Assessing the quality of blast-furnace coke

A. K. Tarakanov,
V. P. Lyalyuk,
D. A. Kassim

In the last few decades, research on the relation between coke quality and blastfurnace performance has demonstrated the exceptional importance of this topic.
We now know how much coke quality affects blast-furnace performance, but we
have yet to identify the specific coke characteristics that are critical in optimizing
the batch composition and the coking technology.
The requirements on the technical analysis of coke and its initial strength (M25,
M40, M10 are obvious and uncontroversial. Problems arise in considering the
requirements on the reactivity CRI and post reactive strength CSR, which are
almost functionally related.
Thanks to extensive monitoring of coke reactivity and the considerable reduction
in reactivity adopted globally over the past twenty years, we see that lowreactivity coke may have both desirable and undesirable properties, which
complicates the assessment of coke quality.
In the present work, we investigate rational approaches to the quality
assessment of blast-furnace coke in current conditions.
As we know, coke has a number of important functions in the blast furnace: as a
fuel (supplying heat); as a reducing agent; as an aerator of the batch in the
furnace's dry zone and in the cohesion zone (the zone where the iron on is
softened); and as drainage packing in the lower part of the furnace. The first is
the primary function, determining the coke consumption in the smelting of unit
quantity of hot metal, in accordance with the thermal balance in the lower stage
of heat transfer. The coke consumption also determines other important furnace
characteristics: its productivity and the cost of hot metal. Coke's role as a
reducing agent affects its consumption, through the influence of reduction
processes on the heat intake in the lower part of the furnace. The first two
functions of coke may be performed by any other fuel introduced with the batch
or by gas injection.
The role of coke in aeration of the batch and as drainage packing depends on its
piece size, consumption, and disintegration in the furnace. With disintegration of
the coke and reduction in its content in the batch, the gas-dynamic conditions in
the furnace are impaired and may be seriously disrupted, the productivity falls,
and the ore distribution over the cross section will be less uniform, with further
undesirable consequences for the productivity and the coke consumption.
One function of coke cannot be replaced by other solid fuels: its role as drainage
packing, so that hot metal and slag may flow without obstacle to the lower part
of the hearth between the coke pieces. Disruption of this function, which

prevents normal furnace operation, may be described as clogging of the hearth

and depends on numerous factors besides the properties of the coke. Clogging of
the hearth by coke fines and finely disperse carbon will not occur if the small carbon materials in the depth of the hearth are actively gasified by the iron slag and
the ground coke in the hearth is replaced by large pieces. Iron slag is formed
naturally with partial oxidation of the hot metal flowing to the hearth at the
tuyeres. For small furnaces, the oxidative zones of the tuyeres cover the hearth