Characteristics of Coal

Characteristics of Coal
Apart from ultimate and proximate analysis, the
assessment of coal is also based on following
characteristics:

Color: lignite are brown or brownish black and

the color darkens with increasing rank of the coal.
 Characteristics of Coal
Texture: Lignite's are earthy and fibrous in
structures; with increasing maturity coal tends to
be more tough.

Specific Gravity: It depends on the type of the

coal and ash content. The specific gravity
increases from lignite (1.2) to anthracite.
 Characteristics of Coal
Heat of Combustion (Calorific Value): The
calorific value increases with increasing rank of the
coal (expect in case of anthracites whose calorific
value may be lesser than Semi-Bituminous coal
because of lesser percentage of hydrogen).
High volatile coals having long flame have less
heating value than those of the low volatile short
flames. Coal with 20% volatiles generally has the
best heating value.
 Characteristics of Coal
Grind ability: This shows the ease with which a
coal can be ground and is generally expressed as
grindability index.
It is a measure of the power required for grinding
a coal and is of special significance for pulverized
coal.
The coal which can be easily pulverized have
grindability index of about 100.
 Characteristics of Coal
Friability: This is the tendency of coal to break to
pieces on handling and is tested by drop shatter
test.
Non-Friability is essential for coal used with stoker
firing.
Splint and cannel coal are less friable than others.
 Characteristics of Coal
Caking and coking properties: Caking is the ability
of coal to form a coherent cake on carbonization.
This is an important property used to assess the value
of a coal and is tested by various tests such as
Swelling Number, Gray-King Assay, Roga index and
Audibert tests.
If the residue formed on formed on carbonization is
strong and porous, then the coal is called coking
coals, which is used for preparing metallurgical coke.
 Characteristics of Coal
Weathering or slacking index: This is the
measure of tendency of coal to break on exposure
to weather or alternate cycles of dry and wet
climate.

Bulk Density: this is an important characteristics

of coal on which the design of bunker and
containers of storage of coal and for
manufacturing coke depends.
Selection of Coal
 Selection of Coal
The selection of coal for different application is mainly
made on the basis of following factors.
Calorific Value; Higher the calorific value more
preferred the coal is.
Moisture Content: A coal with less moisture content is
economical and is preferred.
Uniformity: A coal having uniformity in size is better in
view of storage, handling and efficiency in operation
 Selection of Coal
Ash Content: A coal with low ash content is
preferred. Further the ash should have high fusion
temperature so that there is no danger of clinker
formation.
Calorific intensity and Flexibility: A coal having
high calorific intensity and flexibility is always
preferred
 Selection of Coal
Sulfur and phosphorus content: A coal having
very low sulfur and phosphorus content is essential
for metallurgical purposes because these
impurities may contaminate the metal and can
adversely affect the properties. They P and S
make metals brittle.
Coking quality: Coking coals are selected for
preparation of strong and porous coke suitable for
metallurgical purposes.
Commercial Types of Coal
 Commercial Types of Coal

Steam coals

Gas coals

House Coals
Coal Production and
processing (preparation)
 Coal Production and processing
(preparation)

Following coal production and processing

(preparation):

Exploration
Mining

Preparation

Storage

Transportation
 EXPLORATION OF COAL
Coal reserves occur in places at varying depths and
thickness of layers interspaced with sand stones and
shale.

Exploration of coal involves site surveys, data collection,

drilling holes and finally collecting samples.

Diamond core drills and drilling rigs are used for sample
collection, several thousand samples are collected and
data is recorded and analyzed.
 COAL MINING
Coal mining is a process of extraction or
obtaining of coal from the earths crust.

When the coal is used as a fuel for power

generation, it is referred as steaming or thermal
coal. Coal that is used to create coke for
manufacturing is referred as metallurgical coal.

coal mines and its accompanying structure are

collectively known as colliery.
 Coal Mining

The most economical method of coal extraction,

from coal seams depends on depth and quality of
the seams and also to the geological and
environmental factors of the area where the coal
is being mined.

Coal mining processes are generally operated

either from the surface called surface mining, or
from underground called underground mining.
 Coal Mining

Surface Mining
Surface mining is the type of mining in which soil
and rocks of overlaying the mineral deposits are
removed and then coal / mineral is mined from
the surface of the earth.

Surface mining is used when the deposits of the

coal, minerals are found near the surface of the
where the overburden (surface material covering
the valuable deposits) is relatively thin
 Coal Mining

Also available material is structurally

unsuitable for the tunneling (as would
usually be in the case for sand.

Surface mines are typically enlarged until

either the minerals deposits are exhausted
or the cost of removing overburden makes
further mine un-economical.
 Coal Mining

In surface mining, the heavy equipments

first remove the overburden then huge
machines such as dragline excavators,
extract the coal or other deposited minerals.

