Article

pubs.acs.org/EF

Comparative Study on the Combustion Performance of Coals on a

Pilot-Scale Test Rig Simulating Blast Furnace Pulverized Coal
Injection and a Lab-Scale Drop-Tube Furnace
Hongyu Li,, Liza Elliott, Harold Rogers, and Terry Wall*,

Chemical Engineering, University of Newcastle, Newcastle, New South Wales 2308, Australia
School of Materials and Metallurgy, University of Science and Technology Liaoning, Anshan 114001, Peoples Republic of China

BlueScope Steel, Port Kembla, New South Wales 2505, Australia

ABSTRACT: Direct evaluation of the combustibility of pulverized coals in ironmaking blast furnace pulverized coal injection
(PCI) is dicult. A pilot-scale PCI rig may be used to test the combustion performance of a PCI coal. However, the replication
of the conditions in the blowpipetuyereraceway region is complicated and costly. Drop-tube furnaces (DTFs), which have
been widely used in coal combustion research, are seen as an alternative to such combustion tests. This study therefore compares
coal combustion performances in a DTF and a PCI rig, where the coal is burned at the as-ground size distribution to assess the
suitability of a DTF to replace a PCI rig. In addition, this study tries to establish the methodology for ranking the PCI coal
combustion performance through coal burnouts produced in the DTF. The measured burnouts from both the DTF and the
pilot-scale PCI rig produced a linear relationship against the coal volatile matter (VM) content, although the trend of the DTF
burnouts have a steeper slope. The burnouts of the two low-volatile coals (coals 1 and 2) stand outside the band and had
signicantly higher burnouts in the PCI rig but not in the DTF. This is attributed to higher char fragmentation during
combustion in the PCI rig. Overall, the data in this study suggest that cheap lab-scale DTF tests can be a good substitute of
expensive tests using a pilot-scale PCI rig for the evaluation of PCI coals.

1. INTRODUCTION
Pulverized coal has been routinely injected into ironmaking
blast furnace tuyeres as an auxiliary fuel for around 40 years,
following the oil crisis in the 1970s. It reacts with pressurized
blast at a high temperature until it is burnt out or the residual
char leaves the raceway. This technology reduces costs and
improves blast furnace productivity. However, the injection rate
is limited by the coal combustion performance. If the injected
coal combusts eciently, a high injection rate may be applied
to reduce the amount of coke required. However, unburnt char
leaving the raceway increases signicantly with an increasing
injection rate because of a decreasing coal burnout and can
decrease the permeability of a blast furnace burden column. A
combustion test is a safe alternative to optimize coal selection
for pulverized coal injection (PCI) in a blast furnace and
minimize negative impacts on the blast furnace operation.
Pilot-scale PCI test rigs, Aachen-type rigs, and drop-tube
furnaces (DTFs) have been previously used to evaluate the
combustion performance of PCI coals.13 PCI rigs are designed
to simulate the injection of coal into a blast furnace, including
coal injection into the blast passing through the blowpipe
tuyere system, jet expansion, and combustion as it passes across
the void space of the raceway. The thermal and chemical
conditions of the blast are set to model as closely as possible
those of actual blast furnaces (such as blast temperature, oxygen
content, and velocity). Early types of these rigs were described
by Kobe Steel4 and Nippon Steel5 in the development of
modern PCI technology. Broken Hill Proprietary, Ltd. (BHP),
later BlueScope Steel, developed and operated a number of
such pilot-scale test rigs for PCI coal research between 1983
2013 American Chemical Society

