Evaluation of quality and property of Shenhua coal

Huaizhen Chen, Fenghai Cui & Xiaoyu Gu

Shenhua Coal Trading Co., Beijing, P.R. China

ABSTRACT: This article synthesizes the research on quality, property and utilization of Shenhua coal in
recent years, conducts comprehensive evaluation on Shenhua coal in five respects of coal quality characteristics,
combustion property, blending characteristics, economy performance and environmental protection property
and points out that along with deepening research and technical advancement, as a rare, high quality and clean
energy, Shenhua coal will occupy an more important place in coal market domestic and abroad.

1 SUMMARY bituminous coal with low degree of metamorphism.

Shenhua coal is high quality power coal produced from
Shenfu-Dongsheng mining field by Shenhua Group.
This mining field is located inYulin of Shanxi Province
and Ih Ju League of Inner Mongolia Autonomous
Region with 31200 km2 of demonstrated coal-bearing
area and 223.6 billion tons of geological reserves.
The planned mine area of Shendong Company under
Shenhua Group is 34,81 km2 with 35.4 billion tons of
geological reserves, the annual production capacity of
9 coal mines already built (such as Daliuta, Bulianta,
Yujialiang and Kangjiatan etc.) will reach 80.0 Mt in
2004, all main coal mines adopt high efficient long-
wall fully mechanized mining technology. In 2003,
the efficiency of productive labor of raw coal in
Shendong Company is 83.17 t/man-shift and was in
the lead domestically, the efficiency of productive
labor of raw coal in coal mines with mining capac-
ity above 10.0 Mt is 117.8 t/man-shift and taken the
lead internationally and the company has become the
largest domestic coal production enterprise with first-
class technical equipment and advanced system of
operation and management.
In recent years, the production and marketing of
Shenhua coal has been increasing rapidly and is par-
ticularly so during 19992003 and realized a striding
over development with 10.0 Mt of increase every year.
In 2003, the Shenhua Group sold out 74.18 Mt coal in
which 27.0 Mt was exported and became the major
supply base of power coal both domestically and
abroad.
2 COAL QUALITY CHARACTERISTICS
Shenhua coal was formed in Jurassic period, the
mining field has 5 minable seams and they are all
According to Classification of Chinese Coals brands
of shenhua coal are mainly non-caking and long flame
coal with characteristics of relative high moisture con-
tent, low ash and sulfur, relative high calorific value,
relative low fusion temperature of coal ash and relative
high calcium content in coal ash.
2.1 Moisture content
Moisture content in commercial coal is mainly affected
by degree of metamorphism, washing and dewatering
condition of coal, geology hydrological condition and
mining method. Shenhua coal has typical characteris-
tics of young bituminous coal with relative high total
moisture, normally, it is 1216%, the average figure is
14.2% and 5.8% higher than 8.4% of average domestic
level due to its late coal formation and low degree of
metamorphism.
2.2 Ash content
Coal seams of Shenhua mining field have relative low
ash content, they are thicker and stable with less tecton-
ics and faults. There is less extraneous ash (waste etc.)
mingled with coal due to advanced mining, haulage
and storage methods. Advanced coal preparation plant
is also used to control ash content of commercial coal
in order to guarantee low ash of commercial coal.
Therefore, Shenhua coal has become one of brand
coals with lowest ash content in China, its average
ash content is 7.58% and only 1/3 of the average ash
content (23.85%) of power coal in China. Coal seams
of Shenhua mining field have relative low ash con-
tent, they are thicker and stable with less tectonics and
faults. There is less extraneous ash (waste etc.) min-
gled with coal due to advanced mining, haulage and

