Exploring the possibilities of using Brazilian subbituminous coals for blast furnace pulverized fuel injection

The current study investigates the combustion and blast furnace injection performance of three Brazilian subbituminous coals (Mina do Recreio) and their beneficiation products using laboratory scale combustion tests. The coals have relative high ash yields (up to 40 wt%) that were reduced stepwise to levels as low as 12 wt%, dry basis. The reduction of ash yields is paralleled by a significant decrease in sulphur and inertinite contents.The combustion tests were performed in a drop tube reactor operating at 1300 °C using two different atmospheres (2.5 and 5% O₂). The chars exhibited preferentially rounded shapes with thick walls and abundant secondary porosity for the 2.5% O₂ chars, whereas the 5% O₂ chars showed very thin walls as a consequence of extensive burnout. The intrinsic reactivities of both set of chars were similar. The differences in conversion between the two working atmospheres were 24-37% and roughly tend to increase with increasing mineral matter content. Conversions as high as 76-81% were reached operating under 5% O₂ indicating that the coals are easy to burn. The small differences in burnout among the coals and their beneficiation products cannot be clearly attributed neither to mineral matter or inertinite content. A rough inverse relationship was found between the intrinsic reactivity of the chars and the inertinite content of the parent coal indicating that the char material derived from inertinite was intrinsically less reactive than that derived from vitrinite. These differences were no longer relevant at high temperature.Blast furnace injection performance was studied through thermobalance experiments using CO₂ atmosphere and 1050 °C temperature. It is apparent that the beneficiation process has no effect on the reactivity of the coals from Recreio Mine. The only exception is the low ash coal-2-LabB (11.5 wt%), for which a higher reactivity is indicated. The reactivity tests show also that the coals have adequate properties to be used together with imported coal blends in pulverized coal injection in the blast furnace (PCI).