Coal heating values

Tires are a good fuel for several reasons. Tires contain about 15,000 Btu s per pound (about 300,000 Btu s per tire). Coal heating values range from 6,000 to 13,500 Btu s per pound. Further, they are compact, have a consistent composition, and contain a low moisture content. Also, many components of tires, such as sulfur and nitrogen, compare favorably to coal in percent makeup. Table 1-2 compares composition of tires to that of midwest coal.4 Table 1-3 compares composition of various types of tires.5 Most trace metal levels in tires are equivalent to the levels in coal zinc and cobalt are higher in tires.6 Figure 1-1 shows trace metal level of whole tires compared to bituminous coal.6... 

The coal heating value decreases and more oxygen may be required to reach the desired temperature. 

Table 8. Composition and Heating Value of Biomass, Wastes, Peat, and Coal...

Coal can be converted to gas by several routes (2,6—11), but often a particular process is a combination of options chosen on the basis of the product desired, ie, low, medium, or high heat-value gas. In a very general sense, coal gas is the term appHed to the mixture of gaseous constituents that are produced during the thermal decomposition of coal at temperatures in excess of 500°C (>930°F), often in the absence of oxygen (air) (see Coal CONVERSION PROCESSES, gasification) (3). A soHd residue (coke, char), tars, and other Hquids are also produced in the process ... 

The conversion of coal to gas on an industrial scale dates to the early nineteenth century (14). The gas, often referred to as manufactured gas, was produced in coke ovens or similar types of retorts by simply heating coal to vaporize the volatile constituents. Estimates based on modem data indicate that the gas mixture probably contained hydrogen (qv) (ca 50%), methane (ca 30%), carbon monoxide (qv) and carbon dioxide (qv) (ca 15%), and some inert material, such as nitrogen (qv), from which a heating value of approximately 20.5 MJ/m (550 Btu/fT) can be estimated (6). 

Medium Heat- Value Gas. Medium heat-value (medium Btu) gas (6,7) has a heating value between 9 and 26 MJ/m (250 and 700 Btu/fT). At the lower end of this range, the gas is produced like low heat-value gas, with the notable exception that an air separation plant is added and relatively pure oxygen (qv) is used instead of air to partially oxidize the coal. This eliminates the potential for nitrogen in the product and increases the heating value of the product to 10.6 MJ /m (285 Btu/fT). Medium heat-value gas consists of a mixture of methane, carbon monoxide, hydrogen, and various other gases and is suitable as a fuel for industrial consumers. 

Gasification technologies for the production of high heat-value gas do not all depend entirely on catalytic methanation, that is, the direct addition of hydrogen to coal under pressure to form methane. 

The hquid remaining after the solvent has been recovered is a heavy residual fuel called solvent-refined coal, containing less than 0.8 wt % sulfur and 0.1 wt % ash. It melts at ca 177°C and has a heating value of ca 37 MJ/kg (16,000 Btu/lb), regardless of the quaUty of the coal feedstock. The activity of the solvent is apparently more important than the action of gaseous hydrogen ia this type of uncatalyzed hydrogenation. Research has been directed to the use of petroleum-derived aromatic oils as start-up solvents (118). 

Od condensed from the released volatdes from the second stage is filtered and catalyticady hydrotreated at high pressure to produce a synthetic cmde od. Medium heat-content gas produced after the removal of H2S and CO2 is suitable as clean fuel. The pyrolysis gas produced, however, is insufficient to provide the fuel requirement for the total plant. Residual char, 50—60% of the feed coal, has a heating value and sulfur content about the same as feed coal, and its utilisation may thus largely dictate process utdity. 

Properties. A high volatile western Kentucky bituminous coal, the tar yield of which by Fischer assay was ca 16%, gave a tar yield of ca 26% at a pyrolysis temperature of 537°C (146—148). Tar yield peaked at ca 35% at 577°C and dropped off to 22% at 617°C. The char heating value is essentially equal to that of the starting coal, and the tar has a lower hydrogen content than other pyrolysis tars. The product char is not suitable for direct combustion because of its 2.6% sulfur content. 

The TOSCOAL Process. The Oil Shale Corp. (TOSCO) piloted the low temperature carbonization of Wyoming subbituminous coals over a two-year period in its 23 t/d pilot plant at Rocky Falls, Colorado (149). The principal objective was the upgrading of the heating value in order to reduce transportation costs on a heating value basis. Hence, the soHd char product from the process represented 50 wt % of the starting coal but had 80% of its heating value. 

The volatiles contents of product chars decreased from ca 25—16% with temperature. Char (lower) heating values, on the other hand, increased from ca 26.75 MJ /kg (11,500 Btu/lb) to 29.5 MJ /kg (12,700 Btu/lb) with temperature. Chars in this range of heating values are suitable for boiler fuel apphcation and the low sulfur content (about equal to that of the starting coal) permits direct combustion. These char products, however, are pyrophoric and require special handling in storage and transportation systems. 

Coal Moisture Ash Volatile Fixed Volatile C H S N O Heat value. 

The moisture content of freshly mined lignitic coals can be as high as 73%, but it is usually 30—65%. The more mature, consoHdated coals have lower moisture contents and thus a higher heating value. Figure 2 shows moisture and ash contents, as well as net heating values for lignitic coals from the world s principal deposits (19). 

Seam thicknesses and depths vary tremendously. The most favorable deposits have shallow overburdens and thick seams that cover large areas. Acceptable stripping ratios, ie, overburden thickness to coal thickness, depend on the quaHty of the fuel. Ratios up to 10 1 have been used for bituminous coals, but lower ones are required for lignitic coals because of the lower heating value per unit weight. 

Briquettes have a heating value of 16.7-23.4 MJ/kg (7, 200-10,000 Btu/lb) or from 2—3 times the value of a typical brown coal primarily because of the moisture loss. 

Fig. 3. MHD power plant design burning low heating value (LHV) gas produced from coal by chemical regeneration.

Eig. 8. Cost of electricity (COE) comparison where represents capital charges, Hoperation and maintenance charges, and D fuel charges for the reference cycles. A, steam, light water reactor (LWR), uranium B, steam, conventional furnace, scmbber coal C, gas turbine combined cycle, semiclean hquid D, gas turbine, semiclean Hquid, and advanced cycles E, steam atmospheric fluidized bed, coal E, gas turbine (water-cooled) combined low heating value (LHV) gas G, open cycle MHD coal H, steam, pressurized fluidized bed, coal I, closed cycle helium gas turbine, atmospheric fluidized bed (AEB), coal J, metal vapor topping cycle, pressurized fluidized bed (PEB), coal K, gas turbine (water-cooled) combined, semiclean Hquid L, gas turbine... 

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