and 2008, and a large number of coals have been tested, with
some results being presented in the public domain.610
The Aachen-type3 bench-scale test rig was developed in the
1980s11 and used to simulate the behavior of ne coal particles
injected into the blowpipetuyereraceway region. This rig
comprises two furnaces in series. The rst furnace produces hot
gas as blast, and the other furnace is the combustion chamber.
These rigs have limited availability, and the test results are
dierent to the results from the pilot-scale PCI rigs.3
Alternatively, a DTF is a very common piece of equipment in
coal research laboratories and has also been used to test coal
combustion for PCI applications.2,12,13 In comparison to other
laboratory combustion apparatuses, such as a thermogravimetric analyzer and a wire mesh reactor, it can produce a
relatively high temperature (1800 K) and a high heating rate
(104 K/s). The particles are fed in a dynamic, dilute phase,
which allows for individual and cloud particle combustion. In
this kind of reactor, both solid and gaseous products are
measured downstream from the feeding port. Lu et al.13 used a
DTF with temperatures from 900 to 1500 C to produce char
from pulverized coal before characterizing it, suggesting that
char produced in a DTF would be similar to that in PCI. Du et
al.2 studied the inuences of the reaction temperature, coal
particle size, fuel ratio (dened as the ratio of xed carbon to
Special Issue: 4th (2013) Sino-Australian Symposium on Advanced
Coal and Biomass Utilisation Technologies
Received: July 31, 2013
Revised: October 27, 2013
Published: October 28, 2013
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Table 1. Coal Properties

coal
proximate analysis (%)

ultimate analysis (%)

M (ad)
VM (db)
FC (db)
ash (db)
C (db)
H (db)
N (db)
S (db)
O + errors (db)

1.4
13.0
77.4
9.6
80.8
3.6
1.5
0.4
4.1

1.6
13.6
78.0
8.4
81.6
3.7
1.8
0.5
4.0

1.1
18.4
71.2
10.4
80.3
4.0
1.4
0.3
3.6

2.2
27.5
63.1
9.4
76.4
4.3
1.6
0.4
7.9

2.6
28.4
68.9
2.7
81.4
4.7
1.2
1.2
8.8

3.5
36.2
55.6
8.2
76.9
5.1
1.8
0.4
7.6

6.7
41.7
53.4
4.9
77.9
5.5
1.4
0.3
10.0

Figure 1. Schematic layout of the combustion test apparatus.16

of the tuyere inlet via a coaxial injection lance, which was inclined at an
angle of 1012 to the blast duct center line. The coaxial lance
consisted of a 19.05 mm (outer diameter) 1.6 mm wall thickness
outer tube, which carried a cooling gas of air, and a 12.7 mm (outer
diameter) 1.6 mm wall thickness inner tube, through which coal was
conveyed by a nitrogen stream. Coal injection rates of 2569 kg/h
were used, and the blast oxygen concentration was correspondently
increased from 21 to 26%. The test conditions were chosen to match
as closely as possible the conditions within the blowpipetuyere
raceway region of blast furnaces. Char samples were collected by a
water-cooled argon-quenched probe at port 5 (925 mm downstream
of the injection point) at the center-line position and 50 mm on
either side of the center line. The estimated particle residence time was
20 ms, which is equivalent to the predicted transit time of a coal
particle across the raceway in the blast furnace.9 The rig layout is
presented in Figure 1.
2.2.2. DTF. An Astro model 1000 DTF was used for the burnout
test experiments. Furnace operation is controlled by a Honeywell
model DCP 511 temperature controller/program. A schematic
diagram of the experimental setup for the DTF is shown elsewhere.14
The central tube (50 mm inner diameter) is made from recrystallized
alumina and is heated externally using a graphite heating element (62
mm inner diameter and 300 mm in length). The hot zone of the
furnace is 255 mm in length and is able to be maintained at a relatively
uniform temperature (50 C). The oxygen concentration used in the
experiments varied between 21 and 26%. Mass ow controllers were
used to produce the correct ow rate of oxygen and nitrogen before
the two gases were mixed. The experiments were completed with
oxygen concentrations that matched those in the PCI tests. When 21%
oxygen was required, air from a Kaeser Ask27 facility compressor was
used. The gas was then split between primary (4.5 L/min) and
secondary (5.3 L/min) gas ows. Coal was fed at a rate of around
4 g/h through a vibrating plate enclosed in an airtight perspex box
above the DTF. The primary gas assisted feeding the coal into the top
of the furnace through a small funnel and water-cooled feeding probe.
The secondary air stream was preheated as it entered the furnace
through the annulus between the central tube and the Kaowool heat
shield on the feeding probe. Char samples were collected at the base of
the furnace hot zone by a water-cooled collection probe with nitrogen
gas quenching. A vacuum was applied to withdraw the char, quench
gas, and combustion gases out of the furnace. The char sample was

