FUELS:

The fuels are used in metallurgical furnace to meet its chemical and thermal
energy needs. The substances having carbon, hydrogen, hydrocarbons, etc.,
which can react with oxygen to give energy in the form of heat and light, are
generally used as fuel. However, all substances having hydrocarbons cannot be
called as fuel.
The main solid fuels are coal and coke.
Types of Coal:
The word type of coal indicates whether it is anthracite, bituminous or lignite
coal. All these three types of coal have distinct properties which render their
identi cation.
(i) Lignite: It is brown/black in colour with considerable amount of
moisture to soil the hand. It is brous in nature and crumbles easily on
pressing. It has high porosity. It contains high volatile constituents with
low xed carbon.
(ii) Bituminous coal: It has characteristic layers of bright and dull banded
matter. It has typical cubic fracture. It is relatively hard (3–4 Mohs scale) in
nature. It burns easily with smoky yellow ame. It has many commercial
applications. The coking coals falling under this type are used for coke
making.
(iii) Anthracite: It is a hard and compact variety of coal with pitch like
appearance. It breaks with irregular fracture and does not soil the nger on
rubbing. Anthracite ignites with dif culty, but once ignited, it burns and
gives intense local heat with very short and non-luminous ames.
Anthracite does not have caking property and is unsuitable for coke
making. It has limited industrial use as fuel, but often used to make
artefacts.
Rank of coal:
The word rank denotes the degree of coali cation the peat has undergone to
yield coal. The carbon content and calori c value of coal increase with rank,
while the volatile matter is found to decrease. The different coals with increasing
rank can be shown as: lignite bituminous anthracite.
Class of coal:
The term class is retained for its actual use such as coking coal, steam raising
coal, gas making coal, etc.
Grade of coal:
The grade refers to the degree of purity of the coal. The coals with higher ash
and moisture content are referred as lower grade coals, while high grade coal,
means coal with low ash and moisture content.

Origin of coal:

Coal occurs in nature as sedimentary rock where the carbonaceous matter is

present with many other minerals. The structural examination of the coal shows
con rmed evidence of its formation from vegetal matter. The fossil imprint of
leaf, bark and other tree components on the coal provide evidence of its vegetal
origin. The micro-structural examination of the thin section of coal reveals the
presence of spores, pollens, resins and other essential components of vegetal
matter which help in con rming and identifying the type of tree from which
such coal is originated in the nature. It is believed that the large forest vegetation
growing long ago got buried in the ground and was fossilised to become coal.
fi
fi
fi
fi
fi
fi
fi
fl
fi
There are two theories for origin of coal: ‘In-situ’ theory and ‘Drift’ theory. The
‘in-situ’ theory describes it as natural growth of trees in swamps, their death and
accumulation as peat over long period of time followed by its coali cation to
coal due to some geological action in nature, sustained for long duration of time.
The ‘drift’ theory differs in rst part of the process of coal formation to deposit
peat at other location than its growth, while the second stage process is identical
to the ‘in-situ’ theory. The ‘drift’ theory describes the growth of trees in high
regions, and these are transported by river water after they die and get uprooted
down to estuary where they get deposited as peat due to lower velocity of water.
This deposited peat gets converted to coal by long geological action of the earth.
Such peat formation can be noticed even now in Sunderban area of West Bengal
which is the delta region of Ganges river. Thus, the process of coal formation
could be divided in two periods: (a) Peat formation and
(b) Conversion of peat into coal.

Analysis of coal:
1 Ultimate Analysis
In ultimate analysis of coal, the percentage value of all elements are reported
including major, minor and trace constituents, depending upon its need. The
major elements present in coal are carbon, hydrogen and oxygen, while the
minor elements include nitrogen, sulphur and phosphorus. In addition, any
known element could be present in trace quantity.
(i) The carbon and hydrogen are determined by burning the coal with
oxygen under controlled condition and measuring the product CO2 and H2
O by suitable absorption tubes.
(ii) Nitrogen in coal could be determined by Kjeldahl method. A small
sample of the coal is completely oxidised by boiling with a mixture of
concentrated sulphuric acid, potassium sulphate and a little mercury. After
precipitating mercury, sodium hydroxide is added in excess and the
ammonia formed during the oxidation is distilled off and determined by
standard analytical method. The nitrogen in coal varies from 1–2 (wt.%).
(iii) Sulphur in coal is determined by oxidising it to sulphur dioxide and
sulphur trioxide. These are absorved by an alkali to form corresponding
sulphite or sulphate, which is nally converted to barium sulphate. The
weight of clean and dried barium sulphate weight could be used to
calculate sulphur in coal sample.
(iv) Phosphorus is present as phosphate and organic phosphorus
compound. The burning of coal yields all phosphorus in ash and can be
analysed easily.
(v) Oxygen in coal is obtained by adding all the contents including ash and then
subtracting the total from 100, i.e., Oxygen (wt.%) = 100 – (Ash + C
+ H + N + S + P) wt.%. This method has a major drawback as all the error
in analysis is pushed to oxygen (wt.%).

