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JOURNAL OF
ENVIRONMENTAL
SCIENCES
ISSN 1001-0742
CN 11-2629/X
Journal of Environmental Sciences 2013, 25(Suppl.) S186–S189 www.jesc.ac.cn

Research on the evolvement of morphology of coking coal during

the coking process
Xiangyun Zhong1 , Shiyong Wu2 , Yang Liu1 , Zhenning Zhao1 ,
Yaru Zhang1 , Jinfeng Bai1, ∗, Jun Xu1 , Bai Xi1

1. Key Lab of Advanced Coal and Coking Technology Liaoning, School of Chemical Engineering, University of Science and Technology Liaoning,
Anshan 114053, China. E-mail: zhongxy1980@163.com
2. School of Resource and Environment, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai 200237, China

Abstract
The evolvement of morphology and structure of the coal with different metamorphic degrees during coking process in the vertical
furnace was investigated by infrared Image detector. Moreover, the temperature distribution in the radial direction and the crack
formation were also studied in heating process. The results show that the amount of crack and the shrinkage level of char decrease
with the coal rank rising. In addition, the initial temperature of crack formation for char increases with the coal rank rising.
Key words: coking coal; coking process; surface morphology; infrared imaging

Introduction 1 Experimental

The property and shrinkage behavior of coking coal in the
coking process has an important influence on the proper-
ties of coke. In addition, the properties of coke depend
on coal rank, petrological composition, mass fraction of
mineral and coking technology. Researchers have studied
the effects of the conventional coal quality index and coal
petrologic parameters on the mechanical strength of coke,
and the change of micropore structure of coke during
the coking (Zhang et al., 2011; Shen et al., 2003; Shen
and Wang, 2007). Optical microscope has been used to
characterize coking coal macerals and microstructure of
metallurgical coke (Enkins et al., 2010; Nandita et al.,
2008). Fu et al. (2005) uses 4 g coal sample to analyze
the morphological changes of the coal during the pyrolysis
process by the digital video camera, and obtains the ex-
pansion and shrinkage performance of coal. However, the
study on coking process and change of shrinkage behavior
of coking coal using infrared radiation source has not been
reported.
In this work, the surface morphology and shrinkage
mechanism of gas coal, 1/3 coking coal, fat coal, coking
coal and lean coal in pyrolysis were studied by infrared
imaging technology to guide the coking coal blending.
Corresponding author. E-mail: baijf863@163.com
1.1 Raw coals
The properties of raw coals are shown in Table 1. In the
experiment, the raw coals are pulverized, in which more
than 85% amount of particles is less than 3 mm in size.
1.2 Experimental process
A 20-g dry coal in a circular metal mould with a diameter
90 mm, whose stack density was 0.7 g/cm3 , was put into
the vertical tube-type resistance furnace. The furnace was
heated to 800°C at a ratio of 3°C/min. N2 of 700 mL/sec
was inputted from the bottom of the furnace during heating
process. An infrared thermal imager (mode AMTMP20)
was used to characterize the surface morphology of coking
coal since the furnace temperature was heated to 200°C.
2 Results and discussion
2.1 Analysis of the infrared images
The thermal image characteristic of gas coal, 1/3 coking
coal, fat coal, coking coal and lean coal at different tem-
perature of coking process, and the quantitative analysis of
crack caused in coking process were studied. The results
are shown in Fig. 1. As shown in the figures, gas coal began
to crack when the furnace temperature reached 563°C, and
the highest and the lowest temperature of the coal surface
in radial direction were 557°C and 481°C, respectively. 1/3
Suppl. Research on the evolvement of morphology of coking coal during the coking process S187

a1 a2 b1 b2 c1 c2

a3 a4 b3 b4 c3 c4

d1 d2 e1 e2

d3 d4 e3 e4

Fig. 1 Infrared images of gas coal (a), 1/3 coking coal (b), fat coal (c), coking coal(d), lean coal (d) in coking process. (1) 221°C; (2) 563°C; (3) 635°C;
(4) 701°C.

Table 1 Quality index of coal samples

Coal type (Coal mine) Ad (%) Vdaf (%) G Y (mm) X (mm) R̄max (%)

Gas coal (Lao Wan) 3.83 40.42 75 7.1 41.0 0.754

1/3 Coking coal (Xin Jian) 9.35 30.87 85 15.1 23.8 0.963
Fat coal (Long Hu) 9.06 28.18 97 20.6 4.3 1.165
Coking coal (Di Dao) 10.39 25.68 82 16.5 12.3 1.327
Lean coal (Zhang Taizi) 11.33 14.34 22 0 12.5 1.575

