A semi-industrial scale study of petroleum coke as an additive in cokemaking

Abstract

The addition of petroleum coke to a typical industrial coal blend used in the production of metallurgical coke was studied. Cokes were produced at semi-industrial scale at the INCAR coking plant, using petroleum coke of different particle size distribution as an additive. Special attention was paid to changes caused in the textural properties (porosity, pore size distribution, fissures at the interface between metallurgical coke and petroleum coke) which have been found to be responsible for variations in the metallurgical coke quality parameters (e.g., mechanical strength and reactivity towards CO 2). Variation in porosity was found to depend on particle size and the proportion of the additive. The decrease in the microporosity (i.e., pore radius<3.7 nm) of the metallurgical cokes observed when petroleum coke is added to the coal blend, is postulated to be one of the main factors responsible for the decrease in the reactivity of these cokes. The variation of the mechanical strength indices can be explained by the changes in porosity and the quality of the interfaces between petroleum coke and metallurgical coke.