Energy & Fuels 2005, 19, 453-458 453

Coal Blending with Petroleum Coke in a Pulverized-Fuel

Power Plant
Katia S. Milenkova, Angeles G. Borrego,* Diego Alvarez, and Rosa Menéndez
Instituto Nacional del Carbón, CSIC, Apartado 73, 33080 Oviedo, Spain

Henrik I. Petersen and Per Rosenberg

Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS), Øster Voldgade 10,
DK-1350 Copenhagen, Denmark

Received July 28, 2004. Revised Manuscript Received November 5, 2004

The current work investigates the performance of petroleum coke (PC) as a blended fuel under
pulverized-fuel combustion conditions. Three full-scale combustion experiments were carried
out: a pure Carboniferous, high volatile bituminous coal and two blends of this coal with different
proportions of PC. The samples studied included feed fuels and blends, fly ashes, chars taken at
different positions of the combustion chamber, and chars prepared in a drop tube reactor to test
the performance of the individual fuels. The addition of PC led to a substantial increase in the
unburned carbon of the fly ashes. The petrographic analysis of the granulometric fractions of
the fuels revealed that this increase cannot be attributed to an enrichment in coke of the coarser
fractions, as reported in the literature. On the contrary, the finer fraction contained slightly
more coke than the raw blend. The petrographic analysis of the chars collected with the suction
probe and the fly ashes showed that the two blended fuels were strongly enriched in PC-derived
material, indicating a poorer combustibility compared to the high volatile bituminous coal. It is
concluded that the reactivity of the blends in the later stages of combustion is related with the
contents of PC-derived chars and the burnout itself.

Introduction quite different behaviors when submitted to conditions

Fuel-grade petroleum coke (PC) is the major product
resulting from petroleum refining and also the one
having the lowest added value.1 This is because, al-
though it is a cheap fuel that typically contains few
volatiles and ashes, it also has a high sulfur content,
which has prevented its utilization at large scale. On
the other hand, the environmental concern on SOx
emissions has led to the installation of flue-gas desulfu-
rization units on an increasing number of power plants,
where PC has become a firm candidate to steaming fuel.
Indeed, a number of power plants are nowadays includ-
ing PC as an additional component of their feed blends.2,3
The behavior of PCs in a given process is difficult to
predict because their characteristics depend on the
delayed coking conditions, which is a continuous process
where large differences occur within the drum and,
particularly, on the feedstock composition. Although
most PCs seem to be fairly similar when looking at their
proximate characterization data, they also have shown
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. Phone: +34
985119090. Fax: +34 985297662. E-mail: angeles@incar.csic.es.
(1) Adams, H. A. In Introduction to Carbon Technologies; Marsh,
H., Heintz, E. A., Rodriguez-Reinoso, F., Eds.; Universidad de Ali-
cante: Alicante, Spain, 1997; pp 491-517.
(2) Hall, M. L.; Livingston, W. R. J. Chem. Technol. Biotechnol. 2002,
77, 234-239.
(3) Gao, Y. M.; Kulaots, G.; Chen, X.; Suuberg, E. M.; Hurt, R. H.;
Veranth, J. M. Proc. Combust. Inst. 2003, 29, 475-483.
similar to those occurring in pulverized-fuel boilers.4
Only a few studies have considered the behavior of
PC under large-scale pulverized-fuel combustion, and
these have shown that PCs tend to increase the carbon-
in-ash content5-7 when cofired with bituminous coals.
This was attributed to their somewhat lower reactivity6,8
and to the fact that they tend to concentrate in the
larger size fractions.6
In this study, the performance of PC as a blended fuel
under pulverized-fuel combustion conditions is investi-
gated through the study of a highly volatile bituminous
coal and two blends containing different proportions of
PC, which were fired in a power plant. Both the feed
fuels and their collected combustion chars were exten-
sively studied, mainly using optical microscopy tech-
niques, to obtain insight into the fate of the PC in the
boiler. All of the samples collected from the boiler were
extensively burned (over 90%), and therefore some
laboratory-scale combustion tests were also performed,
(4) Milenkova, K. S.; Borrego, A. G.; Alvarez, D.; Xiberta, J.;
Menendez, R. Fuel 2003, 82, 1883-1891.
(5) Hower, J. C.; Robertson, J. D.; Roberts, J. M. Fuel Process.
Technol. 2001, 74, 125-142.
(6) Yu, J.; Külaots, I.; Sabanegh, N.; Gao, Y.; Hurt, R. H.; Suuberg,
E. S.; Mehta, A. Energy Fuels 2000, 14, 591-596.
(7) Milenkova, K. S.; Petersen, H. I.; Rosenberg, P.; Borrego, A. G.;
Alvarez, D.; Menendez, R. Proceedings of the 12th International
Conference on Coal Science; The Australian Institute of Energy:
Toukley, New South Wales, Australia, 2003; p CD-9.
(8) Bryers, R. W. Fuel Process. Technol. 1995, 44, 121-141.

