Blast Furnace Granular Coal Injection System Demonstration Project

The Clean Coal Technology (CCT) Demonstration Program is a government and industry co-funded effort to demonstrate a new generation of innovative coal utilization processes in a series of " showcase " facilities built across the country. These projects are carried out on a sufficiently large scale to prove commercial worthiness and generate data for design, construction, operation, and technical/economic evaluation of full-scale commercial applications. The goal of the CCT Program is to furnish the U.S. energy marketplace with a number of advanced, more efficient coal-based technologies meeting strict environmental standards. These technologies will mitigate the economic and environmental impediments that limit the full utilization of coal. To achieve this goal, beginning in 1985, a multiphased effort consisting of five separate solicitations was administered by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). Projects selected through these solicitations have demonstrated technology options with the potential to meet the needs of energy markets while satisfying relevant environmental requirements. This report discusses the demonstration of the British Steel and CPC-Macawber Blast Furnace Granular Coal Injection (BFGCI) Process at Bethlehem Steel's Burns Harbor Plant in Burns Harbor, Indi-ana. The technology is installed on Blast Furnaces C and D, each of these units having a production capacity of 7,000 net tons of hot metal per day. In the BFGCI process, granular coal is injected into the blast furnace as a fuel supplement. The coal, along with heated air, is blown into the lower part of the blast furnace through passages called tuyeres. The injected coal reduces the requirement for coke, the primary blast furnace fuel and reductant. BFGCI technology has the potential to reduce pollutant emissions because decreased coke production requirements result in a significant reduction of emissions of nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide, and air toxics. Coal can replace up to 40% of the coke. DOE selected the BFGCI project in CCT Round III, and the cooperative agreement was awarded in November 1990. major conclusion of this project is that the injection of granular coal into a large blast furnace works very well and can reduce coke requirements on almost a pound-for-pound basis. The higher blast furnace sulfur load and slag volume resulting from coal injection did not cause any operating problems. The chemistry of the furnace slag can be adjusted, without harm to overall operations, to accommodate the increased sulfur input. BFGCI technology can be applied to essentially all U.S. blast furnaces and should be able …