Small-scale preparation of coke sample for carbon form analysis using Sapozhnikov plastometer

Coke is an important material for blast furnace ironmaking. Coke carbon form analysis is a useful tool to understand the coking behavior of a given coal and/or coal blend to aid in further improvements in subsequent coke quality. To produce coke samples for detailed carbon form analysis, it is essential to ensure the similarity in resultant coke microscopic characteristics for comparison to the coke produced in an industrial coke oven. In this work, a novel small-scale approach for the preparation of a coke sample was developed. The technique significantly reduced the demand of coal samples to about 250 g and the efforts required in generation of coke were also significantly reduced. The microscopic characteristics of the coke sample produced by this technique were experimentally compared with the coke generated by pilot-scale carbonization. It was demonstrated in this work that this technique was capable of handling coal samples with very different properties. The coke samples produced using this small-scale carbonization technique were proved to be suitable for detailed carbon forms analysis.