Pelletizing Coke Breeze for Electric Arc Furnace Feedstock
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Solution Overview
Problem
The steel industry faces challenges in effectively utilizing and disposing of coke particulates, commonly known as 'coke breeze,' which are typically too fine to be sold as products and often end up in landfills.
Innovation Solution
The development of systems and methods to pelletize coke particulates along with other traditional waste materials, allowing for the production of valuable pellet products that can be utilized in various industries, such as metal alloy production in electric arc furnaces.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If coke particulates are produced during coal carbonization, then carbonization efficiency is improved, but the coke breeze becomes waste material requiring landfill disposal
Solution Approach 1:
The patent converts the harmful waste material (coke breeze) into a beneficial product by pelletizing it with binders and additives to create usable fuel pellets or metalmaking feedstock, thereby eliminating landfill disposal needs and creating value from previously wasted material
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the physical and chemical parameters of coke breeze through controlled heating (carbonization), mixing with binders, and pelletizing processes to transform it from fine particulate waste into dense, usable pellet products with improved handling and combustion characteristics
2Ease of manufacture
If traditional waste materials are disposed of in landfills, then disposal simplicity is maintained, but material efficiency and sustainability are reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent transforms waste materials that would otherwise be lost into valuable energy and material resources by creating pellets suitable for fuel applications or metalmaking processes, thereby recovering energy and material value that would be lost in landfill disposal
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of discarding coke breeze and other waste materials in landfills, the patent recovers them through a processing system that carbonizes, mixes, and pelletizes the materials to create reusable products, thereby preventing material loss and enabling circular economy applications
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This approach not only addresses the issue of waste disposal by converting coke particulates into valuable products but also enhances material efficiency in coke production operations, providing a sustainable solution for the steel industry.
Implementation Method 1
an oven configured to receive and heat an input material to a processing temperature to produce processed materials
Implementation Method 2
The processed materials can be pelletized to produce a population of pellets
Data Source
AI summary
Production systems and methods for producing pellets or pellet products, which can be used, e.g., in an electric arc furnace (EAF) to produce metal alloys, are disclosed herein. In some embodiments, a method for forming coke pellets includes (i) blending biomass with a set of materials to form an input blend, (ii) preconditioning the input blend by hydrating the input blend to generate a first plurality of particles, (iii) charging the first plurality of particles into an oven to produce a second plurality of particles via pyrolysis, (iv) post-conditioning the second plurality of particles to produce a third plurality of particles by exposing the second plurality of particles to at least one of an amphipathic binder, a hydrophobic binder, or a hydrophilic binder, and (v) physically altering the third plurality of particles to form coke pellets. The biomass can have a first volatility and the set of materials can have a second volatility lower than the first volatility.