Quantitative Evaluation for Relationship between Development of Pore Structure and Swelling of Coal in Carbonization of Single Coal Particle

The objective of this paper are to study the formation process of coke pore structure in relation to the swelling of coke during the thermoplastic stage and the pore structure at the initial carbonization. The swelling ratio, changes in pore structure and growth behavior of pore which originally present in the coal were evaluated. Two kinds of caking coals were carbonized in nitrogen-atmosphere with an infrared furnace. The swelling ratios were measured, and the cross-sectional images of coal particles at different heating temperatures were observed with an optical microscope. Before carbonization, all pores in both coals were a diameter of less than 100 μm. When the temperature increased up to the level at which the swelling started, the pores with greater than 100 μm-diameters were formed, and they had also simultaneously coalesced. However, each coal had a different temperature for starting swelling and observing the generation and coalescence of pores with a diameter of more than 100 μm. At this point, the formation of pores were expressed with Laplace equations. The results showed the volatile matter inflow affected the change of pore structure. Furthermore, the pore structures within coal particles before and after carbonization were compared by micro-X-ray Computed Tomography. Carbonization up to the temperature for the softening stage increased pore diameters, which provided evidence that the proportion of pores existing within post-carbonized coal had grown based on the pores already existing in pre-carbonized coal.