Preparation of granules made of fine-grained coal fractions for gasification process

The paper presents the results of tests for the production of fuel granules from fine-grained coal fractions. The raw material used for the research was selected fine coal fractions – coal sludge and coal flotation concentrate, obtained from the process of coal enrichment in hard coal mines. The aim of the work was to develop a recipe and parameters for the process of granules production with adequate physicochemical properties, enabling their transport, dosing and gasification in a fixed and fluidized bed system. The work determined the share of specified components (coal sludge, coal flotation concentrate and binders) and the conditions of granulation using the agglomeration technique in the disk granulator. It was found that a mixture consisting of 30% wt. coal sludge and 70% wt. coal flotation concentrate with the addition of 3% Portland cement in relation to the dry matter of carbonaceous components, allows obtaining granules meeting the requirements for their gasification in IChPW research installations (fluidized bed and fixed bed gasification) in terms of calorific value, ash content, particle size distribution and mechanical strength.