Associate Professor John Lucas

© 2015 Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest, Hungary.In this paper, the use of lignite char as the reductant is proved to be promising in direct reduction of iron (DRI) technology. A better understanding of the reducing characteristics of lignite char is necessary for the development of efficient DRI technologies. The application of lignite char as reductant in direct reduction of hematite has been investigated in this study, and the results are compared with those of lignite coal and graphite. Thermogravimetric analysis was used to analyze the thermal behavior of the composite pellets. Maximum iron oxide reduction rate occurred at 865, 829.5, and 920 °C when lignite coal, lignite char, and graphite were used as reductants, respectively, indicating that iron oxide can be reduced at lower temperatures in the presence of lignite char. X-ray diffraction analysis showed that complete reduction of hematite to elemental iron was achieved with lignite char after 15-min reduction at 1000 °C. Scanning electron microscopy-energy-dispersive X-ray analysis results showed that the atomic ratio of Fe/O was increased from 0.39 in pellets before reduction to 0.51, 0.55, and 0.71 after reduction by graphite, coal, and lignite char, indicating that lignite char reduced hematite to a higher degree compared to lignite coal and graphite.

© 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.The development of lignite-char-supported metal oxide catalyst for reduction of nitric oxide (NO) is investigated in this paper. The characteristics of NO reduction by copper and iron oxide catalysts supported on activated lignite chars (ALC) was studied using a fixed-bed reactor at 300 °C. The results showed that the impregnation of Cu on ALC resulted in higher catalytic reactivity during NO reduction compared with that of Fe. Chemisorption of O2 and NO on Cu/ALC catalyst was found to play an important role in denitrification. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analyses showed that chemically adsorbed oxygen facilitates the formation of C(O) complex and oxidation of Cu0 to Cu+ for Cu/ALC catalyst. The C(O) intermediates and C*production formed due to the fact that C/O2 reaction promoted the reduction of NO. It is suggested that the catalytic reaction of NO in this case comprised of C/O2 reaction, C(O)/NO reaction and formation of N2 and CO2. Cu seemed to have significantly promoted the C(O) formation and CO oxidation compared with Fe. The catalytic reactivity of Cu species for C(O) formation and CO oxidation followed the order of Cu0 > Cu+ > Cu2 +. Fe3O4 was believed to be the active phase in Fe catalyst. The oxygen and char-supported metal catalysts significantly promoted C/NO reaction, and therefore may lead to a lower operation temperature of NOx removal.

© 2016 Elsevier B.V.The majority of the world's iron is manufactured in a blast furnace using coke as the reductant; yet some fundamental aspects of coke making remain poorly understood. This study is based on understanding the molecular changes that occur in the metaplast as it ages, by re-pyrolysing solvent extracted material to the same temperature at which it was initially created in the semi-coke. Semi-cokes were produced at 400°C and 425°C and the tetrahydrofuran-soluble (THF) component extracted. The extracts were characterised using laser desorption/ionisation time of flight mass spectrometry (LDI-TOF-MS) before and after pyrolysis. Both the THF extracted samples had a molecular range of 200-3000Da with a peak occurring at 422Da. On reheating, the extracts produced significantly different molecular behaviour, with the 400°C extracts producing larger molecular structures concentrating at ~1500Da and the 425°C extracts producing material concentrating a ~750Da. Volatile tars from the coal were lower in molecular weight (peakMW 259Da) than those produced from pyrolysing the extracts (peakMW 333-347Da) and common species were identified in all volatile samples. The results were discussed in relation to the existence of oligomeric structures previously found in petroleum pitches.

