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In the steel industry five years is a relatively short time in which to introduce, prove, and incorporate a significant new technology. But that is just how long it has taken to fully commercialise granular coal injection into blast furnace tuyeres. Experience at Scunthorpe Works has confirmed the viability of the system, and the introduction of granular coal injection at Ravenscraig has been chosen to avoid expensive coke oven rebuilding in addition to obtaining operational benefits.
In 1982 a development programme between British Steel Corporation and Doncaster based Simon-Macawber, was set up to evaluate the feasibility of installing équipement to inject granular coal into a blast furnace at British Steel Corporation's Scunthorpe Works. For many years the concept of injecting granular coal into the blast furnace had been considered impractical because of the technical inability to guarantee full combustion of the material in the raceway - thus affecting overall furnace performance.
Six months later those trials had proved so successful that BSC Scunthorpe commissioned a full granular coal injection system to operate on 12 of the 20 tuyeres of the Queen Mary Furnace. That development ensured that the partnership between supplier and user entered a second and critical phase.
The success of granular coal injection on Queen Mary Furnace, both technically and financially, resulted in the installation of further systems on both the Queen Victoria and Queen Anne Furnaces, (8.94m hearth diameter furnaces) in 1985. In January 1986 the original Queen Mary system was upgraded and during this period a coal preparation facility was also installed which provided 500t/day of coal for the three furnaces.
TOWARDS 1000 TONNES PER DAY
Such is the confidence in the system at BSC Scunthorpe that the plant operators are now progressing steadily to their next target of 1000t/day injection capability. With additional coal preparation facilities now on stream BSC has determined to...