10.1021/ef049817u CCC: $30.25 © 2005 American Chemical Society

Published on Web 12/30/2004
454 Energy & Fuels, Vol. 19, No. 2, 2005 Milenkova et al.

Table 1. Proximate and Ultimate Analyses of Single Fuels and Blends and Petrographic Analysis of the Coala
vol mmf % ash CV daf %
code Rr (%) V L I (db %) (db kcal/kg) VM C H N O S
PF 0.84 58.4 11.2 30.4 15.05 7210 35.3 83.3 5.3 1.5 9.2 0.8
PC 3.33 6581 13.8 84.7 3.9 1.0 4.5 5.3
M1 13.53 7014 33.1 83.6 5.4 1.4 8.8 1.4
M2 13.76 6999 32.8 83.5 5.4 1.3 9.0 1.5
a Rr ) random reflectance, V ) vitrinite, L ) liptinite, I ) inertinite, CV ) calorific value, VM ) volatile matter, vol ) volume, mmf

) mineral-matter-free basis, db ) dry basis, and daf ) dry-ash-free basis.

aimed at getting some additional information about the
behavior of the fuels in the earlier stages of combustion.
Experimental Section
Samples. The feed fuels considered in this study are a
Polish high volatile bituminous coal (PF; 0.84% Ro) of Carbon-
iferous age and a fuel-grade PC. The full-scale combustion tests
were carried out at the Energi E2 power plant Stignaes Unit2
(Denmark) and comprised the combustion of the pure PF coal
and of two blends, both premixed before grinding and com-
posed of coal PF plus 8% (M1) and 11% (M2) PC, respectively.
Samples from the individual fuels, the pulverized blends, the
corresponding fly ashes, and chars collected at different
locations in the flame zone in the boiler were obtained. The
285 MWe Stigsnaes Unit2 boiler has four burner levels, each
supporting six burners. Full-scale experiments were carried
out during normal commercial operation of the power plant
and with the three upper burner levels (18 burners) in
operation. The full-scale char samples were taken from three
positions along the rear wall, which is opposite to the burners,
and from one location in each of the two side walls at a distance
of about 2 m from the burner wall. The char samples were
collected using a 3-m-long water-cooled lance (suction pyrom-
eter), which was inserted about 1.5 m into the furnace through
small openings in the furnace walls. The probe was held 5-10
min inside the furnace, and the char particles were collected
with a filter attached to the cold outlet of the pyrometer. A
total of nine char samples were collected during the test runs.
Preparation of Size Fractions for the Assessment of
Fuel Grindability. As coal and PC were mixed before
microscope equipped with oil immersion objectives and a 1λ
retarder plate.
Combustion Tests. PC was injected into the full-scale
facility only as a blend component together with coal PF, and
therefore no information about its individual performance is
available. To fill this gap, combustion experiments using only
the isolated fuels were carried out at laboratory scale. The tests
included (i) combustion at programmed temperature in a
thermobalance to estimate the fuel combustibility, where
samples (13 mg) were heated at 10 °C min-1 under air from
30 to 1000 °C, and (ii) combustion at high temperature in a
drop tube reactor (DTR) described elsewhere.4 The reactor was
operated at 1300 °C with a gas flow of 750 L h-1, an injection
flow of 150 L h-1, and a fuel feed rate of 1 g min-1. Previous
studies9 demonstrated that a combustion temperature of 1300
°C ensures that the obtained chars will be comparable to chars
derived from full-scale combustion, in regards to their mor-
phology. The oxygen content in the reacting atmosphere was
5% O2 in N2, and the estimated residence time of the particles
in the reactor was 0.3 s. The burnouts of PC and PF were also
studied under highly overstoichiometric conditions, to better
simulate the high conversions achieved in the boiler. This was
done by raising the oxygen content in the reacting atmosphere
to 21% (air).
Conversion was calculated using the ash tracer as a mass
balance between the ashes entering and leaving the reactor,
using the following expression:
conversion ) 1 -[ ( ashcoal
100 - ashcoal )(
100 - ashchar
ashchar )] × 100

