Together with the PREMA project, we cordially invite you to participate in the Workshop on: BIOCARBON – a green alternative to reduce the carbon footprint of FeMn alloy production. The workshop will take place on January 11-12, 2023.

The topics of the workshop include issues related to reducing carbon dioxide emissions in the industry producing ferroalloys through the use of renewable raw materials – biocarbon.

If you are a representative of the industry, science, research and development sector related to the discussed issue or you are simply interested in this topic, we cordially invite you to participate in the workshop.
The registration form is available at the link: https://zfrmz.eu/O8cy2p0Cdtn7oeOjtkJO

At the XXX jubilee scientific and technical conference KOKSOWNICTWO 2022, a thematic discussion panel was held entitled: Bio-coke – a chance for the Polish cokemaking industry?. The panel was led by an employee of the Institute of Fuel and Energy Technology (ITPE), Dr. Michał Rejdak. Research on the production of bio-coke, i.e. a hybrid reducer produced on the basis of coal blends with the addition of biomass substances, has been carried out in the world for over a dozen years, but in the last few years, due to the fight against global warming and the desire to minimize greenhouse gas emissions, they have gained considerable momentum. The idea of ​​bio-coke is based on the replacement of part of the elemental carbon of fossil origin, the source of which is coking coal, with elemental carbon from renewable sources – biomass. Due to the assimilation of carbon dioxide during the photosynthesis process, biomass is considered a zero-emission resource, therefore the introduction of biomass-based carbon should contribute to the reduction of CO2 emissions from the processes of coke (bio-coke) utilization. The practical implementation of the above-mentioned idea consists in the production of bio-coke in functioning coke oven batteries, using for this purpose coal blends with properly prepared biomass raw materials – raw or thermally processed biomass (torrefaction, charcoal, etc.).

The aim of the panel was to familiarize the participants with the current state of knowledge and technology on issues related to the production of bio-coke, to present our experience in the field resulting from the BioCoke4FAI project implementation and to discuss the possibility of implementing this technology in the practice of domestic cokemaing, which is currently the European leader in the production and export of high-quality coke. The panel met with great interest of the conference participants – representatives of both industry and the scientific community. There was a lively discussion about the wide implementation potential of the technology in question. Particular emphasis in the discussion was put on the elements related to the economic and ecological aspects of obtaining biomass raw materials, the process of thermally processed biomass production, including the phenomena and mechanisms occurring in its course. It was concluded that the industrial implementation of bio-coke production technology requires the acquisition of full knowledge and optimization of factors shaping its quality parameters, taking into account the requirements of industrial processes in which it will be used.

We are pleased to announce that our team’s article was published in the Energies MDPI magazine – “A Study on Bio-Coke Production — The Influence of Bio-Components Addition on Coke-Making Blend Properties”

We kindly invite you to read: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/15/18/6847

On September 20-23 at AGH University of Science and Technology in Kraków (Cracow), the 2nd International Conference EFE 2022 – Energy Fuels Environment took place. At the conference, we presented a paper entitled “The influence of charcoal addition to coking blend on bio-coke quality parameters.

More information about conference you can find below:

http://ef-conference.agh.edu.pl/programme/

From 1 to 3 June, IChPW employees Michał Rejdak and Małgorzata Wojtaszek – Kalaitzidi took a study visit as part of the BioCoke4FAI project. The study visit took place at the Norwegian research Institute SINTEF in Trondheim, which is also the research partner of the project. The visit was supervised by Michał Książek from SINTEF. As part of the visit, IChPW employees participated in technological research of bio-coke produced at the Institute. The research included parameters important for the production of manganese ferroalloys, such as electrical resistance, reactivity to CO / CO2 gas (SINTEF method), studies of the microstructure of biocokes by EPMA (electron microscopy) and slag reactivity.

On May 30 and 31, the third BioCoke4FAI project meeting took place. The meeting was held on-site at SINTEF in Trondheim, Norway. The project is implemented under the POLNOR 2019 program by the Polish-Norwegian consortium: IChPW (Poland, Project Promoter), SINTEF (Norway, research partner), ERAMET (Norway, industrial partner, ferroalloys producer) and KCN, Koksownia Częstochowa Nowa (Poland, industrial partner – coke producer). All representatives of the project partners participated in the meeting. The meeting was divided into three parts. In the first part, all partners presented the results of their research work. In the second part, the work planned to be carried out in the further part of the project was discussed, taking into account the results obtained so far. Organizational matters of the project were also discussed. During the third part, participants could visit the research infrastructure of the SINTEF and NTNU laboratories.

On November 29 and 30, the second BioCoke4FAI project meeting took place. The meeting took place in Zabrze at the seat of the Institute for Chemical Processing of Coal – the project promoter. In addition to the employees of the Institute, the meeting was attended by representatives of all partners co-implementing the project, i.e. the SINTEF Institute from Norway, the ERAMET company from Norway and the Częstochowa Nowa Coking Plant. The aim of the meeting was to present and discuss the project results obtained so far, discuss current issues related to its implementation as well as plan future activities. As part of the meeting, the participants also made a technological visit to the Częstochowa Nowa Coking Plant, where they could learn in detail about the technological system of coke production with use of stamp-charged technology.

On November 10 and 11, the 37th International Cokemaking Conference was held. The conference took place in Ostrava in the Czech Republic, and was attended by over 100 representatives of several dozen companies related to the cokemaking industry and research companies from various European countries. At the conference, a poster was presented: The influence of charcoal addition to coking blend on quality parameters of produced bio-coke. The poster shows the current results of the assessment of the charcoal addition (to the coking blend) on the quality parameters of produced bio-cokes. The tests were carried out for the conditions of the gravity charged and stamp charged coke oven batteries. The obtained results are promising and met with the interest of the conference participants.

On October 21, the 5th Mineral Engineering Conference 2020/2021 was held. The conference was held on-line. At the conference, an employee of the Institute for Chemical Processing of Coal, Dr. Eng. Michał Rejdak gave a lecture presenting selected results of the project with the acronym BioCoke4FAI (Bio-coke for ferroalloys industry production), concerning the impact of the addition of commercially available charcoal on the mechanical strength of the compacted coal charge. This form of coal charge is used for the production of coke in coke oven batteries using the stamp-charging method. Therefore, from the point of view of industrial production of bio-coke based on coal-biomass blends, the assessment of the impact of the addition of bio-components on the strength parameters of the coal charge is very important.

The 72nd annual meeting of the ICCP (International Committee for Coal and Organic Petrology) was held on September 19-24, 2021 in Prague, as part of which a Symposium entitled: ‘Future of Coal and Organic Petrology in the Era of Transition from Fossil to Renewable Fuels” was organized . The meeting was organized by the Czech Academy of Sciences in Prague, Masaryk University in Brno, Charles University in Prague. The meeting and the symposium was attended by researchers from all over the world, including: Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary, Spain, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Greece, Serbia, Romania, Portugal, USA, Canada, Brazil, Colombia, India, Australia, South Africa.

As a representative of Institute for Chemical Processing of Coal Dr. Małgorzata Wojtaszek-Kalaitzidi attended and presented, inter alia, poster entitled: The influence of biochar addition to coking blend on coke structure and quality by: M. Wojtaszek-Kalaitzidi, M. Rejdak, G. Gałko, B. Mertas. The poster contained preliminary results of pyrolysis tests of various types of biomass performed as part of the BioCoke4FAI – Bio-Coke for Ferroalloys Industry Production project.