volatile matter), and coal blending on the burnout of pulverized

coal in a DTF at the temperature range of 11001400 C.
Their ndings indicated that the combustion behavior of coals
depends upon not only the gas temperature but also the
particle size.
Signicant dierences exist in the conguration and
combustion conditions between a PCI rig and a DTF. No
comparison of coal combustion results from them has been
previously published in the literature. The purpose of this work
is therefore to (1) compare the combustion performance of a
range of coals combusted in the two rigs with typical particle
size distributions of PCI, (2) establish the methodology to nd
if the ranking of the PCI combustion performance can be
predicted by DTF tests on the same coals with DTF burnouts
covering a similar range as the available PCI burnout data, and
(3) identify coals not tting the ranking of combustion
performance by the DTF and suggest reasons.

2. EXPERIMENTAL SECTION
2.1. Coal Samples. Seven coals, previously used in tests on the
PCI rig by BlueScope Steel, were selected. They are suitable for PCI
use or have been considered for PCI use. These coals were cold-stored
after the PCI tests and were made available for the DTF tests in this
study, except coals 1 and 2, which were replaced with fresh samples
from the same mines with matching ultimate, proximate, and
petrographic analyses. The proximate and ultimate analyses for each
coal are listed in Table 1.
2.2. Experimental Apparatus and Methods. 2.2.1. Pilot-Scale
PCI Test Rig. The pilot-scale PCI test rig considered here was operated
between 2001 and 2008 at BHP Billitons Research Laboratories in
Newcastle,3 and the burnouts presented in this work were taken from
those tests. The PCI rig consisted of a refractory cylindrical test
section. Air, heated using a resistance heater and a N2 plasma torch to
1200 C, was injected into the combustion chamber at up to
300 N m3 h1 as blast. The blast was introduced through a duct with a
reducing internal diameter from 110 to 80 mm over a length of 800
mm upstream of a tuyere, where coal is injected. After the tuyere, the
internal diameter increased dramatically, allowing for a free expansion
of the gas jet. Pulverized coal was injected into the blast at the center
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removed from the gas stream via a cyclone and aerosol lter. The
organic matter in the sample was determined by burning a portion of
the sample with air at 815 C in a mue furnace until a constant
weight was attained. Then, the weight of the remaining ash was
measured, and the unburnt organic matter content of the char
produced in the DTF was calculated.
2.3. Major Dierences of the Two Rigs. The major dierences
between the two rigs are summarized in Table 2. In this study, the gas

released and the carbon of the coal is combusted. The coal

burnout (combustion eciency) was determined by eq 217

A 0 1 Ai
B = 1
100
1 A 0 Ai

where B is the burnout and A0 and Ai are the ash content in

coal and char, respectively.
During the DTF experiments, ve samples of each coal were
fed and chars were collected and ashed separately. Figure 2

Table 2. Combustion Conditions in the DTF and the PCI

Rig
technique
particle heating rate
(K/s)
peak gas temperature
(C)
residence time (ms)
ame conditions
stoichiometry and O2
concentration

DTF

PCI rig

104 (ref 2)

105 (ref 15)

1450

>2000

210
laminar dispersed
particles
signicant excess
oxygen

20 (ref 16)
turbulent, high particle
density coal plume
approximately stoichiometric

temperature in the DTF was set at 1450 C. The furnace had a

calculated residence time of 210 ms and a heating rate of 24 104
K/s. On the other hand, the maximum gas temperature in the PCI
plume combustion is estimated to be more than 2000 C, with a
calculated heating rate and a residence time of 105 K/s and 20 ms,
respectively.15,16
The oxygen partial pressure provided during combustion diered
greatly in the two rigs. Stoichiometry of pulverized coal combustion is
based on reaction 1.