© 2016 American Chemical Society.The thermoplastic development of an Australian coking coal was investigated by linking thermal swelling with changes in molecular weight of its pyrolysis products. Coal thermal swelling was investigated together with volatiles evolution and characterization of generated volatiles (including volatile tar and light gases). The molecular weight distributions of coal and its solvent extracts were measured by using laser desorption/ionization time of flight mass spectroscopy (LDI-TOF-MS). Solvent extraction (by acetone and tetrahydrofuran (THF)) was initially used on the raw coal to aid interpretation of thermoswelling by volumetric expansion measurements. The removal of ~2% solvent-soluble matter from the raw coal (the mobile phase) reduced its swelling extent during heating by up to 22% (from 86% down to 68% and 64% for acetone- and THF-residues, respectively). Volatile release after solvent treatment remained unaffected. This suggested that the majority of the coals swelling behavior could be attributed to the formation of heat-generated liquid matter (the Metaplast) during pyrolysis. Broad molecular weight changes were found in the solvent extractable component (metaplastic material extracted by acetone and THF) of the semicoke. Prior to softening (350 °C), the extractable components were composed of molecules mainly <500 Da. The upper limit in molecular weight distribution of solvent extracts increased significantly to 1800 Da at the onset of swelling (400-450 °C) and decreased back to ~500 Da at the end of swelling (500 °C). The spectra showed that the volatile tar and acetone extract (the light solvent extract) consisted of similar repeating structures separated 12-14 Da apart. As the treatment temperature increased, the molecular weight distribution of volatile tar increased in molecular mass, approaching that of the acetone extract distribution (~600 Da). The THF extract molecular weight distribution was a mixture of 12-14 and 24 Da repeating units which only became apparent at molecular weight above 600 Da. The LDI-TOF-MS analysis of the solid coal showed that it contained a distribution of molecular structures centered at 2000 Da and spanning between 500 and 7000 Da. This raw coal spectrum also contained multiple repeating mass lines every 24 Da apart. Overall, these results suggested that the coal consisted of complicated structures which subsequently degraded into smaller fragments capable of forming a complex intermediate liquid phase and a distribution of lighter volatile tar species.

© 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.In this research, coal combustion behavior across the regions of blowpipe, tuyere, and raceway of blast furnace are numerically examined. Three different lance configurations, including a single lance, a double air-cooled coaxial lance, and an oxy-coal lance with different oxygen enrichment patterns, are taken into consideration. The coal combustion efficiency by the double lance injection is 5.1% higher than that by single lance injection. From the calculated temperature by the oxy-coal lance, coal ignition is retarded due to the cooling effect of enriched oxygen flowing through the lance annulus, resulting in the moderation of pressure loss within the raceway. Most importantly, the enriched oxygen becomes the combustion enhancer in the downstream of coal plume after ignition is triggered. Consequently, the coal burnout under the oxy-coal lance injection is comparative to that under the double air-cooled lance injection. The performance of blast furnace may be improved with the advantages provided by the oxy-coal lance injection. Compared with the single lance injection, coal trajectories under the oxy-coal lance injection are closer to the tuyere exit due to the higher inertia force of coal particles against hot blast. This should be taken into account for the designs of the oxy-coal lance.

© 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.Dynamic measurements of physical, chemical and thermal changes in the transformation of coal maceral concentrates were made during heating at a rate of 10°C/min to 1000°C. The endothermic and exothermic processes were identified by measurements of apparent specific heat while the fluidity was indicated by the estimated thermal conductivity. Measurements of swelling and bed permeability were made, with continuous quantitative elemental analysis of gases and tars as they evolved. Data for two coal concentrates of high and moderate vitrinite indicate that the same reactions and events are occurring for the two samples, but to a greater extent for the high vitrinite sample. The research has noted the significance of evolved tars in the early events, being the lowest temperature event identified, with rapid tar evolution prior to the onset of swelling associated with permeability change. Further tar release and gas evolution is associated with a rapid swelling event, this event being substantially greater for the high vitrinite sample. The data has also quantified contraction at higher temperatures following swelling which is associated with the release of hydrogen containing gases. Evolved tars from the high vitrinite sample showed elevated H/C ratio indicating that vitrinite tars appear to be more aliphatic than those evolved from inertinite. A comparison of measured swelling with estimated volumetric flow rate of the volatiles has indicated that thermo-expansion of coal utilised up to 21% of the volatiles to drive bubble growth. This utilisation rate varied significantly across the plastic temperature range.