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storage methods. Advanced coal preparation plant is
also used to control ash content of commercial coal in
order to guarantee low ash of commercial coal. There-
fore, Shenhua coal has become one of brand coals
with lowest ash content in China, its average ash con-
tent is 7.58% and only 1/3 of the average ash content
(23.85%) of power coal in China.
2.3 Calorific value
Calorific value of pure coal with low metamorphism
trends to rise with the increasing of degree of metamor-
phism. The gross calorific value at constant volume
(dry and ash-free basis) of Shenhua coal is not high
because of its relative low degree of metamorphism.
The average is 7,720 kcal/kg and 280 kcal/kg lower
than the average level in China. Although moisture
content of Shenhua coal is slightly higher, its ash con-
tent is very low, thus its net calorific value (as received
basis) is still relatively high, the average figure is
5,850 kcal/kg and 440 kcal/kg higher than the national
average level.
2.4 Sulfur content
In general, power coal in China is mainly coal with
low sulfur, commercial coal with sulfur less than 1.0%
accounts for 70% of the total power coal. Shenhua coal
is from Limnic coal deposits with less extraneous sul-
fur, therefore, its sulfur content is low, its average value
is 0.42% and 0.69% lower than the national average
level (1.01%) (see Table 1).
2.5 Ash fusibility
Another obvious characteristic of Shenhua coal is
low temperature of ash fusion, its average soften-
ing temperature is 1160 C and 240 C lower than the
national average level (1400 C). The reason is that in
ash component of Shenhua coal, CaO is 48 times
of the national average level of power coal. But CaO
monomer is formed and its ash fusion reaches above
1300 C due to excessive high CaO in very few coal
seams or areas.
Table 1. Comparison on average quality of Shenhua coal and national power coal.
Total
Mt
Category of coal % %
Shenhua coal, 14.2
average
National power coal, 8.4
average
Copyright 2004 Taylor & Francis Group plc, London, UK
3 COMBUSTION PROPERTY
The Shenhua coal is a high quality power coal which is
extremely prone to combust with fast burning velocity
and is extremely prone to burnout, both practice and
comparison test show that the characteristics of fast
burning velocity and good burn-off of Shenhua coal
are favorable to burn with high efficiency and low
pollution in boiler of power station.
3.1 Ignitability
Ignitability of coal has a direct relationship to stable
burning characteristic of boiler unit. In power coal cur-
rently used domestically, the Shenhua coal belongs
to bituminous coal with extra high quality in view
of ignitability and is only inferior to ordinary lig-
nite coal. The research carried out by Xi-an Thermal
Power Research Institute of National Power Company
(following is abbreviated to the Thermal Engineering
Research Institute) shows that the ignition tempera-
ture of Shenhua coal is 90 C lower than other main
power coals used in China, under the same power unit,
the underload stable burning characteristic of Shen-
hua coal is higher than that of other coals and this is
favorable for improving peak-load regulating capacity
in commercial operation of power plant.
3.2 Burn-off characteristics
The burn-off characteristic directly affects the com-
bustion efficiency of boiler. The study carried out by
Thermal Power Research Institute shows that Shenhua
coal is one of bituminous coals with the best burn-off
characteristic in domestic power coal, its burn-off rate
is 1% higher and the combustible matter of fly ash is
24% lower compares to other main power coals. For
this reason, 48 g/kw.h coal consumption is reduced
and it has obvious economic benefits.
Because of good combustion property of Shenhua
coal, it shows the following advantages when used in
boiler of power plant:
(1) High flame stability, low stable combustion load
when not inject oil and convenient load regulation;
Calorific Total
Ash value sulfur Softening
Ad Qnet, ar St, d temperature
kcal/kg % ST
7.58 850 0.42 1160
23.85 5410 1.01 1400
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(2) Concentrated combustion, high flame temperature
and burn-off rate, low combustible matter of fly
ash;
(3) Low requirement for coal powder feeding temper-
ature and the grain size of powder coal can be
relaxed;
(4) High boiler efficiency, low coal consumption and
excellent economic performance.
4 BLENDING CHARACTERISTICS
4.1 Addictivity of index of Shenhua blending
The key for Shenhua blending is the predictability of
quality index and the accuracy of predicted results.
Currently, there are two main points of view in the-
ory of predicting blending index: One is linear theory
and another is nonlinear theory. Shenhua coal is power
coal, so it is appropriate to adopt linear predicting
method. The Shenhua Coal Trading Co., has tested
and verified the accuracy of the linear prediction of
Shenhua blending indices, results are as follows: (1) In
basic indices of Shenhua blending, the linear relation
of sulfur and ash content is the best; (2) The calcu-
lated values of volatile matter and moisture content are
slightly higher than the practical test results; (3) Rel-
ative small deviation of the result of calorific value;
(4) The linear relation of ash fusibility is not good
enough, it has certain guiding meaning, but it is neces-
sary to set up model and further improve the predicting
accuracy based on the basic composition of ash of var-
ious coals (figures of verified test results, see articles
in related magazines).
4.2 Influence of Shenhua coal on combustion
property
To further get a clear understanding of influence
of Shenhua blending coal on combustion property
and clinkering property, the TPRE Coal Evaluation
System, which was developed by Thermal Power
Research Institute, is used to make overall evaluation
on the performance of Shenhua coal and Baode coal
of Carboniferous Period. Standard of this system, see
Table 2.
4.2.1 Ignitability
Thermal Power Research Institute uses IT and RI to
evaluate the ignitability of Shenhua coal and also
Shenhua coal mixed with Baode Coal, the results, see
Fig. 1. When Shenhua coal of Jurassic Period is mixed
with Shenhua coal (not more than 50%), the ignitabil-
ity of the mixed coal has basically no change and it
belongs to extreme easily igniting coal.
4.2.2 Burn-off
Thermal Power Research Institute uses IT adopts Bp
and Cb to evaluate the burn-off of Shenhua coal and
its mixed with Baode coal of Carboniferous Period, the
results, see Fig. 2. After the Shenhua coal was mixed
with Baode Coal (not more than 50%) and burned, its
burn-off has certain fluctuation and tends to decrease
generally, but it tends to be good when the mixed Baode
coal of Carboniferous Period reaches 40%. Within the
proportion (not more than 50%) of Baode coal, which
is mixed with Shenhua coal of Jurassic Period, mixed
coal with all proportions belong to easy to extreme
easy burn-off coal.