C + O2 = CO2

(2)

Figure 2. Burnout of coals in the DTF experiments at 1450 C and

21% O2.

shows the average coal burnout with the range of experimental

values at 21% O2 as a function of the coal volatile matter (VM)
content. The burnout increases with an increasing VM [dry
basis (db)] content. The highest VM coal presents the
maximum burnout of 86.8%, and the minimum value of
24.1% was produced by the lowest VM coal.
The burnouts of coals produced in the DTF at dierent O2
concentrations from 21 to 26% are shown in Figure 3. These

(1)

The O/C ratio, which is based on the atoms of oxygen fed per atom of
carbon, is often used to describe combustion conditions. This has a
value of 2 for stoichiometric combustion, greater than 2 for excess
oxygen, and less for sub-stoichiometric conditions.
In the DTF, operating with a dilute feed of coal, signicantly excess
oxygen exists. The oxygen concentration does not reduce signicantly
during combustion; all of the coal particles burn in a consistent gas
atmosphere. The O2 concentration of the feed gas therefore uniquely
denes the combustion conditions, these being 21 (i.e., air), 22.6, and
26% in the present study. The conditions in the PCI rig were assigned
to duplicate those of an operating blast furnace. The O/C ratio was
around 3.2 (2.83.6 for the range of coals) when ring with air, about
2 with an O2 concentration of 22.6% of the feed gas (1.72.5 for the
range of coals), and approximate 1.4 with an O2 concentration of 26%
of the feed gas (1.21.6 for the range of coals). The decline of O/C is
because the coal injection rate was increased without a change in the
volume of the blast (i.e., gas). Therefore, for the PCI rig, the O2
concentration of the feed gas does not uniquely dene the combustion
conditions.
The ame conditions were also signicantly dierent in the two rigs.
In the DTF, coal was fed as a disperse phase in the primary (feeding)
gas stream. Particles were expected to burn individually, whereas in the
PCI rig, coal was injected through the blowpipe into the blast,
producing a highly turbulent plume. These dierences of conditions
and congurations signicantly impact the combustion performance of
coals.
2.4. Analysis of Particle Size Distribution. The particle size
distribution of coals and chars collected from the PCI rig and the DTF
were measured by a Malvern 2600 particle size analyzer.

Figure 3. Coal burnouts in the DTF as a function of VM at dierent

O2 concentrations at 1450 C and () 21% O2, () 22.6% O2, and
() 26% O2.

results increase monotonically with an increasing coal VM

content at all O2 concentrations; that is, VM is a dominate
indicator of the coal combustion performance in DTF
conditions. In addition, burnout increases with enhancement
of the O2 concentration in the DTF experiments, but the
amount of increase varies among the coals. Coal 2 (13.6% VM)
and coal 5 (28.4% VM) show a large increase. However, coal 4
(27.5% VM) and coal 6 (36.2% VM) are weakly inuenced by

3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The ash tracer method was used to determine coal burnout in
both the DTF and the PCI rig. It assumes that the mass of ash
in a coal is conserved as the volatile portion of the coal is
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the O2 concentration. Thus, coal burnout is inuenced by both

the coal VM content and O2 concentration.
The burnouts produced in the PCI rig are shown in Figure 4.
They vary between 41.3 and 78.7% with an increasing VM.

Figure 4. Burnouts produced in the PCI rig at dierent O2

concentrations as a function of VM at () coal injection rate (CR)
= 24.9 kg/h, O/C = 3.2, and 21% O2; () CR = 40.6 kg/h, O/C = 2,
and 22.6% O2; and () CR = 64.9 kg/h, O/C = 1.4, and 26% O2
(some of these results appeared in refs 3, 16, and 18).

