A domestically manufactured formcoke was identified, which has properties very similar to conventional slot-oven foundry coke. The formcoke was evaluated in several production cupola tests, the longest of which charged coke blends containingbetween 12 and 50% formcoke over a period of about 16 hours in a 154-in. (391-cm) cupola. Confidence in the results from these production tests led to a more discriminating evaluation in a 72-in. (183-cm) cupola dedicated to carrying out controlledexperiments. Two cupola heats were conducted in this dedicated test cupola under essentially identical operating conditions, such that the results from using formcoke as the only fuel in the cupola could be evaluated against a baseline condition usingonly conventional slot-oven foundry coke for acid melting of gray iron.The main focus of this paper is presenting the results of these two cupola heats. The information obtained in these cupola melting experiments indicated that the performance of the formcoke tested is on a par with that of conventional slot-oven foundrycoke. In addition, experience in tapping a cupola with a 100% formcoke bed indicated that there may still be some learning required when it comes to the everyday practice of using formcoke in a production environment.
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