Advances in low carbon cokemaking – Influence of alternative raw materials and coal properties on coke quality

Abstract

The steel industry is one of the largest industrial carbon dioxide emitters, accounting for up to 7% of global emissions. Increasingly stringent global carbon emission regulations are prompting the steel and coal industries to explore and implement carbon abatement strategies through both the incremental development of current technologies and the incorporation of new, innovative ones. This paper reviews the current status and future development of sustainable cokemaking, aiming to identify suitable carbonaceous materials for partial coal displacement in metallurgical coking blends and the desirable properties of coals which facilitate such displacements. Results from works pertaining to the influence of renewable and waste additions on the thermoplastic properties of coal blends and the quality of resulting cokes are included. This includes the mechanism of interaction between various additives and metallurgical coal and the influence on the coking behavior, microstructural and microtextural transformation, and ash chemistry during cokemaking. The sustainability of incorporating certain carbonaceous additives in blends on a commercial scale has also been evaluated. Efforts were made to draw correlations from literature data regarding the impact of coal property parameters on the carrying capacity of coal in blends with renewable biomass feedstocks and other waste additives. The review has identified the knowledge gaps and future research needs in sustainable cokemaking.