grinding, some size segregation due to the differences in

grindability of the two fuels might be expected. To study this
possibility, granulometric separations of the mill samples were
carried out, and the various size fractions thus obtained (>150,
150-100, 100-75, 75-45, 45-20, and <20 µm) were prepared
for petrographic examination.
Characterization of Fuels. Ultimate analysis of compo-
nent fuels and blends were performed using a LECO CHN600
for carbon, nitrogen, and hydrogen, a LECO SC132 for sulfur,
and a LECO VTF900 for oxygen. Proximate analyses were
carried out on the same samples following the standard
procedures described in ISO-562/1981 for volatile matter and
ISO-1171/1981 for ash content. Standard petrographic (mac-
eral ISO-7404-3/1994 and random reflectance ISO-7404-5/
1994) analyses were carried out on the coal. Size fractions of
the blends were microscopically analyzed to determine the
relative amounts of PC and PF in each fraction. A total of 500
determinations were recorded by point counting on each
fraction.
Fly-Ash and Combustion Char Characterization. Fly
ashes were analyzed for carbon and sulfur content. In addition,
they were submitted to acid digestion with HF and HCl to
dissolve the inorganic material. The combustion chars taken
from both the boiler and the carbon-concentrated fly ashes
were prepared for petrographic analysis by embedding them
in an epoxy resin to make pellets suitable for reflected light
microscopy. Samples were carefully polished to avoid damage
to the fragile walls of the combustion residues and then
analyzed using a point counter attached to a reflected light
The reactivity of the chars, assuming no diffusional con-
straints, was isothermally recorded at 550 °C. Chars were
heated under N2 at 25 °C min-1 until 550 °C: After weight
stabilization, the gas flow was switched to air, and weight
losses upon combustion were recorded until constant weight.
The reactivity (ash-free basis) was calculated as R ) 1/m0 (dm/
dt), where m0 is the initial sample weight.
Results and Discussion
Fuel Characterization. Coal PF is a vitrinite-rich
high volatile bituminous coal with moderate ash content
(Table 1). The PC is a typical fuel-grade coke with low
ash and high sulfur content. The relatively high ash
content of PC compared with a typical PC is due to
contamination with 19% of a coal similar in character-
istics to PF. The presence of this coal also increases the
proximate volatile matter content of PC (Table 1). This
also has some implications for the blend compositions.
Thus, the amount of PC in M1 decreases to ca. 6.5%
and that in M2 to ca. 9%. This should be taken only as
a rough estimate because the presence of the coal in PC
was quantified by petrographic techniques, which yield
volume percentages, whereas the nominal blend com-
(9) Rosenberg, P.; Petersen, H. I.; Thomsen, E. Fuel 1996, 75, 1071-
1082.
Coal Blending with Petroleum Coke
Figure 1. Combustion at programmed temperature of the coal
(PF) and the PC.
Figure 2. (a) Size distribution of the mill samples fed in the
full-scale combustion tests. (b) Amount of PC (vol %) in the
various size fractions.
positions (8 and 11%) were expressed as weight percent-
ages of PC. The petrographic analysis of the PC not only
showed that it contained a certain amount of coal but
also allowed the assessment of the optical texture
characterizing this coke. Almost 60% of the coke exhib-
ited small domain optical texture (10-60 µm in size),
30% was quantified as coarse mosaic (5-10 µm), and
the remaining 10% comprised semicokefied material
and particles exhibiting flow domain optical texture.
Figure 1 shows the curves obtained from the combus-
tion at programmed temperature of the fuels (dif-
ferential thermogravimetry). The curves indicate that
the maximum rate of weight loss is slightly higher for
the PC, which burns in a narrower temperature interval
than PF, although the characteristic thermogravimetric
analysis temperatures (initiation, peak, and burnout
temperatures) are lower for the coal.
Grinding Behavior. The grinding behavior of the
PC/PF blends can be described by the cumulative curves
built after weighing of the amounts of sample recovered
in each sieve. The plot in Figure 2a shows a larger
amount of fine particles in the blends containing PC
than in the pure PF sample. The small difference in PC
contents between the blends (M1 ) 6.5%; M2 ) 9%) only
had a minor effect on the particle size distribution of
Energy & Fuels, Vol. 19, No. 2, 2005 455
Figure 3. Variation of the char reactivity with conversion for
the chars prepared in a DTR.
particles, evidenced as a slight increase in the produc-
tion of fine particles in blend M2. This constitutes in
itself an advantage for combustion purposes because
smaller particles tend to burn better than larger ones,10
but it still has to be clarified whether the PC tended to
accumulate in the larger size fractions or not. The
results of the petrographic analysis of the size fractions,
given in Figure 2b, revealed that the amount of PC
increases as the particle size of the fractions decreases,
and this was observed, with only small differences, in
the two blends. Overall, the results shown in Figure 2
indicate that PC accumulates in the smallest size
fraction. This observation differs from the result ob-
tained by Yu et al.,6 who reported a certain increase in
the proportion of large PC particles at the outlet of the
mills. In any case, it is well-known4 that the character-