Coal 3 produced the lowest burnout at 22.6% O2, and the

highest value was obtained by coal 7 at 21% O2. Coals 1 and 2
show excellent combustion performance, which cannot be
explained by the proximate analysis. Furthermore, the gure
also shows that the PCI burnouts decrease with an increasing
oxygen concentration. The higher burnouts were commonly
obtained when the oxygen concentration was at 21%, and the
lower results were mostly obtained at the highest O2
concentration (26%). This is due to the eect of O/C at the
dierent O2 levels on burnout detailed in section 2.3. The O2
supply is not expressed by the O2 concentration but the ratio of
O/C. A high O2 concentration in the PCI rig tests does not
result in more O2 available because of a simultaneous increase
in the coal injection rate with the same blast volume. Thus, the
higher burnouts occurred at 21% O2 (high O/C).18 In the PCI
rig, coal burnout is a function of the coal injection rate and O/
C ratio rather than the O2 concentration. However, the O/C
ratios used in the PCI rig could not be replicated in the DTF.
To clarify the combustion performances clearly within the
two rigs, the burnouts from the two rigs were compared at a
corresponding oxygen concentration. A comparison of coal
burnouts at 21% O2 is shown in Figure 5a. Two linear bands
with dierent slopes were obtained. Burnouts in the DTF
increase linearly from 24.1 to 86.8% with an increasing VM
(db) from 13.0 to 41.7%, producing a steeper slope than that
from the PCI rig. The burnouts from the PCI rig increase from
52 to 78.7% in the corresponding range of VM. Lower VM
coals produced lower burnouts in the DTF than the results
from the PCI rig, but higher VM coals presented higher
combustion performance. Coal 1 produced good performance
in the PCI rig but sits at the bottom of the region when
combusted in the DTF. Coal 2 stands outside the highlighted
range of the PCI results, sitting higher than expected for a coal
with its VM. When it was combusted in the DTF, this coal sits
within the expected range. Coals 3 and 5 sit along the bottom
of the PCI band when combusted in the PCI rig, but they are
along the top of the DTF combustion region. The burnouts of
high VM coals (coals 6 and 7) in the DTF are higher than those
in the PCI rig and stand at the top of the trend.

Figure 5. Comparison of burnout as a function of VM between the

DTF at 1450 C and the PCI rig at O2 concentrations from 21 to 26%
with shaded operating bands: (a) 21% O2, (b) 22.6% O2, and (c)
26% O2.

The comparisons of the burnouts from the two rigs at 22.6

and 26% O2 are given in panels b and c of Figure 5,
respectively. Two bands with dierent slopes can be drawn in
these panels. Coal burnouts from the DTF increase with
increasing O2 concentrations. However, those from the PCI rig
decrease. Thus, the shaded band of the DTF results moves
upward, and the band of the PCI results goes downward. The
two bands almost merge together at 22.6% O2. The band of the
DTF burnouts is mostly over that of the PCI results at 26% O2.
The slope of the DTF band of burnouts deceases slightly as the
oxygen concentration increases. However, there is little change
in the slope of the shaded band of the PCI results.
The condition experienced by coal particles in the PCI rig
combined the characteristics of a higher temperature, higher
heating rate, less residence time, and O/C ratios close to
stoichiometry. Coal particles experienced a longer residence
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within the two rigs. The particle size distributions of coals 1 and
2 and their chars are compared to the results of coal 7 and its
chars in Figure 8.

time, excess O2, and lower temperature and heating rate in the
DTF. Consequently, dierent operation bands were obtained.
Because dierent combustion eciencies of the same coal were
observed in the two rigs, the dierences may be attributed to
the dierent congurations and combustion conditions in
them.19
Burnouts produced by coals 1 and 2 (low-volatile coals)
during combustion in the PCI rig are signicantly higher than
expected with their VM contents. This may be attributed to the
smaller particle size distribution of the raw coal and higher
fragmentation during combustion in the PCI rig.
It is common knowledge that particle sizes impact the coal
combustion performance. Less time is taken by small particles
to reach a given burnout than large particles;20 i.e., small
particles produce better combustion. The particle size
distributions of coals are demonstrated in Figure 6. As seen,

