The anthracite type of coal has a very high fixed-carbon content. In addition, it is dense and offers many advantages in producing specialty alloys. Some of these benefits are reducing volatiles or improving the resistance specific to a particular product. Use of anthracite to add carbon also helps reduce the oxidation rate of metals within the alloy. This extends the lifetime of manufacturing equipment. This type of carbon has a wide range of applications in the industrial sector, such as steel smelting.
There are many benefits to using anthracite over petroleum carbon in some applications. The anthracite material can be transformed into four different types of carbon premium materials, including molded or extruded Graphites, Binder Pitch, Activated Carbons, and Exfoliated Carbons. The materials are used in a wide range of applications, such as the production of special metals, chemical processing, and water filters. Anthracites offer many benefits to the environment.
To improve the utilization of anthracite, it is necessary to increase its activation efficiency and reduce its ash content. KOH-chemical activation is a way to simultaneously control the formation of pores and remove ash. This has shown to work much better than physical activation. It is true that a KOH/anthracite proportion of 4.0 can produce a notable increase in surface area. Moreover, the ash content of anthracite can be reduced by several percentage points.
The activation of KOH was performed on four types Korean anthracites with different ash contents. Using scanning electron microscopes with energy-dispersive-spectrometry and X-ray Diffraction, carbon precursors were determined. All of the samples tested, despite their differences in ash compositions, displayed high-quality carbons that had a surface area up to 1,596 m2/g. The results suggest that by controlling the amount and reaction time of the chemical activator, the surface area of anthracite could be significantly increased.
However, it is important to consider the effect of a large number of variables that may affect the performance of anthracite-based carbon precursors. This is because the process of pulverizing anthracite can affect its volatile composition. For this purpose, this study performed a Denver-based flotation screening with Kelosine acting as the collector and pine as the frother. It then selected low-volatile Anthracite to be prepared further. This study confirmed previous findings that the volatile anthracite content had significantly decreased after froth-flotation. Additionally, the anthracite ash was reduced by about 40%. This is similar to the reduction in calcined oil coke. These results indicate that anthracite can be used as a substitute for coke in certain metallurgical processes, such as the iron-smelting process. This could help to reduce emissions and costs in the metallurgical industry, which is especially important during the ongoing global economic crisis.
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