istics of PCs can substantially vary depending on their
provenance.
Laboratory-Scale Chars. Chars were prepared in
a DTF in an atmosphere containing 5% O2 in N2. Under
these conditions, the PC achieved a 17% burnout
whereas the coal burned by 56%. This large difference
in the rates of fuel consumption is due, in part, to the
difference in the volatile matter content between the two
fuels. In any case, when the burnouts are calculated on
a volatile-matter-free basis (discounting the volatiles
obtained by proximate analysis of the feed samples), the
differences in burnout are still obvious (5% for PC and
33% for PF), which confirms the lower combustibility
of PC char. The chemical reactivity of both chars was
measured in a thermobalance at a temperature (550 °C)
where the reaction is known to occur under kinetic
control. The results showed a very different profile for
both chars (Figure 3). The coal char showed a maximum
in reactivity at about 10% conversion, with a sharp drop
as combustion progressed, whereas the PC char dis-
played a lower reactivity, with a maximum placed at
about 50% conversion.
The petrographic analysis of both chars showed
significant differences in morphotypes and also in the
optical texture of the char-forming material. Around
40% of the PF char consisted of cenospheres, either
isotropic or showing incipient anisotropy, derived from
the vitrinitic part of the coal. Figure 4a shows a
micrograph of a vitrinite-derived cenosphere. Most of
the inertinite remained isotropic after its passage
through the reactor (56%) and showed little or no signs
of melting. Finally, only 4% of the char material
(10) Liakos, H. H.; Theologos, K. N.; Boudovis, A. G.; Markatos, N.
C. Appl. Therm. Eng. 1998, 18, 981-989.
456 Energy & Fuels, Vol. 19, No. 2, 2005
Figure 4. Appearance of the coal-derived material (top) and the PC-derived material (bottom) in the fly ashes. Optical images
taken under incident light, crossed polars, and a 1λ retarder plate.
developed anisotropic optical texture in network struc-
tures, as illustrated in Figure 4b. All of the morpho-
types, even those derived from inertinite and containing
anisotropic material, were clearly distinguishable from
the particles generated by PC. The petrographic analy-
sis of the PC char revealed the existence of two different
behaviors, as shown by the two well-defined structural
types formed: (i) material yielding massive anisotropic
particles with shrinking cleats (75 vol %), of the type
illustrated in Figure 4d, and (ii) material yielding
devolatilization voids surrounded by relatively thin
walls with well-developed anisotropy indicating the
passage through a plastic stage (25 vol %). This struc-
tural type is shown in Figure 4c. The massive particles
were similar to those reported previously in PC-derived
unburned material in fly ash5,6 and displayed a network
of cleats similar to that found in calcined PCs. The cleats
in the particles with mosaic optical texture were more
randomly oriented, whereas those of the small-domain
or flow-domain chars had their cracks parallel to the
domain orientation. About two-thirds of these massive
particles exhibited small-domain optical texture. Mosa-
ics and flow domain accounted for the rest of the
massive structures.
Particles of both the dense and porous type have also
been identified in other PC chars, and their relative
proportions seem to be related to the size of the optical
texture of the parent coke. Thus, the smaller the optical
texture of the parent coke, the higher the amount of
vesiculated particles in the pyrolisis/combustion prod-
ucts.4
The description given above about the texture and
morphology of the blend components will be used for
Milenkova et al.
Table 2. Fly-Ash Composition
sample burnout (%) PC (vol %) C (db %) S (db %)
FPF 98.6 6.89 0.19
FM1 97.9 59.2 10.03 0.57
FM2 97.7 56.8 12.14 0.57
the adscription of the char material in the industrial
samples to their parent fuels.
Full-Scale Combustion. The fly-ash analysis data
given in Table 2 show that the addition of PC led to
reduced performances in the boiler. This is more clearly
seen in the figures of carbon-in-ash. The burnouts are
also lower in the two blends than in the coal, although
this parameter is less sensitive to variations in the
combustion efficiency when high conversions are in-
volved.
Figure 4 shows the appearance of both the PC-derived
and coal-derived material in the fly ashes. The particles
were similar to those found in the chars prepared in
the laboratory, confirming the utility of the DTF to
reproduce the time-temperature history of the par-
ticles. The main difference between the two sorts of
chars was found in the optical appearance of the
vitrinite-derived material, which showed thicker yet
more porous walls in the full-scale samples. This is
attributed to a faster heating rate than that in the
laboratory-scale facility.11 The ratio of porous PC to total
PC-derived material in the chars prepared in the DTF
was 0.4, in the range of values recorded for the full-
scale samples (0.2-0.5), indicating that the plastic
behavior of the PC is more affected by the characteris-
tics of the parent material than by the differences in
the operation parameters in the DTF and the boiler. In
(11) Alonso, M. J. G.; Borrego, A. G.; Alvarez, D.; Parra, B.;
Menendez, R. J. Anal. Appl. Pyrol. 2001, 58-59, 887-909.
Coal Blending with Petroleum Coke Energy & Fuels, Vol. 19, No. 2, 2005 457

