An Application of Coke Microstructure and Microtexture to Indonesian Coal

摘要

Taiwan is located at a compressive tectonic area and lack of natural resources; therefore most industrial feedstocks are imported. Metallurgical coal and iron ore are two main ingredients in steelmaking. It is necessary to be conversant with the characteristics from different resource areas. Indonesia is playing a major role in the coal market since Indonesian coal benefits from low ash and sulfur contents. Due to the ideal geographic position for Asian coal demand, it is time to engage in the study of Indonesian metallurgical coal. Basic coal and coke analysis are undertaken to generalize the chemical and physical properties. Nevertheless, the coke strength after a high temperature is unpredictable. Coal and coke petrographic methods are attempted to correlate the qualities of coke with coal. High vitrinite contents are found in most of Indonesian coals, and therefore the reactive maceral derived components are abundant in coke microtexture. The lack of inert maceral derived components and thin coke walls are discovered from the coke microstructure. Both microtexture and microstructure are adopted to confer the weak coke strength after reaction of Indonesian coal.