Coking coal began to crack when the furnace temperature
reached 572°C, and the highest and the lowest temperature
of the coal surface in radial direction were 566°C and
484°C, respectively. Fat coal began to crack when the fur-
nace temperature reached 590°C, and the highest and the
lowest temperature of the coal surface in radial direction
were 584°C and 500°C, respectively. Coking coal began
to crack when the furnace temperature reached 593°C, and
the highest and the lowest temperature of the coal surface
in radial direction were 587°C and 508°C, respectively.
Lean coal has deep metamorphic grade and poor caking
property, and no crack was observed in the whole process.
Obviously, the crack-appearing temperature increased with
metamorphic grade of coking coal deepening. Besides, gas
coal had the most and the widest crack, because the thermal
decomposition, hot polycondensation and char contraction
of gas coal surface were intense during the coking process.
When the temperature reached 701°C, the width of the
cracks was 1.50 mm, and the total length of the cracks
was 275.6 mm. Both the amount and width of cracks of
1/3 coking coal were less than that of gas coal. At 704°C,
the length of the cracks was 269.2 mm, and the shrinkage
speed was 1.0 mm/min which was also fast, and the width
of cracks was 1.45 mm with lots of tiny cracks in coking.
The amount of cracks of fat coal was less than that of
gas coal and 1/3 coking coal, for the fat coal have more
plastic mass in coking. The length and the width of cracks
were 265.0 mm and 1.30 mm, respectively. The volatility
of coking coal is 25.68% which is medium in five coals,
and the caking property is second to fat coal, and the
metamorphic grade is higher than that of fat coal, and the
quantity of macromolecules aromatic is more than that of
others except fat coal, thus both the quantity and the speed
of char shrinkage were small, and the thermal stability
was high, and the the amount of cracks was less. For the
metamorphic grade is the highest in the five kinds of coals,
S188 Journal of Environmental Sciences 2013, 25(Suppl.) S186–S189 / Xiangyun Zhong et al. Vol. 25

The temperatures of the segments of coal briquette were

Fig. 2 The scheme of mesh model on coal briquette.
it is difficult for lean coal to represent characteristic of
coking process.
2.2 Temperature distribution in radial direction
The infrared image of coal briquette with the diameter of
80 mm was divided into sixty panes as shown in Fig. 2.
calculated by software (ThermaCAM QuickView), and the
obtained temperature distributions in radial direction are
shown in Fig. 3. For the coal briquette was heated from
the surrounding to the interior, the temperature of coal
briquette was increasing from the center to the edge by
which the radial position of 40 mm to the center was
considered. The temperature difference from the center to
the edge of the coal briquette decreased with the heating
temperature rising.
The heat-conducting property of the coal at different
coking time plays an important role on the temperature
difference from the center to the edge of the coal briquette.
Gas coal had a large temperature difference in radial
direction at 7 min heating time. The cracks appeared
at 519°C at which the radial temperature difference was
76°C. Most of cracks appeared when the average surface
temperature of coal briquette reached 678°C at which the
radial temperature difference was 34°C.
The crack-appearing temperature of 1/3 coking coal of
was 525°C at which the radial temperature difference of

800 800
700 a 700 b
Temperapure (ºC)

Temperapure (ºC)

600 600
500 500
400 t = 6 min 400 t = 0 min
t = 121 min t = 124 min
300 t = 167 min 300 t = 156 min
200 200
100 100
0 10 20 30 40 0 10 20 30 40
Distance (mm) Distance (mm)
800 800
700 c 700 d
Temperapure (ºC)

Temperapure (ºC)

600 600
500 500
400 t = 0 min 400
t = 130 min t = 7 min
t = 164 min t = 131 min
300 300 t = 163 min
200 200
100 100
0 10 20 30 40 0 10 20 30 40
Distance (mm) Distance (mm)
800
e
700
Temperapure (ºC)

600
500
400 t = 1 min
t = 144 min
300 t = 177 min
200
100
0 20 10 30 40
Distance (mm)
Fig. 3 The temperature distribution in radial direction of different rank coals. (a) gas coal; (b) 1/3 coking coal; (c) fat coal; (d) coking coal; (e) lean
coal.
Suppl. Research on the evolvement of morphology of coking coal during the coking process
coal briquette was 82°C. Most of cracks appeared when
the average surface temperature reached 642°C at which
the radial temperature difference was 41°C. Fat coal began
to appear the cracks when the temperature was 542°C at
which the radial temperature difference of coal briquette
was 84°C. Most of cracks appeared when the average
surface temperature reached 661°C at which the radial
temperature difference was 56°C. Coking coal began to
appear the cracks at 548°C at which the radial temperature
difference of coal briquette was 79°C. Most of cracks
appeared when the average surface temperature reached
664°C at which the radial temperature difference was
38°C. For lean coal had not caking property, no crack was
observed in the infrared image.
3 Conclusions
It was intuitionistic and feasible to use a thermal imager
to observe and quantitatively analysis the crack formation
in the coking process. Imaging process could provide
scientific data to represent the length and width of the
cracks appearing on different kinds of coking coal. The
appearing temperature of the cracks increases in the cok-
ing process with the metamorphic degree of coking coal
increasing. The crack-appearing temperatures of gas coal,
1/3 coking coal, fat coal and coking coal were 519°C,
525°C, 542°C and 548°C, respectively. During the coking
S189
process, gas coal had the longest crack, and the following
was 1/3 coking coal and fat coal.
Acknowledgments
This work was supported by the Hi-Tech Research and De-
velopment Program (863) of China (No. 2009AA063302).
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