Figure 6. Particle size distribution of coals.

coal 5 had the coarsest particles among these coals. Samples of

coals 1 and 2 used in the PCI rig were aged and replaced by
newly mined samples for DTF experiments. These coals had
the nest particle size distribution. Other coals had median size
distributions for these samples. The particle size distributions of
resulting chars are shown in Figure 7 (chars from coals 4 and 5
were consumed in other tests and were not available). There is
no evidence to suggest that one rig produces consistently ner
chars. The char particle size is a function of the coal particle
size, but dierent behaviors were observed from dierent coals

Figure 8. Particle size distribution of (a) coals 1, 2, and 7 and (b)

chars from the DTF and the PCI rig. The same coal sample was used
in the PCI rig and the DTF for coal 7, but dierent coal size
distributions for coals 1 and 2. Chars were obtained from the DTF at
1450 C and 21% O2 and from the PCI rig at 21% O2.

It can be seen that coal 7 experienced greater swelling in the

PCI rig, producing larger char than in the DTF, while the
opposite trend was observed for coals 1 and 2. Fragmentation
of chars from coals 1 and 2 in the PCI rig is believed to cause
the chars to be substantially ner. Within the mass-transfercontrolled regime expected at a high temperature, the char
burning time is inversely proportional to the particle size,20
which may explain why the burnouts of coals 1 and 2 in the
PCI rig are signicantly higher than expected. Less
fragmentation of the same coals in the DTF resulted in lower
burnouts, falling within the band with the other coals.
Considering laboratory-scale rigs for coal testing, a
comparison of characteristics in these rigs is shown in Table
3. In comparison to common laboratory-scale rigs, the
advantages of low cost, easy operation, and good prediction
are obviously observed in a DTF. Although there is hot air
injection in the Aachen-type rig, the measured burnouts are
quite dierent compared to the results from the PCI rig.3 The
peak temperature (normally 1273 K) and heating rate

Figure 7. Particle size distribution of chars obtained from the DTF at

1450 C and 21% O2 and from the PCI rig at 21% O2.
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(4) Suzuki, T.; Hirose, R.; Morimoto, K.; Abe, T. Symp. (Int.)
Combust., [Proc.] 1984, 14191425.
(5) Masakazu, N.; Kojima, K.; Hara, Y.; Kase, M. Inuence of coke
quality on blast furnace performance. Proceedings of the 38th
Ironmaking Conference; Detroit, MI, March 2528, 1979; pp 1827.
(6) McCarthy, M. J.; Mathieson, J. G.; Nomura, S.; Rogers, H.
Combustion of pulverised coals under simulated blast furnace
conditions. Proceedings of the International Conference on Coal Science;
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, Oct 2831, 1985; pp 423426.
(7) Keating, J.; Mason, M.; Rogers, H. Combustion testing of
pulverised coal for blast furnace tuyere injection. Proceedings of the Joint
Conference of SCENZ/FEANZ/EMG; Auckland, New Zealand, April
910, 2001.
(8) Haywood, R. J.; McCarthy, M. J.; Truelove, J. S.; Mason, M. B.;
Thomson, A. D. An experimental and theoretical investigation of
pulverised coal combustion in blast furnaces. Proceedings of the Fourth
Australian Flame Days; Adelaide, South Australia, Australia, Nov 910,
1995.
(9) Mathieson, J. G.; Trueove, J. S.; Rogers, H. Fuel 2005, 84, 1229
1237.
(10) Scaife, P.; Mathieson, J.; McCarthy, M.; Rogers, H.; Nomura, S.
Replacement of Oil by Coal Injection at the Blast Furnace; National
Energy Research, Development and Demonstration Council
(NERDDC): Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia, 1983;
NERRD Project 79/9185.
(11) Machado, J. G. M. S.; Osorio, E.; Vilela, A. C. F.; Babich, A.;
Senk, D.; Gudenau, H. W. Steel Res. Int. 2010, 81, 916.
(12) Osorio, E.; de Lourdes Ilha Gomes, M.; Vilela, A. C. F.;
Kalkreuth, W.; de Almeida, M. A. A.; Borrego, A. G.; Alvarez, D. Int. J.
Coal Geol. 2006, 68, 1429.
(13) Lu, L.; Sahajwalla, V.; Kong, C.; Mclean, A. ISIJ Int. 2002, 42,
816825.
(14) Li, X.; Rathnam, R. K.; Yu, J.; Wang, Q.; Wall, T.; Meesri, C.
Energy Fuels 2009, 24, 160164.
(15) Haywood, R. J.; Truelove, J. S.; McCarthy, M. J. Modelling of
pulverised coal injection and combustion in blast furnaces. Proceedings
of the Ironmaking Conference of AIME; Warrendale, PA, 1994; pp 437
442.
(16) Mathieson, J. G.; Rogers, H.; Somerville, M. A.; Jahanshahi, S.
ISIJ Int. 2012, 52, 14891496.
(17) Su, S.; Pohl, J. H.; Holcombe, D.; Hart, J. A. Prog. Energy
Combust. Sci 2001, 27, 7598.
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petrographic composition on the combustion of pulverised coals under
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Table 3. Comparison of Coal Test Rigs