© 2015 Elsevier B.V.The desulfurization properties of Fe-Zn sorbent prepared by impregnating Fe and Zn into lignite char via ultrasonic-assisted impregnation (UAI) were investigated in comparison with the mechanical stirring (MS) method. The sulfidation experiments were carried out using a fixed-bed quartz reactor under ambient pressure. The amounts of metals loaded into char were measured by inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES). The crystalline phases and chemical structure of sorbents before and after sulfidation were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), respectively. The morphology of sorbents was analyzed by using scanning electron microscope (SEM) with an energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) auxiliary. The experimental results showed that metal oxides as the active components were evenly dispersed on char as nanoparticles. The impregnation of active components was significantly improved by the ultrasonic-assisted impregnation method. When sorbents were prepared by ultrasonic-assisted impregnation, the metal oxide particles became smaller and more evenly dispersed on the char matrix which resulted in higher desulfurization efficiency and sulfur uptake capacity of the sorbents. The BET results showed that the physical properties of sorbents (surface area and pore volume) significantly improved when prepared by UAI method compared to MS method. The sulfidation temperature had a significant effect on desulfurization performance of char supported sorbents. The Fe:Zn molar ratio of 2:1, and impregnation time of 9 h were suggested as the optimal preparation conditions during ultrasonic-assisted impregnation.

© 2015 American Chemical Society.A fundamental study was undertaken to characterize the changes in solvent-extracted matter formed during the thermoplastic phase of coking. Coal samples were heated to fixed temperatures within the pyrolytic plastic range of 400-500 °C, and the volatile material was extracted in a two-stage extraction with acetone (light extract) and then tetrahydrofuran (THF heavy extract). The extracted material was analyzed using laser desorption ionization (time-of flight) mass spectrometry (LDI-TOF-MS). The LDI-TOF-MS results showed that three extracted fractions could be broadly classified here as overlapping molecular weight ranges as volatile tars (200-450 Da), light acetone-soluble extract (250-500 Da), and heavy THF-soluble extract (300-1200 Da). A further class of compounds was identified from THF extraction of the raw coal in the range of 600-2500 Da that required higher laser powers to ionize and was not observed in the thermally generated samples. Negligible changes were observed in the composition of the acetone-soluble extracts with temperature, while the THF-soluble extract showed smaller proportions of larger molecules with higher treatment temperatures. It was observed that each molecular weight spectrum showed repeating structural units forming peaks every 12-14 Da (homologous series), with distributions of species around each peak. The volatile tar and acetone-soluble material shared common repeating structures also evident in the raw coal extract. This suggested that the material in this fraction was thermally stable over the analyzed temperature range. The repeating features of the THF-soluble extract species appeared to be structurally different. Overall, this work has indicated that development of extractable matter expected to be associated with fluidity during coking and subsequent resolidification relies on <1000 Da compounds. The results showed that >600 Da compounds are thermally sensitive. Compounds with molecular weights of <450 Da may be removed during coking, possibly as a vapor, resulting in a reduction in fluidity. There has been speculation that the thermally stable (acetone-soluble) material identified in both raw coal extract and those from thermally treated samples may be capable of undergoing a phase change to initiate plastic deformation.

© 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.Solvent extraction and oxidation of coal under mild conditions can assist in understanding of coal chemical structure. It can also offer a potential for conversion of coal into useful chemicals, allowing more efficient use of coal resources. In this study, a Chinese lignite was extracted by different solvents including CS2, ethanol, and acetone. The composition of the extracts was analyzed by GC-MS method. It was found that the CS2 extracts contained high amounts of aliphatic hydrocarbon. The ethanol and acetone extracts mainly contained oxygen-containing compounds. The effects of reaction temperature and residence time on coal oxidation and composition of extract residueswere also investigated. The results showed that lignite was readily oxidized in H2O2 aqueous solution at temperatures above 40 °C, and the oxidation behavior (oxidation rate, product distribution and yields) was strongly temperature dependent. Oxidation of extract residues in H2O2 solution was carried out at different temperatures. Water soluble products of oxidation were analyzed using the GC-MS. Aliphatic hydrocarbons were present in all oxidation steps. The relative content of esters in all oxidation stepswas also high. The chemical structure changes of coal, the extract residues, and the oxidation residueswere studied using FTIR technique. The results indicated that the extract residues had lower intensity of aliphatic hydrogen compared to raw coal. The aromatic carbon concentration remained relatively unchanged when oxidized at temperatures below 30 °C, then decreased slightly with increasing the oxidation temperature.