Table 2. Index for judging coal performance and classification.

Classification limit
Contents Index Extreme difficult Difficult Medium Easy Extreme easy

Ignitability IT >850 700850 630700 570630 <570

Burn-off Bp <88.6 88.693.3 93.395.7 95.798.3 >98.3
Clinkering property Sc Low Medium High Serious
<0.25 0.250.45 0.450.65 >0.65

600
500
Ignitability

400
300
200
100
0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
RI IT Proportion of carboniferous period coal,%

Figure 1. Change of ignitability when Jurassic Period coal mixes with Carboniferous Period coal and burns.

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100.0

characteristic
99.5
Burn-off 99.0
98.5
98.0
97.5
97.0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
100-Cb Bp Proportion of Carboniferous Period coal, %

Figure 2. Change of burn-off characteristic when Jurassic Period coal mixes with Carboniferous Period coal and burns.
(Note: RI is reaction index, its unit is C, it refers to the temperature, in which coal sample starts liberating heat rapidly during
heating of coal at the speed of 20 C/min in oxygen medium, the higher of the index, the more difficult ignition of coal will be;
IT is the ignition temperature of powder coal air stream, its unit is C, the higher of the index, the more difficult of ignition
of coal burn-off rate will be; Bp is the average value of the burn-off rate and it shows the degree of complete combustion of
carbon in coal; Cb is burnout index and it is gained by combining burn-up factor and reaction index.)

1.2
Clinkering

1.0
index Sc

0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0.0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
Proportion of coal in Carboniferous period,%

Figure 3. Change of clinkering characteristics when Jurassic Period coal mixes with Carboniferous period coal and burns.

