Technical Market Support
The technical market support committee will consider proposals addressing technical issues that significantly and demonstrably affect the value-in-use of Australian coals in current technologies, especially where the impact is acknowledged and supported by an industry advocate. This may include:
- Understanding the properties of Australian coals which impact on utilisation performance and market acceptance.
- Development of new test procedures and advanced characterisation techniques currently in use that may need to be adapted to coal.
- Understanding properties of coals from key competitor nations.
- Environmental performance of coal taking account of current and emerging legislative regimes.
Proposals should clearly articulate:
- Industry needs and benefits.
- Knowledge of the current state of the art.
- Capability to make a meaningful contribution.
- Realistic timetable for completion.
The major markets for Australian coals are electricity generation and iron production, and it is anticipated that the majority of proposals will address these markets. Proposals addressing the use of coal in other industrial applications will also be considered where a significant benefit to coal producers can be demonstrated.
Proposals must be clearly distinguished from existing work elsewhere, including cooperative research centres directly funded by ACARP, and show a major benefit to coal producers to be considered for ACARP funding.
Thermal Coal
Technical issues of interest include:
- Trace elements, in particular factors affecting deportment/speciation behaviour, including:
- the impact of technology (eg hot/cold ESPs; wet/dry FGDs etc).
- the impact of other coal properties (ash, chemistry, chlorine, etc).
- the impact on ash utilisation potential.
- Environmental performance in use.
- Fine particulate emissions.
- Dust control.
Metallurgical Coal
ACARP is particularly interested in cokemaking processes as they impact on the value in use of Australian coals especially coke oven productivity and the emerging price disparity between coking coal categories, with emphasis on the following points:
- Basic coking mechanisms in:
- Conventional coke ovens, particularly as they relate to oven productivity.
- Non-recovery/heat recovery coke ovens, particularly as they relate to coke quality relative to conventional coke ovens.
- Interactive effects in blends, particularly understanding the factors that influence coke strength.
- Understanding overseas work on alternative cokemaking processes, in particular the implications for the use of Australian coals.
- Impact of coal ash chemistry on blast furnace performance.
Pulverised coal injection is also a key interest, with the following in mind:
- Milling, with particular emphasis on the grinding characteristics of blends with low HGI coals.
- Interaction between increasing PCI rates and the requirement for improved coke quality.
- Combustion behaviour of PCI coals, with emphasis on burn out.
Other smelting processes, while representing smaller markets, are also of interest. Proposals addressing the impact of coal properties on value in use in these processes will be considered.
Back