Evaluation of the thermoplastic behavior of charcoal, coal tar and coking coal blends

This work aimed to evaluate the combined use of charcoal (Ch) and coal tar (Tar) as a way to mitigate the negative effects of using biomass in coal blends for cokemaking. In this way, a greater understanding of the effects of separate addition of charcoal and coal tar on the plasticity of a coking coal (C), as well as the plasticity of the blends with these three materials was achieved. The fluidity of such blends was determined by Giesele plastom- etry. Thermoplastic tests showed that the addition of charcoal resulted in a depreciation of fluidity, while coal tar assisted in the formation of the liquid phase in the plastic stage, resulting in an increase of fluidity. The results indicate that the combined use of Ch and AL allows for the addition of biomass in cokemaking, without important impacts in the plastic characteristics of the coking coals.