Cokes Ironworks

As humans entered the Bronze Age, charcoal was the only material that could simultaneously heat and reduce metallic ores. Later, the addition of an air blower made it possible to achieve temperatures high enough to soften or melt iron. During the Industrial Revolution, charcoal was largely displaced in most ironworks by coke derived from coal. However in Brazil, which lacks adequate coking coal resources, most of the charcoal produced is still used to reduce iron ore. 

Gasification and Heat Treatment. Examination under the optical microscope showed the Spencer works and Clyde Ironworks cokes to have optical textures mainly consisting of fine- and medium-grained mosaics with some coarse flow anisotropy and isotropic inert material. Of particular interest are the fissures which develop in different types of optical texture and those occurring at the anisotropic-inert interface. SEM examination of these polished surfaces before experimentation shows all of them to be flat and featureless. 

Figure 3, Optical micrograph of Clyde Ironworks coke. Positions D and E discussed in text.

All the materials used including sinter, pellet, coke and three kinds of lump coal are from a certain ironworks. The composition of sinter and pellet are given in Table I. Proximate analysis and ultimate analysis of coke and three kinds of lump coal are... 

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