Coal rheology – the effect of coal origin, rank, and particle size

Abstract

ABSTRACT Coal rheology is a critical parameter for determining the coking and caking ability of metallurgical coals for cokemaking. The effect of rank, hardness differences due to rank, and particle size on the resultant fluidity and dilatation results were demonstrated for various rank Applachian coals in previous studies. Particles less than USA Standard screen size No. 140 had poorer rheology responses compared to other size fractions. For the third phase of this study, the effect of particle size and rank of Western Canadian coals were also evaluated. All samples and rheology parameters were determined prepared using the standard ASTM methods. In addition, rheology was also measured on sized subsets to determine the effect of particle size and rank on the overall rheology results but from a different geological era compared to Applachian coals. Particle size limits for the Gieseler and Dilatometer tests are suggested. The importance of using temperature range is also emphasized.