closely reproduces the behavior of the two fuels in the

boiler, given the different operating conditions and
scales of both facilities, but are clear proof that the two
fuels studied here have substantially different perfor-
mances when burned under the same conditions. The
results obtained from the two facilities indicate that the
PC tends to accumulate in the burnout products of the
blends.
The reactivity of full-scale chars hardly changes
between M1 and M2 samples taken from equivalent
sampling spots (Table 3), which is not surprising, given
the relatively minor compositional differences between
the two blends. A rough inverse relationship can be seen
(Table 3) between the reactivity of the samples and their
PC char contents. This is due to the low surface areas
Figure 5. Evolution of the isotropic coal-derived material with and reactivities of PC fly ashes6 and also to the well-
burnout assessed by optical microscopy. known effect of char deactivation at high burnouts,12
which in this work was accompanied by an enrichment
Table 3. Burnout, Reactivity, and Petrographic
Composition of the Samples (Prefix B Samples Taken
in the PC material. Indeed, if the evolution of char
with a Water-Cooled Probe, Prefix F Fly Ashes, mmf ) reactivity with conversion under kinetic control is
Mineral Matter Free) considered, the variation of the PC char reactivity was
coal-derived very small, whereas the coal char reactivity strongly
R (×104) burnout coke-derived (vol % mmf) decreased with the progress of combustion, to reach even
sample (s-1) (%) (vol % mmf) isotropic anisotropic lower values than those of the PC char at high conver-
sions (Figure 3).
BPF 10.78 94.3 82.3 17.7
FPF 3.71 98.6 84.4 15.2 An attempt was made here to merge those two effects,
BM1-1 7.85 93.2 26.2 58.6 15.2 the PC char content and char deactivation, for the
BM1-2 7.82 93.3 38.8 57.5 3.8 samples studied here. As the reactivity of the combus-
BM1-3 4.97 96.1 46.2 49.2 4.6 tion chars decreases with both the burnout and the PC
FM1 1.36 97.9 59.2 32.8 8.0
BM2-1 9.20 90.6 39.3 44.9 15.7 char content, an empirical expression is proposed that
BM2-2 4.66 91.9 45.6 39.7 14.7 takes these two variables into account. Thus, the
BM2-3 4.14 91.4 32.2 53.0 14.8 reactivity of the samples is assumed to be proportional
FM2 1.88 97.7 56.8 34.4 8.8 to the coal-derived char content, whereas an inverse
exponential dependence is formulated for the burnout.
addition, no indications of substantially different com- The best-fit equation found is as follows:
bustion efficiency between the two PC-derived materials
(massive and porous) were found because both seem to Rcal ) R[100 - PC] × 10-βbo
be consumed at comparable rates during the combustion
of the blends. where Rcal is the calculated reactivity, PC is the volume
According to the data of Table 3, the burnouts at percentage of PC in the samples, as measured by point
equivalent sampling spots were typically higher for the counting, bo is the percentage of burnout, and R and β
blend containing the lowest proportion of PC, although are fitting parameters (0.8965 and 0.0527, respectively).
this difference became smaller in the case of the fly The comparison between the experimental and calcu-
ashes. The amount of isotropic material in the samples lated reactivities is plotted in Figure 6. Two extra data
did not vary significantly with burnout when coal PF were included in this graph, which were obtained in a
was burned alone, as can be seen in the plot of Figure fourth location in the boiler but only for the M1 blend,