4.2.3 Clinkering property
After Shenhua coal was mixed with Baode coal and
burned, the change of its clinkering property, see Fig. 3.
Shenhua coal is serious clinkering coal, after mixed
with Baode Coal, its clinker decreases relative rapidly
and it slightly fluctuates when the proportion of Baode
coal is 40% and this can confirm the fluctuation of
combustion of coal. Generally, when the proportion of
Baode coal is 20%, the clinkering property of coal
has been reduced below medium. Mixing Shenhua
coal with Baode coal is to provide a safe, economic
and practicable way for solving clinkering problem
of Shenhua coal, at the same time, it also effectively
reduces CaO in coal ash and this is favorable to the
handle and utilization of ash residue.
4.2.4 Test conclusion
(1) When Shenhua coal is mixed with Baode coal (its
proportion is not more than 50%) of Carboniferous
Period, the combustion performance (ignition and
burn-off) of the mixed coal has reliable property
and no big change compare to Shenhua coal of
Jurassic Period.
(2) Shenhua coal mixes with Baode coal of Car-
boniferous Period can better reach the purpose
of reducing the clinkering property of coal and
CaO content in coal ash, it also guarantee that
there are no obvious changes of the calorific value
and ash content of the mixed coal. This is one of
the best schemes for current burning coal from
Shenfu-Dongsheng mining field domestically.
(3) Mixing and burning of these two coals could not
produce bad result on operation of combustion
system and auxiliary equipment.
5 ECONOMIC PERFORMANCE
5.1 Way of reflect
Stable combustion and low carbon content of fly ash.
Shenhua coal belongs to bituminous coal with medium
high calorific value and volatile matter with advan-
tages such as easy ignition, stable combustion, low ash
content, high burn-off rate of coal fines and fully uti-
lization of thermal energy, the combustible matter of
fly ash in boiler closely approximates the level of liquid
boiler and the boiler efficiency is obviously increasing.
Flexible regulation of thermal load and suits for
peak clipping. The combustion velocity and reaction
rate of Shenhua coal in boiler is fast, regulation of
thermal load is more flexible and it can easily keep
stable of parameters.
It is not necessary to inject oil during low-load oper-
ation and it has strong oil saving capacity. It is no
need to inject oil during low-load operation due to the
advantage of stable combustion of Shenhua coal. The
Panshan Power Plant started using Shenhua coal in
1999, 1,624 tons of oil was saved in 2000 compared
to that in 1999.

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100
300MW unit
96 600MW unit 94.0
92
%

88.5 87.5 88.7 88.8

88 90.6
88.8 89.3
87.0
84 85.5
Proportion of Shenhua coal in firing coal, %
80
0 20 40 60 80 100

Figure 4. Economic comparison when boilers of power plant burn different proportion of Shenhua coal.
Consumption for power

360
300MW unit
350 349
supply g/kWh

345 600MW unit

342 343 338
340 339 336
338 338 331
330
319
320
Proportion of Shenhua coal in firing coal, %
310
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

Figure 5. Comparison of coal consumption of power supply when burn different proportion of Shenhua coal.

Outstanding environmental protection. Shenhua
coal has low sulfur content and relative high basic com-
position (particularly CaO and MgO), therefore, its
self-desulphurization rate is high and this can greatly
reduce SOx discharge, thus, it can greatly reduce SOx
discharge free and also gain good social benefits.
5.2 On site study
To understand economic performance in practical uti-
lization of Shenhua coal, Thermal Power Research
Institute studied the utilization of Shenhua coal in
domestic 300600 MW plant units. Figure 4 is the
comparison of coal consumption of power supply
when combust various proportions of Shenhua coal,
the coal consumption value in the figure has been
revised based on the heat consumption of turbo-unit
of various power plants. It can be seen from Fig. 4
that when 300 MW unit only burn Shenhua coal, the
maximum coal consumption can be reduced for about
10 g, the reduction extent is 3.38%; when 600 MW unit
only burn Shenhua coal, coal consumption can reduce
about 20 g, the reduction extent reached 5.76%.
Fig. 4 also listed the study results of index when
part of domestic units burn different proportion of
Shenhua coal, calculation of value is as follows:
= b (1 N )%
where: b is boiler efficiency, %; N is station power
consumption rate, %.
value index comprehensively considers the influ-
ence of boiler efficiency and station power consump-
tion rate, it is in proportion to coal consumption of
power supply, i.e., the bigger of the , the better of
coal combustion will be. The result in Fig. 5 shows
that the higher proportion of Shenhua coal, the higher
the value will be and the economic performance is
better. Some power plants only burn Shenhua coal, the
index reaches above 94% and has good result.
6 ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
PROPERTY
6.1 Comparison of comprehensive contamination
index
The China Environment Science Institute conducted
comparison of comprehensive contamination index for
various typical power coals, the comprehensive con-
tamination index is calculated based on coal quality
and influence of pollutant produced by combustion
on air quality (see Fig. 6). In typical power coal, the
pollution of Shenhua coal is minimum (1.35 103 ),
the second is Datong coal, following are Luan and
Jiaozuo.
6.2 Contents of harmful element
Along with the increasing of environment conscious-
ness, people pay more attention to harmful elements,
for example, Japan and some other countries worked
out definite limit on selenium content of import coal.
The harmful element contents of Shenhua coal are
generally low, for example, the phosphorus content
(60 g/g) is only 1/5 of the national average level,
the fluorine content (20 g/g) is only 1/10 of national

