7TH EUROPEAN COKE AND IRONMAKING CONGRESS - ECIC 2016

Coke plant operators follow numerous coal blending criteria in order to satisfy quality, operational and financial targets of coke production. To meet such specifications the portfolio of coals in use shall not only include prime coking coals but also coals which play an important role in blend performance and cost optimization process. Selection of coals for industrial coke making applications calls for implementation of comprehensive test programs in order to avoid a situation that placing any new coal into a blend would jeopardize the overall blend performance or represent a risk to safe plant operation. To address the issue, thyssenkrupp Steel Europe AG (tkSE), to which Schwelgern coke plant serves as major coke supplier, has recently commissioned a moveable wall test oven, hence accomplishing another significant investment into the company’s future. The coal blend performance parameters such as internal gas pressure and oven wall pressure represent the most valuable outputs of the executed test programs as much as coke cold strength and coke hot strength results do. The paper outlines the steps that have been taken in the efforts to achieve required value in use of a small scale test facility when applying the test results to industrial scale of Schwelgern coke plant. The paper is not only focusing on performance adjustments of the oven itself but it is also covering implemented modifications in handling of produced coke.