The impurities like sulphur affect the utility of the coal. Assam coking coal in
India is a typical example which cannot be used for coke making due to its high
(up to 3%) sulphur content. The sulphur dioxide rich gas emission from cupola
furnaces in Agra resulted a total ban on the local foundry units due to its bad
impacts on TAJ (a world heritage).
The value of ultimate analysis is useful in estimating the calori c value of
coal using Dulong’ s formula :
Calori c V alue (kJ/kg) = 337C + 1442 [H – (O/8)] + 93 S;
where, C, H, O and S are carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and sulphur (in wt.%).
The ultimate analysis is also used to estimate the air needed for fuel
combustion and ue gas analysis. In view of the need of ultimate analysis on
routine basis by many industries, the instruments are available for speedy and
reliable analysis.
fi
fl
fi
fi
2 Proximate Analysis
The proximate analysis of coal concerns with the determination of moisture,
volatile matter, ash and xed carbon contents. These values are needed for
selecting coal for given applications. The proximate analysis does not give
approximate values. It gives the speci c values determined under standard test
procedures. The various test speci cations are given in following sections:
Sample preparation
Coal and coke are bulk materials. The analysis of a given batch of shipment or
production has to be monitored on regular basis. The size of a batch could range
from a few tons to hundreds of tons. Collecting a representative sample for
proximate analysis becomes very important to increase the validity of the test.
There are standard sampling procedures which are strictly followed during
sample preparation amounting 1 kg (–72 mesh, i.e.–200 μm). This sample is stored
in a glass bottle with proper labelling.
Speci cations for the test
The proximate analysis would need only a few grams of coal. Basically, sample
amounting 100 g is taken and stored in a glass bottle after air drying for 24
hours. This sample is utilised for the following tests: (i) Moisture test
A glass dish (50 mm diameter and 10 mm deep) with lid is used to determine
moisture
content. One gram air-dried coal sample is taken in the glass dish with lid and
weighed in a chemical balance. After weighing, the coal is made to spread by
gentle tap in the dish to nearly 0.3 g/cm2 for uniform evolution of moisture. The
sample is exposed to 110 ± 5 °C temperature for one hour in a moisture oven
without lid on the dish. The sample is cooled after heating by keeping it in
desiccator with lid in position to avoid atmospheric moisture adsorption. After
cooling, the sample is weighed, keeping the lid in position. The loss in weight is
accounted for inherent moisture content.
(ii) Volatile matter test
The specially designed silica crucible (Figure 2.3) with lid is used to determine
volatile matter content in coal/coke. The deep crucible with lid allows heating
the sample in the absence of air. The volatile matter can exit through loose lid
but air is unable to in ltrate in. One gram sample is taken in the crucible and
weighed with lid accurately in a chemical balance. This crucible is then placed
over a nichrome (80% Ni – 20% Cr alloy) wire tripod to keep its bottom 5 mm
above the oor of the oven. This is done to have uniform heating of sample in
the crucible as oven oor temperature may be different from the oven space. The
crucible kept on tripod is heated in oven at 925 ± 5 °C for seven minutes. After
that the crucible is taken out, cooled in air with lid in position and then weighed
to notice the loss in weight due to the removal of volatile matter and inherent
moisture. As the inherent moisture content can be known, the volatile matter
content can be estimated.
fi
fl
fl
fi
fi
fi
fi
(iii) Ash determination
Silica dish (50-mm diameter and 10-mm deep) without lid is used for this
purpose. One gram sample is taken and weighed accurately in a chemical
balance. The coal is spread uniformly in the crucible by gentle tapping. This is
then heated at 450 °C for 30 minutes in oven to oxidise all the sulphur and part
of carbon in coal. Then the crucible is transferred to another oven at 800 ± 5 °C
to oxidise the sample for 60 minutes. Samples having low reactivity (e.g.
graphite, petroleum coke, coke) may take time to complete the combustion. This
two stage heating is done to remove all the sulphur and carbon without the
formation of CaSO4 . If the coal is heated directly to high temperature, the
sulphur may get xed in ash as CaSO4 rendering higher ash value. After
ensuring the complete oxidation of carbon, the dish is cooled to weigh the
residue ash.
Basis for reporting the results
The results of the test are reported based on the level of moisture in the sample
like:
(i) As received basis
(ii) Air-dried basis
(iii) Dry basis
(iv) Dry ash free (daf) basis and
(v) Dry mineral matter free basis or unit coal basis
These different ways of reporting the test result are explained as follows:
(i) As received basis
The coal sample may have free moisture in as-received condition. This sample is
weighed and left in room spread in a tray for 48 hours, to be weighed again. The
weight percent lost is taken as free moisture in as-received sample.
(ii) Air-dried basis
The air-dried sample is tested for moisture (M ), volatile matter (VM ), ash (A )
and xed carbon (FC ) and the results are reported as M %, VM %, A % and FC
% without any subscript letter. The M % is indicative of inherent moisture.
(iii) Dry basis
Utilising the results reported under air-dried basis, the volatile matter, ash and xed
carbon is calculated by excluding the moisture content and reported by

(iv) Dry ash free (daf) basis

Sometimes coal analysis free from ash and moisture is needed. This is indicated
by adding “daf” in the subscript and calculated as:
fi
fi
(v) Dry mineral matter free basis or unit coal basis
The unit coal is the organic substance present in coal which does not consider
moisture (M %) and mineral matter (MM %) content. This requires expressing
the proximate analysis giving mineral matter MM % content in coal against ash
(A %) content and calculating the values of moisture (M ′%), volatile matter (VM
%) and xed carbon (FC %) as given below:
The mineral matter content is estimated assuming the sample has low sulphur
content.

