Effect of Transportation on the Quality of Foundry Coke

Abstract

The indicator values of foundry coke quality are determined by means of testing at coke plants. As a rule, the consumers of foundry coke and foundry enterprises are located at a distance from coke plants. Foundry coke is transported in bulk in the open railroad cars. In this regard, the aim of this work is to reveal the effect of transportation on the quality of foundry coke. To determine the effect of transportation distance, the destruction index PT (%) was introduced. The experimental results have shown that the destruction degree of foundry coke is not the same at different transportation intervals. When transporting over distances up to 300 km, the coke with the minimum value of M40 durability index undergoes destruction. With an increase in the transportation distance from 900 to 2500 km, the destruction rate of foundry coke increases by 2.08–3.02% depending on the batch. For all batches, the formation of a fraction less than 40 mm was observed depending on the value of M40 durability index from 0.25 to 1.41%. For foundry coke characterized by high values ​​of the durability index, the fraction of 80 mm or larger is kept during transportation. With an increase in the ambient air humidity during transportation by 40%, the moisture content in coke samples with a fraction of 40–60, 60–80, and 80 mm and larger increases more than in 24, 17, and 10 times, respectively. With a decrease in the air humidity by 34%, the amount of moisture in a gram of coke with a fraction of 40–60, 60–80, and 80 mm or larger decreases in 2 times, 1.26 times, and 1.45 times, respectively. Compared with coke with a fraction of 60–80 and 80 mm and larger, the moisture content of coke with a fraction of 40–60 mm increases at a higher rate with an increase in the ambient air humidity.