The surface mining methods accounts for

about 40% of world coal production.
 Coal Mining

Types of Surface Mining

There are five main types of surface mining
that are as under.
Strip mining
Open pit mining

Mountain top removal

Dredging

High wall mining

 Coal Mining

Underground Mining
Most coal seams are found deep bellow the
surface of the earth and can not be extracted
economically by surface mining methods,

Underground mining techniques are used to

extract coal & other minerals or geological
materials from the sedimentary (soft) rocks.
 Coal Mining

The mining methods used for extracting materials

deposited in igneous or metamorphic rocks (hard
rocks) are different from mining of coal, which is
available in sedimentary (soft) rocks.

Underground mining methods currently accounts

for about 60% of world coal production.
 Coal Mining

Types of under ground mining.

Long wall mining.
Room and pillar method.

Blast mining.

Short wall mining.

 PREPARATION OF COAL
Preparation of coal prior to feeding into the boiler
is an important step for achieving good
combustion.
Large and irregular lumps of coal may cause the
following problems:
Poor combustion conditions and inadequate furnace
temperature.
Higher excess air resulting in higher stack loss.
Increase of unburnts in the ash.
Low thermal efficiency.
Sizing of Coal

Proper coal sizing is one of the key measures to

ensure efficient combustion.

Proper coal sizing, with specific relevance to the type

of firing system, helps towards even burning,
reduced ash losses and better combustion efficiency.

Coal is reduced in size by crushing and pulverizing.

Pre-crushed coal can be economical for smaller
units, especially those which are stoker fired.
 Sizing of Coal

In a coal handling system, crushing is limited to a

top size of 6 or 4 mm. The devices most
commonly used for crushing are the rotary
breaker, the roll crusher and the hammer mill.

It is necessary to screen the coal before crushing,

so that only oversized coal is fed to the crusher.
This helps to reduce power consumption in the
crusher.
 Sizing of Coal

Recommended practices in coal crushing

are:
Incorporation of a screen to separate fines and
small particles to avoid extra fine generation in
crushing.
Incorporation of a magnetic separator to

separate iron pieces in coal, which may damage

the crusher.
Sizing of Coal
 Conditioning of Coal

The fines in coal present problems in combustion on

account of segregation effects.

Segregation of fines from larger coal pieces can be

reduced to a great extent by conditioning coal with water.

Water helps fine particles to stick to the bigger lumps due

to surface tension of the moisture, thus stopping fines
from falling through grate bars or being carried away by
the furnace draft.
 Conditioning of Coal

The fines in coal present problems in combustion

on While tempering the coal, care should be taken
to ensure that moisture addition is uniform and
preferably done in a moving or falling stream of
coal.

If the percentage of fines in the coal is very high,

wetting of coal can decrease the percentage of
unburnt carbon and the excess air level required to
be supplied for combustion.
Conditioning of Coal
 Blending of Coal

In case of coal lots having excessive fines, it is advisable

to blend the predominantly lumped coal with lots
containing excessive fines.

Coal blending may thus help to limit the extent of fines in

coal being fired to not more than 25%.

Blending of different qualities of coal may also help to

supply a uniform coal feed to the boiler.
 STORAGE OF COAL
Coal is stored at intermediate and final
locations to ensure un-interrupted and flexible
supply.

Storage methods vary depending upon

temperature, rains, wind conditions at the site.
Tropical countries need special storage
precautions to avoid spontaneous fire due to
self heating of exposed coals.
 STORAGE OF COAL
Types of coal can also dictate the choice of
handling and storage methods.

During the storage, the coal undergoes

oxidation and deterioration due to chemical
actions. The effect is called "weathering of
coal".
 STORAGE OF COAL

Weathering of coal depends upon:

The nature of coal
Method of storage

Total bulk of storage

Exposed area

Exposure to atmospheric air

Sun light, and

Atmospheric temperature etc.

 STORAGE OF COAL
Storage of coal should prevent:
Oxidation
Deterioration by heat of combustion

Fires by spontaneous combustion

Weathering etc.
 STORAGE OF COAL
Storage of coal can have following
alternatives:
Overhead
Underground

Under water

Exposed

Enclosed in steel or concrete containers.

 STORAGE OF COAL
The shapes and limitation of stock piles can
be:
Conical
Kidney shaped

Wedge shaped etc

Storage near hot area not allowed

Limits of single storage should in tropical climate are:

Lignite 50tonnes
Bituminous coal 200tonnes
 STORAGE OF COAL
The shapes and limitation of stock piles can be:
Conical

Kidney shaped

Wedge shaped etc

Storage near hot area not allowed

Limits of single storage should in tropical climate are:

Lignite 50tonnes

Bituminous coal 200tonnes

These limits are based on experience regarding spontaneous

combustion in large storage bulks due to accelerated oxidation
TRANSPORTATION OF COAL