[Stoves] Water in coal

[IPC]

 Dear Crispin

"There are several 'semi-coked briquetting plants' going up at the moment in
the mistaken belief that removing the volatiles will reduce the smoke
generated during a typical burning cycle which ranges from 4 to 8 hours."  

We did a lot of work on that.  If you reduce the volatiles (as determined by
the standard ASTM method) to about 8-10% you get a semi-coke that is
reasonably ignitable and makes much less smoke.  You need some volatiles,
because pure coke (<1% volatiles) is a real nuisance to get alight.  We
produced several hundred tons of the stuff, which was tested in a
large-scale test in Qalabotjha.  It reduced air pollution to the point where
there were no patients with respiratory tract problems at the local clinic
for the duration (3 weeks) of the test. Production costs would add about 5%
to the retail price.  The problem with doing it is the existing
infrastructure for distributing coal.  The merchants are dead against any
changes.  Government (the DME) has cold feet about taking them on.  

You would also get a lot of drying during the devolatilisation, so you win
there too.  If there is any hope of doing it in UlaanBaatar, you should
offer every encouragement.

Best regards

(Dr)Philip Lloyd
Energy Research Centre
University of Cape Town
Private Bag Rondebosch 7701
South Africa
Tel +27 (0)21 650 3896
Fax +27 (0)21 650 2830