A new technique that allows dynamic measurement of thermal properties, expansion and the elemental chemistry of the volatile matter being evolved as coal is pyrolysed is described. The thermal and other properties are measured dynamically as a function of temperature of the coal without the need for equilibration at temperature. In particular, the technique allows for continuous elemental characterisation of tars as they are evolved during pyrolysis and afterwards as a function of boiling point. The technique is demonstrated by measuring the properties of maceral concentrates from a coal. The variation in heats of reaction, thermal conductivity and expansion as a function of maceral composition is described. Combined with the elemental analysis, the results aid in the interpretation of the chemical processes contributing to the physical and thermal behaviour of the coal during pyrolysis. Potential applications in cokemaking studies are discussed. © 2013 Brazilian Metallurgical, Materials and Mining Association. Published by Elsevier Editora Ltda. All rights reserved.

Coke oven gas cleaning is an important issue in China, where it can be a source of liquefied natural gas (LNG) through the methanation process. In this study, char-supported sorbents were prepared by loading iron, cerium, and molybdenum into a Chinese lignite through co-precipitation, and the sorbents were used for dry desulfurization of coke oven gases. Desulfurization efficiency of the sorbents was examined using a fixed-bed reactor in a temperature range of 473-673 K using a simulated coke oven gas. A gas chromatograph equipped with both a flame photometric detector (FPD) and a thermal conductivity detector (TCD) was used to analyze gas composition, while X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy were used to examine chemical phases and the dispersion pattern of the active constitutes of the sorbents. The experimental results showed that the highest desulfurization efficiency and sulfur capacity appeared at 673 K. The reactivity of the nanosized active components in the char increased with increasing the desulfurization temperature in the temperature range of 473-673 K. In the case of Fe-Mo-impregnated sorbents, Fe and Mo combined together to form complex Fe-Mo oxide phases. The introduction of Mo in the sorbent is found to greatly increase the sulfur capacity and desulfurization efficiency of the Fe sorbent supported on activated chars. The addition of Ce leads to noticeable improvement of the performance of Fe sorbent during sulfidation. The mechanisms and factors influencing the sulfidation reactions have also been discussed. © 2014 American Chemical Society.

A novel technique is described which provides quantitative and continuous analysis of light gas and condensable tar components as they are evolved in terms of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen. The technique has also been used to directly characterise the total tar sample in terms of carbon distribution and boiling point. It has been found that changes to the dynamic tar-H/C ratio correspond well with particular temperatures measured by Geiseler Plastometer for softening, maximum fluidity and re-solidification. This technique can enhance the chemical understanding of mechanisms occurring during de-polymerisation and cross-linking of coal (i.e. metaplast development and the transfer of hydrogen) while also monitoring tar evolution. A tar collection and re-vaporisation method provides a means of identifying tar groups that contribute towards the metaplast phase and temperatures at which they evolve. Both methods are unique in studying chemical aspects of coal and tar behaviour with heating, in a field based on thermo-physical techniques (e.g. H1 NMR, high temperature rheology, Geiseler plastometry, dilatation). Overall, the Dynamic Elemental Thermal Analysis (DETA) technique can give new insight into the fundamental mechanisms prevalent in coal pyrolysis and provides quantitative chemical assessment of tar nature (i) during the heating of coal and (ii) as a final (total) condensed product. © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A fundamental study on the behaviour of heating coal macerals has been undertaken using two novel thermal analysis techniques. The apparent specific heat was determined during heating using an inverse calorimetric method (computer aided thermal analysis, CATA) and combined with pressure and displacement measurements to correlate endothermic and exothermic behaviour with measurement of swelling. The second technique used a post-oxidation stage to combust the tars and gases into products which were analysed. This method was used to study the elemental character of volatiles release from coal maceral concentrates in terms of carbon and hydrogen. Extents of swelling and exothermicity during primary devolatilisation were found to be correlated with vitrinite content and were associated with tar evolution. For the highest vitrinite fraction (of 86.4% vitrinite) swelling was initiated at the same temperature range for exothermic reactions, and maximum swelling coincided with the peak release of light gases. Tar evolution was found to change in chemical character (as defined by H/C ratio) during progressive heating, initially rising in the early stages of tar formation (<430°C) to a maximum of 1.24, then gradually decreasing to a minimum of 0.64 at 550°C. © 2012 The Combustion Institute. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Char structures evolved during the devolatilization process have been found to play a significant role in the subsequent processes (e.g., char combustion and gasification) and to influence the ash formation mechanisms. In the present paper, a mathematical model has been developed based on the multibubble mechanism to simulate the char structure evolution process. The model is the first to provide predictions of heterogenous char structures evolved during devolatilization (e.g. cenospheric char, foam structure, or dense char structure) as well as transient particle swelling ratios, based on the ultimate and proximate data of the given coal. The devolatilization process is divided into the preplastic stage, plastic stage, and resolidified stage. Bubble number conservation, mass, and force balance are formulated during the plastic stage to predict the transient swelling ratio and resultant char structures. Experiments have been conducted using a single coal particle reactor (SPR) and a drop tube furnace (DTF) with density-separated coal samples prepared using the sink-float method. The SPR experiments confirm that bubble behavior is responsible for the swelling of the particles that develop plasticity on heating. The analysis of the DTF chars shows that the swelling ratio and porosity decrease with increasing the coal density. Chars from lowdensity samples are mainly Group I chars (porosity >80%), while high-density samples yield mainly Group III chars (porosity <50%), and the medium-density samples contain a mixture. The predicted swelling ratio, porosity, and char type distribution of the chars of the density-separated samples are consistent with the experimental data.

