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318
CHAPTER 13
1952 Guide
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a heat balance when required in testing of heating devices. Typical ulti mate analyses of the various kinds of coal are shown in Table 1.*
Other important qualities of coals are the screen sizes, ash fusion tem perature, friability, caking tendency, and the qualities of the volatile matter. In considering these factors the following points are of interest. The volatile products given off by coals when they, are heated differ mate rially in the ratios by weight of the gases to the oils and tars. No heavy oils or tars are given off by anthracite, and very small quantities are given off by semi-anthracite. As the volatile matter in the coal increases to as much as 40 percent of ash and moisture-free coal, increasing amounts of oils and tars are released. For coals of higher volatile content, the relative quantity of oils and tars decreases and is therefore low in the sub-bituminous
Table 1. Typical Ultimate Analyses for Coals
Btu pxb Lb
Co&srmncNTS, Per Cert
Rare
Moist, Mineralmatter-
free
Moist,
as
Received
Oxygen
Hr-
drogen
Carbon Nitrogen
Sulfur
Anthracite___ _
14,600 12,910 5.0 2.9 80.0 0.9 0.7
Semi-Anthracite----------- 15,200 13,770 5.0 3.9 80.4 1.1 1.1
Low-Volatile Bituminous-------------- 15,350 14,340 5.0 4.7 81.7
1.4
1.2
Medium-Volatile Bituminous............ _ 15,200 13,840 5.0 5.0 79.0 1.4 1.5
High-Volatile Bituminous A_____________ 14,500 13,090 9.2 5.3 73.2 1.5 2.0
High-Volatile -. Bituminous B -- 13,500 12,130 13.8 5.5 68.0 1.4 2.1
High-Volatile Bituminous C..----------------- 12,000 10,750 21.0 5.8 60.6 1.1 2.1
Sub Bituminous B. ____ 10,250 9,150 29.5
Sub Bituminous C-------------- 9,000 8,940 35.8
Lignite- ______ _
7,500 6,900 44.0
6.2 52.5 6.5 46.7 6.9 40.1
1.0
0.8 0.7
1.0 0.6 1.0
Awh
10.5 8.5 6.0
8.1 8.8 9.2 9.4 9.8 9.8 7.3
ft+
Bcr
87.9 89.3 ,
91.4
89.0
87.7
87.3
87.4
88.2 89.0 91.0
* (Btu as received) X 100 + (100 - 1.1 Ash)
coals and in lignite. The percentage of ash and its fusion temperature do not indicate the composition or distribution of its constituents.
Classification of Coals
A classification of coals is given in Table 2, and a brief description of the kinds of fuel is given in the following paragraphs, but it should be recog nized that there are no distinct lines of demarcation between the kinds, and that they graduate into each other.
Anthracite is a clean, dense, hard coal which creates little dust in handling. It is comparatively hard to ignite, but it bums freely when well started. It is non-caking, it burns uniformly and smokelessly with a short flame, and it requires no attention to the fuel bed between firings. It is capable of giving a high efficiency in the common types of hand-fired furnaces. A tabulation of the quality of the various anthracite sizes will be found in a Bureau of Mines Report.* Standard anthracite sizing specifi cations are shown in Table 3.
Semi-anthracite has a higher volatile content than anthracite. It is not so hard, and ignites somewhat more easily. Otherwise their properties are similar.
Semi-bituminous coal is soft and friable, and fines and dust are created by handling it. It ignites somewhat slowly and burns with a medium length of flame. Its caking properties increase as the volatile matter increases, but the coke formed is relatively weak. Having only half the volatile matter content of the bituminous coals, it can. be burned with less production of smoke, and is sometimes called a smokeless coal.
