334 352 5.39
and more inerts than hard or semi soft coking coal, it 70 30 334 345 3.29
changes the reactive and inert proportion in the blend. 70 30 334 319 24.49
Table 3 gives the ash analysis of coal A and coal E for 70 30 334 348 4.19
70 30 334 328 21.80
comparison, which is more or less similar.

Table 1 Typical properties of coals used for fluidity studies

Coal A Coal B Coal C Coal D Coal E

Type of coal Hard coking Semi soft coking Non-coking

Proximate analysis
Ash, % 10.0 9.4 5.5 8.4 9.4
Volatile matter, % 24.7 22.3 34.1 26.4 25.3
Fixed carbon, % 64.1 67.2 58.6 63.1 63.7
S, % 0.56 0.38 0.30 0.39 0.40
Free swelling index (FSI) 8 7.5 8 5 1.5
Maceral composition
Vitrinite, % 80 65 80 84 55
Semi vitrinite, % 7 10 1 4 1
Intertinite, % 3 15 2 3 33
Exinite, % 2 1 2 3 5
Mineral matter, % 8 9 15 6 6
V9-V14, % 100 100 26 100 26
Gieseler plastometer test
IST, uC 404 420 394 406 425
MFT, uC 468 469 447 446 452
RST, uC 495 506 486 468 474
MF, ddpm 5100 1353 7574 210 1
Mean reflectance (Ro), % 1.18 1.20 0.79 0.97 0.87

418 Ironmaking and Steelmaking 2008 VOL 35 NO 6

 Kumar et al. Influence of coal fluidity on coal blend and coke quality

coking coals and semi soft coking coals respectively.

Table 5 shows the weathering effect on coal fluidity, for
the tests conducted on the samples collected every 10
days. Weathering appears to be more rapid in the case of
semi soft than hard coking coals. Although there was
drop in fluidity, no change has been observed in the IST,
MFT and RST. Weathering had no effect on the
temperature and plastic range. The free swelling index
(FSI) of the coals also remained unaltered during the
storage and was not affected by weathering. Hence,
coals should not be stored long as drop in fluidity affects
the coke quality.

4 Drop in fluidity of semi soft coals on weathering Conclusions

Coal fluidity is an important coking property which
should not be lower than 400 ddpm, because below this highly influences the coke quality. From the studies
limit, inert cannot be enveloped properly by insufficient conducted with the coals used in research, following
plastic mass and bonding will not be adequate. conclusions are drawn.
The coals selected for test were stored at open yard for 1. The logarithmic weighted average of fluidity of
three months to study the effect of weathering. It was individual coals holds good for calculating coal blend
found that the fluidity value becomes less than half after fluidity.
two months of storage at site, and after which the drop 2. Zero fluid coals exceeding 20% in the blend should
in fluidity is minimal. Figures 3 and 4 give the drop in be avoided because it lowers the blend fluidity below
fluidity on weathering after every 10 days for hard 350 ddpm, at which good coke cannot be made.
3. Coals lose their fluidity on weathering, and the
value becomes less than half after two months of storage
Table 3 Ash analysis of coal A and coal E
at site, and has no effect on fluidity temperatures and
PR.
Coal A Coal E 4. Weathering appears to be more rapid in the case of
semi soft than hard coking coals.
Ash, % 10 9.4
SiO2, % 52.4 55.5
Al2O3, % 33.6 31.6 Table 4 Effect of non-coking coal on blend fluidity
Fe2O3, % 5.6 5.9
CaO, % 2.8 2.1 Calculated fluidity, Actual fluidity,
MgO, % 0.8 0.86 Coal A, % Coal E, % ddpm ddpm
Mn3O4, % 0.66 0.60
TiO2, % 1.3 1.17 100 0 4024 4024
P2O5, % 1.4 1.11 90 10 1755 1651
SO3, % 0.2 0.22 80 20 765 663
Na2O, % 0.4 0.18 70 30 334 385
K2O, % 0.9 0.78 60 40 145 244

Table 5 Effect of weathering on coal fluidity

No of days 1 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90

Coal A IST, uC 404 408 405 406 407 405 404 406 405 406
MFT, uC 468 467 469 467 468 467 469 468 467 468
RST, uC 495 497 495 496 498 497 496 496 498 497
MF, ddpm 5100 4650 4015 3452 3252 2859 2503 2251 2185 2103
FSI 8.5 8.0 8.5 8.5 9.0 8.5 8.5 8.5 8.0 8.5
Coal B IST, uC 420 419 421 420 423 421 420 419 422 419
MFT, uC 469 468 470 469 468 469 470 468 469 470
RST, uC 506 505 506 504 507 506 505 505 506 507
MF, ddpm 1353 1190 1015 936 841 798 765 694 654 621
FSI 7 7.5 7.5 7.0 7.5 7.0 7.5 7.5 7.5 7.5
Coal C IST, uC 394 395 396 394 395 396 394 395 396 394
MFT, uC 447 448 447 449 445 446 447 446 447 448
RST, uC 486 485 486 486 488 487 485 484 486 487
MF, ddpm 7574 5950 4489 4076 3754 3208 2742 2395 2199 2225
FSI 8.0 7.5 8.0 8.0 8.0 8.0 7.5 7.5 7.5 7.5
Coal D IST, uC 406 408 409 406 405 406 407 406 408 407
MFT, uC 446 445 446 446 445 449 448 447 448 449
RST, uC 468 469 470 468 469 468 468 470 470 469
MF, ddpm 210 184 154 128 103 85 51 45 48 42
FSI 5 5.5 5 5.5 5 5 5 5 5 5

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Kumar et al. Influence of coal fluidity on coal blend and coke quality

4. R. Alvarez, C. Barriocanal, M. D. Casal. M. A. Diez, J. L. G.

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