5, indicating a similar consumption rate for coal-derived so that no equivalent data were available from M2 or
isotropic and anisotropic materials. When the blends PF samples. The graph shows only a rough agreement
were fired, the relative amount of isotropic material, of the calculated data with the experimental results,
undoubtedly derived from the coal, decreased as com- although the correlation notably improves compared
bustion progressed, and this consumption rate was with the calculations based on a single parameter, either
higher for the blend with the lowest proportion of PC the PC content or burnout. In any case, given the
(Figure 5). A similar result was observed when the blend extreme complexity of these industrial samples and the
components were combusted alone in the DTF. Thus, uncertainties inherent to the point-counting procedure
the combustion of PF in the DTF under air raised its for char analysis and especially to the ash-tracer
burnout to 97.4%, in good agreement with the perfor- technique, the correlation seems to offer a satisfactory
mance achieved in the full-scale boiler (98.6%). On the description of the later stages of combustion of coal/coke
other hand, the combustion of PC under the same blends.
conditions led to 85.8% burnout, substantially lower
than PF and also in good agreement with estimates of Conclusions
the combustion of this fuel when blended with PF in
The addition of PC to a highly volatile bituminous coal
the industrial boiler (86.2 and 89.4% in M1 and M2
led to a marked increase in the carbon-in-ash content
blends, respectively). These similarities in burnout,
although being quite remarkable, do not mean that the (12) Hurt, R.; Sun, J. K.; Lunden, M. Combust. Flame 1998, 113,
course of combustion in the laboratory-scale facility 181-197.
458 Energy & Fuels, Vol. 19, No. 2, 2005
Figure 6. Calculated reactivity vs experimental values for
the full-scale chars.
when fired in a full-scale pulverized-fuel boiler. Micro-
scopic examination of the fly ashes revealed that they
were strongly enriched in PC-derived material, com-
pared with the feed blends. The poor combustibility of
the PC could not be attributed to its larger particle size
Milenkova et al.
because the PC did not accumulate in the coarser size
fractions, but precisely the opposite. The results suggest
that it is the low reactivity of the PC char that is
responsible of the poor performance of this fuel. It was
found that the drop of reactivity in the later stages of
combustion can be explained in terms of two combined
factors: the increased coke-derived contents and the
deactivation undergone by highly combusted chars.
Overall, the addition of PC to a low-rank coal in-
creases the carbon-in-ash content, but this does not
mean that they should not be used in pulverized-fuel
combustion. In fact, the degree of burnout of the coke
in the two blends studied here (8 and 11% PC) was as
high as 86.2 and 89.4%, respectively, as estimated by
the coke contents of the fly ashes. The co-combustion of
PC with a higher rank coal would probably lead to a
substantial improvement of its combustibility.
Acknowledgment. Financial support through the
European Project ECSC-PR071 is gratefully acknowl-
edged. K.S.M. thanks the Spanish Agency for Interna-
tional Co-operation for a predoctoral fellowship. L.
Vagtholm and the staff at the Energi E2 Power Plant
Stigsnaes, Denmark, are thanked for their cooperation
during sampling of full-scale combustion chars.
EF049817U