Fuels and Combustion
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The term bituminous coal covers a large range of coals and includes many types
having distinctly different composition, properties, and burning characteristics! The coals range from the high-grade bituminous coals of the East to the poorer coals of the West. Their caking properties range from coals which melt completely, to those from which the volatiles and tars are distilled without change of form, so that
they are classed as non-caking or free-burning. Most bituminous coals are strong
Table 2. Classification of Coals by Rank0 l^6&d: F.C. Fixed Carbon. V.M. TM Volatile Matter. Btu = British thermal units.
Class
Group
Limits of Fixed Carbon os Btu Mineral-Matter-
R EQUTBITE'PHYSICAL
Free Basis
Properties
I. Anthracite.
U. Bituminous*. HI Sub-bitumi
nous IV. Lignitic.
Meta-anthracite
Dry F.C., 98 per cent or
more (Dry V.M., 2 per
cent or less)
Anthracite
Dry F.C., 92 per cent or
more and less than 98
per cent (Dry V.M., 8
per cent or less and more
Semi-anthracite
than 2 per cent)
Non-agglomerating
Dry F.C., 86 per cent or
more arid less than 92
per cent (Dry V.M., 14
per cent or less and more
. than 8 per cent)
1 Low volatile bituminous coal... Dry F.C., 78 per cent or
more and less than 86 per
cent (Dry V.M., 22 per
cent or less and more
than 14 per cent)
Medium volatile bituminous Dry F.C., 69 per cent or
coal more and less than 78
per cent (Dry V.M.. 81
per cent or less and more Either agglomerat
than 22 per cent)
ing or non-
High volatile A bituminous Dry F.C., less than 69 per coal cent (Dry V.M , more
weathering/
than 31 per cent); and
moist0 Btu, 14,000 or
more
4. High volatile B bituminous Moist0 Btu, 13,000 or more
coal 5. High volatile C bituminous
. Coal
1 Sub-bituminous A coal.
and less than 14.OOO0 Moist Btu, 11,000 or more
and less than 13.OOO0 Moist Btu, 11,000 or more
and less than 13,000
Sub4>ituminous B coal.
Moist Btu, 9500 or more Both weathering and
and less than 11,000
non-agglomerat
ing
Sub-bituminous C coal.
Moist Btu, 8300 or more
and less than 9500
Lignite......................... Brown ooal...................
Moist'Btu less than 8300 Consolidated Moist Btu less than 8300 Unconsolidated
w ckssification does not include a few coals which have unusual physical and chemical properties ppd which come within the limits of fixed carbon or Btu of the high-volatile bituminous and sub-bituminous rankB. All of these coals either contain less than 48 percent dry, mineral-matter-free fixed carbon, or have more than 15,500 moist, mineral-matter-free Btu.
e If agglomerating, classify in low-volatile group of the bituminous o,f theMcooisatl.Btu refera to ooal containing its natural bed moisture but not including visible water on the surface
' I* recognised that there may be non-caking varieties in each group of the bituminous Coals haying K) percent or more fixed carbon on the dry, mineral-matter-free basis shall , be classified
according to fixed carbon, regardless of Btu. There are three varieties of coal in the high-volatile C bituminous coal group, namely. Variety 1, agglom
erating and non-weathering; Variety 2, agglomerating and weathering; Variety 3, nniwtgglnnwfcinff and non-weathering.
Adapted from AJS.T.M. Standards, 1937, Supplement, p. 145, American Society for Testing Materials.
and non-friable enough to permit the screened'sizes being delivered free from fines. In general, they ignite easily and burn freely; the length of flame varies with different coals, but it is long. Much smoke and soot are possible, if improperly fired, especially at low rates of burning.
Sub-bituminous coals occur in the western states; they are high in moisture when
i*11?! a
to break up as they dry or when exposed to the weather; they are
to ignite spontaneously when piled or stored. They ignite easily and quickly,
and haye a medium length flame; are non-caking and free-burning; the lumps tend
to break into small pieces if poked; very little smoke and soot are formed.
bignite is of woody structure, very high in moisture as mined, and of low heating