Chars were made from four Australian coals of varying vitrinite content at pressures of 5, 10, and 15 atm. The morphology of the chars was correlated with the petrography of the parent coal. The intrinsic reaction rates of the chars at high pressures were measured, and no systematic effect of pyrolysis pressure or maceral concentration was found. It is concluded that observed variations in conversion rates under process conditions are likely to be due to char structural properties and not a result of variation in the intrinsic reactivity of the carbon in the chars. Consequently, this paper presents a char structural submodel that is integrated into an existing char combustion model to account for the combustion behavior of char particles of different morphologies. The char morphology used in the model was predicted using the developed correlation with parent coal petrography, so that a petrographic analysis as well as the proximate and ultimate analyses is required for model input. Validation of the model shows that chars produced at high pressure with a high percentage of cenospherical types burn more rapidly under process conditions than those at low pressure, with model predictions matching measurements. It is suggested that incorporating the char structural submodel into the existing char combustion model improves its predictability.

In this paper, we study the reflection behavior of (3D) Fresnel collectors operating in the fixed-aperture mode with a tracking absorber. The aim of the study is to investigate the possibility of the use of this type of installation for applications in medium temperature processes (200-300°C). Two models of (3D) Fresnel concentrator are developed for this purpose. One is based on the approximation of the optical behavior of a parabolic concentrator, and the other on that of a spherical one. Via a computer simulation which includes ray-tracing, we evaluate the sensitivity of the geometric concentration ratio to concentrator design parameters, and the option of using curved versus flat elementary mirrors. The numerical results show that there is no large difference between the two models of Fresnel concentrator. For the spherical model, which seems to be slightly more suitable for this type of application, we propose a simple solution for the receiver displacement, which consists of a single-sided absorber moving tangentially to a sphere centered in the concentrator's center. © 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Chars were made from four Australian coals of varying vitrinite content at pressures of 5, 10, and 15 atm. The morphology of the chars was correlated with the petrography of the parent coal. The intrinsic reaction rates of the chars at high pressures were measured, and no systematic effect of pyrolysis pressure or maceral concentration was found. It is concluded that observed variations in conversion rates under process conditions are likely to be due to char structural properties and not a result of variation in the intrinsic reactivity of the carbon in the chars. Consequently, this paper presents a char structural submodel that is integrated into an existing char combustion model to account for the combustion behavior of char particles of different morphologies. The char morphology used in the model was predicted using the developed correlation with parent coal petrography, so that a petrographic analysis as well as the proximate and ultimate analyses is required for model input. Validation of the model shows that chars produced at high pressure with a high percentage of cenospherical types burn more rapidly under process conditions than those at low pressure, with model predictions matching measurements. It is suggested that incorporating the char structural submodel into the existing char combustion model improves its predictability.