Coal Calori c Value

The heating value of coal is important while using as heat source. The coal
calori c value is a measure of heat which can be obtained from its combustion.
The calori c value is de ned as total heat available as a result of complete
combustion of unit weight of material and the products of combustion are cooled
down to 15 °C temperature . Theoretically, all the heat liberated by combustion
must be available for use, but in practice some heat is lost with gases and other
sources. As coal contains hydrogen, it forms steam (H2 O) on combustion and
some heat is lost as steam latent heat and sensible heat of hot steam. Thus, the
following two calori c values are quoted for any fuel:
(i) The gross or higher calori c value —obtained by calori c value test,
by cooling the products of combustion to 15°C.
(ii) The net calori c value or lower calori c value— obtained by deducting
the heat given by cooling the combustion product gas to 15°C.
In practice, the net calori c value is more realistic gure as useful heat value.
With increasing hydrogen content in the fuel, the net calori c value gets lower.
The calori c value of coal is expressed as joules/kg or calories/kg.
1 calorie = 4.186 joules = 1.163 × 10 – 6 kWh
1 joule = 0.2389 calorie = 2.778 × 10 – 7 kWh
The Bomb calorimeter is used to determine the gross calori c value of solid
and liquid fuels. Figure 2.9 shows the sketch of a bomb calorimeter. It has the
following four main components:
(
fi
fi
fi
fi
fi
fi
fi
fi
fi
fi
fi
(i) Stainless steel combustion chamber-“Bomb”
(ii) Calorimeter vessel
(iii) Beckmann thermometer
(iv) 9 V DC power source
The ‘bomb’ is made of stainless steel to give thick wall combustion chamber,
having 250–300 ml volume, which can sustain 30 atmospheric pressures. It has a
provision to keep the sample (solid or liquid) in a crucible which has a fuse wire
connected to power source (9 volts DC). The chamber has provision to ll
oxygen under pressure (20 atmosphere) to burn the fuel completely. The
calorimeter vessel is made of copper which is lled with water (2 litres) to
receive the heat released by the combustion of fuel in the bomb immersed in
water. The water is stirred with a stirrer. The increase in water temperature up to
5 °C is noted by a Beckmann thermometer with an accuracy of 0.001 °C. The 9
volt DC power source is used to ignite the fuse wire, causing the fuel to burn in
oxygen atmosphere.
The calorimeter works on the principle of heat given by the combustion of
fuel is taken by the calorimeter itself.
Thus, M × CV = W eq × ΔT
where, M is the mass of fuel in g CV is the calori c value of the fuel in calories/gram
W eq is the water equivalent of the calorimeter (with 2 litres of water) in gram
and ΔT is the increase in temperature due to heat given by fuel in °C.
To determine the water equivalent (W eq ) of the calorimeter, a known material
is selected (say Benzoic acid – 6319 cal/g) and the value of ΔT is noted to
calculate W eq . Once, the calorimeter is calibrated (with known water
equivalent), the calori c value of any solid or liquid fuel can be easily
determined.
During the experiment, a tablet of coal sample (1 g) is kept in the crucible of
the bomb. This coal tablet has an embedded length of iron fuse wire which is
connected with terminals. The bomb is then lled with oxygen (20
atmospheres). The calorimeter vessel is lled with known quantity of water (2
litres) in which the bomb is immersed with electrical wire connected to 9 V DC
source. The stirrer and Beckmann thermometer are placed in position and the
system is allowed to maintain constant temperature. The initial temperature is
recorded and ignition is made by passing current at 9 volts. The increase in water
temperature is noted when it reaches the maximum value. Now, the fuel mass (M
), water equivalent (W eq ) of calorimeter and the rise in temperature (ΔT ) is
known. Therefore, the gross calori c value (CV ) of fuel is calculated as
CV(GROSS) = W x ΔΤ/M calories/gram
Application of solid fuels

Solid fuels, such as coal, wood, peat, and biomass, are widely used for various
energy applications.
Coal is used in power plants for electricity generation and in industries for
processes like steel and cement production.
Wood and biomass are common solid fuels for heating and cooking, especially in
rural or off-grid areas. Solid fuels are also employed in the production of biofuels,
charcoal, and synthetic gas.
Peat serves as a fuel in some regions for domestic heating and electricity
generation. Solid fuels are often favored for their energy density and availability,
though they pose environmental concerns related to emissions.
fi
fi
fi
fi
fi
fi