type

operation
cost

scale

operation

PCI rig

pilot

dicult and
complicated

high

Aachen
type
DTF
TGA

bench

normal

medial

bench
bench

easy
easy

low
quite low

comments
closest simulation of PCI
and linear increasing
trend
level trend, dierent to
PCI rig3
linear increasing trend
low-temperature
xed-bed combustion

(maximum of 50 K/min) of thermogravimetric analysis (TGA)

are much lower than that in the PCI condition, and the
combustion occurs in a xed bed. Therefore, a laboratory-scale
DTF is a good substitute of a pilot-scale PCI rig in the
evaluation of PCI coals.
The limited number of coals presently used to obtain the
operating region has not outlined the band denitely. Data
from more coals are required to evaluate the use of a DTF for
the prediction of performance of any new coals for PCI.
Further investigations of volatile release under PCI conditions
and the resulting char burnout are required. An on-going
modeling study by the authors will further clarify the dierence
in combustion performance of coals in the two rigs and will be
reported in the future.

4. CONCLUSION
(1) The burnout of coals over a range of VM contents during
combustion in both the DTF and the PCI rig increases almost
linearly with an increasing coal VM content. The burnout of
coals during combustion in the DTF is more sensitive to coal
VM content. In this study, DTF tests can provide a reasonable
indication of coal combustion performance in the PCI rig for
medium (18.4%, db) to high (41.7%, db) volatile coals. (2) The
burnouts of the two low-volatile coals (coals 1 and 2) stand
above the band for other coals, have signicantly higher
burnouts in the PCI rig than expected, but t well in the
burnout band in the DTF. This is attributed to char
fragmentation during combustion in the PCI rig, resulting in
smaller char particle size distributions and, hence, greater char
burnout.

AUTHOR INFORMATION

Corresponding Author

*E-mail: terry.wall@newcastle.edu.au.
Notes

The authors declare no competing nancial interest.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors thank BlueScope Steel for nancial support and
provision of PCI combustion results, chars, analysis data, and
coals. The authors also thank the Australian Research Council
(ARC) and the Australian Coal Association Research Program
(ACARP) for nancial support.

REFERENCES

(1) Ueno, H.; Yamaguchi, K.; Kenji, T. ISIJ Int. 1993, 33, 640645.
(2) Du, S. W.; Chen, W. H.; Lucas, J. A. Energy 2010, 35, 576581.
(3) Rogers, H.; Wall, T. Review of Ironmaking Blast Furnace Pulverised
Coal Injection Combustion Testing; Australian Coal Association
Research Program (ACARP): Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, 2011;
Project C19049.
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dx.doi.org/10.1021/ef4014967 | Energy Fuels 2014, 28, 363368