INDUSTRIAL A N D ENGINEE-:ING CHEMISTRY
566
OF COALBLENDS DESIGNATED IN TABLE I TABLE 111. ANALYSIS (AS-RECEIVED BASIS)
Volatile Mois- Matter, Fixed ture, % % C, % 30.3 60.7 2.6 1 2 c1 3.1 29.6 61.6 25.5 60.0 7.0 3 C3078 512 4 C3187 523 3.8 28.6 62.0 63.9 28.4 524 2.6 6 C319l 6 (33263 8341kS35 3.5 28.1 60.3 Analysis furnished by analytical laboratory of industrial b British Swelling Index.
Blend No.
Lab. No. C3202
Coke Run No. 51 &S2
Ash,
%
6.4 5.7 7.K 6.7 5.2 8.1 plant.
Total 5, % 0.97 0.79 0.74 0.71 0.64 0.76
B.t.u. B.S.I. b per Lb. No. 14,063 6 12,899 3 13,927 6 14,148 6 13,388 4
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Vol. 37, No. 6
This is true not only with Illinois coal blends, but with eastern coal blends as well. Series 2, Table I, shows coking results from an Illinois coal blend, and series 3, and are the of blends of all eastern coals. Thus, this experimental slot-type oven may be used to predict accurately the physical and chemical properties of the coke which will result from the carbonizstion of any given blend of coals in a commercia! installation. ACKNOWLEDGMENT
are not available from commercial operation. Also, certain items are not recorded on the same ,basis by our laboratory and the industrial companies. Thus, furnace coke is reported as +I1/, inch size for the commercial runs in series 3 and 4, but as +I inch in all other cases. Also, breeze is reported as the -I/* inch coke from our laboratory, -3/8 inch coke for the commercial runs in series I and 2, and -6,’s inch coke for series 3 and 4. As the coke from commercial ovens is subject to rougher handling than that produced in an experimental oven, it is logical to expect that the percentage of breeze will be slightly higher than that obtaised from a duplicate run in the experimental oven. The principal difference in operation between runs S1 end 52 is in the coking time and appears in the “penetration” values. SI was coked in 9 hours. This was considered too rapid a rate, the heating schedule was changed, and 52 was coked in 12 hours. This slower rate gave a penetration within 10% of the commercial rate. The effect of too rapid a coking rate on sample 51 is shown in the resulting lower values for shatter and tumbler tests for this run in comparison with the values for the same tests for runs 52 and C1. The coal used in sample 512, series 2, had an unusually high moisture content, as shown in Table 111. This high moisture value is reflected in the low bulk density of the charge, and may be responsible for the slightly low shatter and tumbler test values and also for the relatively high percentage of breeze. Coal for runs 523 and 524, series 3, was taken as a single sample representative of commercial operation yielding the average results shown under C4. One poriion of this sample w u used without air-drying in run S23. Another portion was partially airdried and used in run S24. Analyses of the coal used in these two runs (Table 111) indicate that they were not entirely uniform. Also, the heating rate was reduced during run 524 to give a penetration more nearly comparable with plant practice during the period when data listed under C4 were collected. The results of this change in operation are evident in the closer agreement between data of 524 with C4 than was obtained between 923 and c4. Even though there is some difference in size composition of the coals used in runs 534 and S35 and that shown as an average commercial value under C5, the results given under series 4 compare quite closely throughout. Table I includes also data on the tar and gas yields obtained as by-products of the coking operation. Particularly during the early operation of the experimental oven, difficulty was encountered in obtaining checks on tar yields. This appears to be due to the inability to keep the tar held in the recovery system at a constant value. No appreciable trouble was encountered in getting checks on the over-all thermal values of the gas.yie1ds from comparable runs through the experimental oven. Experience to date with this experimental oven has demonstrated that when blends of coals are coked in i t under conditions rigidly controlled to duplicate bulk densities, average penetrations, and final temperatures of commercial ovens coking the same blends, the physical and chemical properties of the coke produced in the experimental oven will check closely the averages of the respective properties of the coke produced in commercial ovens.
This study was made possible through the assistancc of the Office of Production Research and Development of the War Production Board, Washington, D. C. Valuable counsel was received from A. C. Fieldner, U. s. Bureau of Mines, in the initiation of the project. M. D. Curran, Coal Carbonizing Company, furnished fabricated steel for oven construction and for coke and by-product testing. Walsh Refractories Corporation furnihhed firebrick, bonding mortar, and refractory insulating brick. Without the extensive cooperation of Koppers United Company and the Inland Steel Company, it would have been impossible to compare the results of experimental work with that of commercial operation. The Chicago, Wilmington, and Franklin Coal Company, the Bell and Zoller Coal Company, the Franklin County Coal Corporation, and the Sahara Coal Company were generous and cooperative in furnishing samples of coal. Coal and coke analyses were made under the direction of 0. W. Rees, and tar and by-product analyses under the direction of G. R. Yohe, both of the Illinois State Geological Survey. To all of these organizations and individuals we express our sincere appreciation. LITERATURE CITED
(1) Am. Soo. for Testing Materials, Standards, Part 3, p. 7.7,Dosignation D141-23 (1942). (2) Ibid., Part 3,p. 76,Designation D294-29 (1942). (3) Reed, F. H. and Jackman, H. W., IND.ENG.CHEM.,36. 304-7 (1944).
(4) U.5. Bur. Standards, Miac. Pub. 46,73-82 (1921). PRIWENTED before the Division of Gas and Fuel Chemistry at the 108th Meeting of the AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY in New York, N. Y. Released by permission of the Chief, Illinois State Geological Survey, a-nd by per&&on of the O5ce of Production Reaearoh and Development, WPB.
Predicting Volume Increase of Perbunan Compounds in Petroleum ProductsCorrection My attention has been called to an error which appeared on Figure 1 of my article (page 224) in the March, 1945, issue of INDUSTRIAL AND ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY.Starting from the extreme left of the figure, the units on the abscissa should be 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, 100% Perbunan by Volume (P). R. M. HOWLETT
Esso LABOBATORIE~ STANDARD OIL DEVELOPMENT COMPANY LINDEN,N. J.
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Fluidized Fixed Bed-Correction On page 332 of this article [IND.ENQ.CHEY., 37, No. 4 (1945)] the photograph has been given the wrong caption. The plant pictured is the world’s smallest fluid cracking unit now commercially producing aviation gasoline. It is being operated by the Frontier Refining Company. CHARLES L. THOMAB UNIV~RSAL Om PRODUCT^ COMPAXY
CHICAQO, ILL.
