Reactivity of biomass containing briquettes for metallurgical coke production

Abstract

The reactivity of cokes from 12 briquettes prepared from ternary blends of coal, three biomasses and four binders was evaluated. In order to determine the effect of the binder, 4 briquettes without biomass were also studied. The gasification tests were carried out by thermogravimetric analysis at 900 °C. Two gas-solid models i.e. the Volumetric model and the Grain model were applied to describe the behaviour of the cokes. Chars and cokes from the briquette components were also tested to determine the degree of synergy. The two models were able to describe the gasification reaction and the predicted conversion fitted the experimental data very well. Reactivity was also determined by means of a greater scale method and a relationship between the two methods was obtained. The ash composition of the briquette components, the micropore surface area and quantitative optical microscopy were used to explain the gasification results obtained.