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12.5
Comprehensive pollution index
10.0
7.5
5.0
2.5
0.0

X u
Pi an

Sh g

a
bo
ng

an

Jin an
im

'an
Y o
a

uo
Jia g

hu
on
xi

su
ef

zh

en
in
Zi
ro

ish
Y

gq

Lu
Fu

oz

en
at
Ti

ng
ua

an

ch
Fu

D
an
H

Y
Figure 6. Comparison of comprehensive contamination index of various coal.

Table 3. Comparison of blow-off coefficient of Shenhua coal and other coals.

Discharge coefficient of Discharge coefficient of Discharge coefficient of

Category SO2 kg/t smoke kg/t NOx kg/t

Shenhua coal 7.8 0.24 0.8

Parallel coal 11.1 0.19 1.1
National average 18.7 3.53 9.08

average level, the mercury content (90 g/g) is 1/2 of
the national average level, the lead content (3.97 g/g)
is about 1/5 of the national average level, the selenium
content (0.2 g/g) is 1/20 of the national average level
and the chlorine content (163 g/g) is also slightly
lower than the national average level, only boron
content (68.2 g/g) is slightly higher than the average
value of domestic and world power coal.
6.3 Discharge of air pollutant of Shenhua coal
6.3.1 Boiler of power plant
The Clean Coal Technology Center, China Environ-
ment Science Institute, Thermal Power Research Insti-
tute and Guangzhou Environment Monitoring Station
jointly conducted practical environment and energy
efficiency test when burning Shenhua coal and another
coal in Zhuhai Power Plant in Guangdong Province
and in Nantong Power Plant of Huaneng Company, the
SO2 discharge coefficient of Shenhua coal is 7.8 kg/t
and is evidently lower than that of the other coal; the
discharge efficient smoke and NOx are 0.24 kg/t and
0.8 kg/t respectively and are similar to the parallel coal
and are all lower than the average level of national
electricity industry.
Burning Shenhua coal by power plants can effec-
tively solve the problem brought about by power plant,
which could not be erected with FGD system widely in
recent some years. Compares to the 0.9% average sul-
fur content of burning coal by power plants currently,
burning Shenhua coal can reduce above 1/3 more of
SO2 , it will play a active role in controlling acid rain
pollution in China.
6.3.2 Industrial boiler
The Clean Coal Technology Center and Shanghai
Industrial Boiler Institute carried out tests on SZL type
6 t/h and 10 t/h steam boilers in Rongshicheng Print-
ing and Dyeing Co., Ltd, which located in Qianzhou
town of Wuxi City in Jiangsu Province, without desul-
phurization equipment, when boiler burns Shenhua
coal, the discharge concentration of SO2 is less than
500 mg/m3 and is far lower than the national standard
(900 mg/m3 ) and it is about 1/5 when burns parallel
coal. The smoke discharge concentration of Shenhua
coal is similar to that of parallel coal, it can reach
the national standard after treated by detester. Burning
Shenhua coal widely in cities can solve the difficult
problem of large quantity of small and medium indus-
trial boilers with serious pollution but are not suitable
for erecting desulphurization devices.
7 CONCLUSIONS
Shenhua coal has the condition of clean and high qual-
ity power coal both on coal quality and utilization.
Its good combustion characteristics suit the utilization
of large and medium coal-burning equipment and are
beneficial to improve economy of coal user; its low
ash, low sulfur and low pollutant discharge coefficient
suits to the strengthening of environmental protec-
tion consciousness; its low temperature of ash fusion
problem not only be solved by blending, but more
utilization by new power plants, which are designed
based on Shenhua coal and this shows that boilers
in those power plants can only burn Shenhua coal
safe and high efficiently. As a clean energy with rich

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resources and stable quality, and relying on stream- REFERENCES

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coal will occupy more important place in domestic and
even world coal market.

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