TEKNOLOGI BATUBARA

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References
Miller, B.G., Coal Energy Systems,
2005, Elsevier Academic Press.
Perry, R.H. & Green, D.W., Perrys
Chemical Engineers Handbook,
1999, McGraw-Hill.

 Coal is used in the industrial sector

for producing steam and to a lesser
extent electricity, and some
chemicals are produced from coal.
The technologies used for
generating power, heat, coke, and
chemicals are combustion,
carbonization, gasication, and
liquefaction.

Carbonization
Carbonization is the process by which coal is
heated and volatile productsgaseous and liquid
are driven off, leaving a solid reside called char
or coke.
Coal carbonization processes are classified into :
- high-temperature operations if they are
performed at temperatures greater than 1650F
- low-temperature operations if they are
conducted below 1350F
- medium temperature processes if
carbonization processes reaching into the 1350 to
1650F range

 The main purpose of high-temperature

carbonization is the production of
metallurgical coke for use in blast
furnaces and foundries.
More than 90% of the coke produced is
used in blast furnaces to smelt iron ore
and produce pig iron.
Low-temperature carbonization has
been mainly used to provide town gas for
residential and street lighting, tars for use
in chemical production, and smokeless
fuels for domestic and industrial heating.

Coke

High-Temperature
Carbonization

The rst coke ovens that produced satisfactory

blast furnace or foundry coke as the main product,
and tar, ammonia, and later benzene as byproducts, were built around 1856 and were
known as by-product recovery ovens.
Modifications to the design has continued but the
basic design of these ovens, essentially the
modern coke oven, was completed by the
1940s.
The horizontal slot-type coke (by-product
recovery) oven, in which higher temperatures can
be attained and better control over coke quality
can be exercised, has superceded other designs
and is used for coking bituminous coal.

 Modern slot-type coke ovens are

comprised of chambers 50 to 55 feet long,
20 to 22 feet high, and 18 inches wide.
A number of these chambers (from 20 to
100) alternating with similar cells that
accommodate heating flues serve as a
battery.
Coal, crushed to 80% minus 1/8 in. with a
top size of 1 in., is loaded along the top of
the ovens using a charging car on rails and
is leveled by a retractable bar.

 Coking takes place in completely sealed

ovens, and when carbonization is
completed (after 1520 hours) the oven
doors are opened and a ram on one side
pushes the red-hot coke into a quenching
car or onto a quenching platform.
Coke yield is about 75%.
By-product gas and tar vapors are
removed from the oven to collector mains
for further processing or for use in the
battery.

Coal Properties for Coke

Production

Coking Conditions

Carbonization conditions of interest

include :
the particle size of the coal charged to
the coke oven,
charge density,
rate of heating,
oven design,
and special conditions such as preheating
and partial briquetting.

 It is important to pulverize the coals

(measured as the quantity of coal passing a
1/8-in. screen, which is typically 80% but can
vary from 50 to 100%) to reduce the inert
particles of the coal as well as to reduce the
size of coal particles that exhibit low fluidities.
Higher levels of pulverization tend to make a
more homogenous mixture of the reactive
and inert components of the coals blended.
The bulk density of the coal charged to the
oven is also adjusted in order to produce
denser or more homogenous cokes.
In addition to varying the coal particle size,
this adjustment is accomplished by adding
small amounts of water or oil to the blend.

 There has been much effort to increase the

productivity of coke ovens through improved oven
design and operating practices.
The rate of heating the coal charge has been
shown to be important in coke yield and properties.
As coking rate is increased, the coke size, shatter
index, and stability decrease while the hardness
factor increases.
Coke size becomes more uniform with increased
heating rate.
Faster coking rates and the resultant in situ crushing
are advantages to the iron makers who crush coke to
produce a uniformly sized burden for the furnace.

 Preheating high-oxygen coals or marginally coking

coals can substantially improve the quality of coke
from these coals and reduce the required coking
times.
Coking times for these coals can be reduced by 30 to
45%, while preheating strengthens the resultant
cokes.
In an effort to reduce the cost of blast furnace coke
and to extend the range of ranks and types of coals
that can be incorporated into blast furnace coke
blends, formed coke processes have been developed.
Formed coke processes involve carbonizing coal or
a blend of coals (that may contain low-rank or highly
volatile coals) that have been compressed into shaped
briquettes.

Low-Temperature
Carbonization
The preferred coals for low-temperature
carbonization are typically lignites,
subbituminous coal, or highly volatile
bituminous coal, which, when pyrolyzed
at temperatures between 1100 and
1300F, yield a porous char with
reactivities that are typically not much
lower than those of their parent coals .
These reactive chars are easily ignited and
are used as smokeless fuels or as
feedstocks to gasification processes, are
blended with coals to make coke-oven feed,
or are used as a power plant fuel.

 The tars that are produced during lowtemperature carbonization are much different
than those from high-temperature carbonization.
High-temperature carbonization tends to
produce mainly aromatic compounds,
whereas those produced during lowtemperature carbonization are
predominately aliphatic compounds, hence
the different end-use applications of the tar byproducts.
Gas yield and composition are also different
during low-temperature carbonization, with
gas yields being 25% of those produced during
high temperature carbonization, but the gas
contains more methane and less hydrogen,
giving it a higher heating value .

Smokeless Fuel Commercial

Processes
The primary application of lowtemperature carbonization is to make
smokeless fuels for use in homes and
small industrial boilers in areas that have
high population density and rely on coal as
a fuel, particularly coal that has a high
volatile-matter content.
Examples of two processes used in Great
Britain are the Coalite and the Home
Fire processes.

 The Coalite process uses moving-bed,

vertical-retort technology and is a continuous
process using indirect heating.
In the Coalite process, deep-mined British
bituminous coal is carbonized in several
batteries, each battery consisting of 40 metal
retorts, assembled in two rows of 20, at a
temperature of 1200F.
The coal charge to each retort, which is 660
lb, remains in the retort for 4 hours, after which
time a ram pushes the Coalite into a cooler.
Typically, 1 metric ton of coal blend will produce
1100 to 1870 lb of smokeless coal or semi-coke,
5300 to 6350 standard cubic feet (scf) of gas,
18 to 20 gallons of coal oil, 3 to 5 gallons of
light oil, and 45 to 48 gallons of aqueous liquor.

The gas is recycled for onsite use to heat the

batteries, generate steam, and general
heating.
Oils are distilled to yield pitch (for use as a
boiler fuel), heavy oil (to produce creosotes
and disinfectants), and middle and light oils (to
produce phenols, cresols, and xylenols).
The liquor contains dissolved chemicals
principally, ammonia, monohydric and dihydric
phenolsand through extraction and
fractionation a wide range of chemicals is
produced, including catechol, resorcinol, and
methyl resorcinol.

 The Home Fire process uses a

blend of bituminous coals and
fluidized-bed technology.
At the Home Fire plant, the coal is
crushed to 1/4-in. particles, dried,
and devolatilized for 20 minutes at
800F in a fluidized-bed reactor.
The hot char is extruded into
hexagonal briquettes, cooled, and
quenched.