International Carbonisation and Coke Testing Round Robin

A global round robin cokemaking and coke testing exercise was conducted in 2016, with results being collated in 2017. This involved thirteen organisations and included ten pilot-scale coke ovens and seven smaller scale coke ovens.

The exercise consisted of two components:

• A coal sample was supplied to each of the participating organisations. The coal sample was prepared from a blend of five Australian coking coals. The blended coal sample was coked and tested by each participant using their usual processes. Some organisations also performed tests on the coal prior to coke testing;
• Coke samples were supplied to the participating organisations. The coke sample was coked by ALS from a single source Australian coking coal. The participating organisations subjected the coke to Coke Reactivity Index (CRI) and Coke Strength after Reaction (CSR) testing.

It is known that coke oven dimensions and coke making variables can impact on resultant coke quality. However, without an understanding of the cokemaking processes and coke testing methods employed by an operation, it is difficult to compare a set of results from one oven to that of another oven.  

In the broadest sense, there are two types of laboratory-scale coke ovens, namely pilot-scale coke ovens and small-scale coke ovens:

• Pilot-scale ovens attempt to replicate the coke quality produced in industrial ovens.  To achieve this these ovens typically exhibit a coking chamber width, heating rate and dry bulk densities which are similar to that found in industrial ovens;

• Small-scale ovens, sometimes referred to as bench-scale ovens or test ovens, have significantly smaller coking chambers.  They are not nearly as wide as the pilot-scale or industrial ovens.  However, these ovens can produce coke for analysis.