CORRELATION OF COAL CHARACTERISTICS AND FOULING TENDENCIES OF VARIOUS COALS FROM THE GASCOYNE MINE.

In an attempt to understand how low-rank coal chemical characteristics can be used to predict the coals' ash fouling behavior, three lignite samples were chemically characterized and burned under similar conditions in a 550,000 Btu/hr pilot-scale combustor. The lignites were obtained from the Red, White, and Blue pits of the Gascoyne mine because they had similar geologic histories but markedly different ash fouling potentials. The Red and Blue pit coals produced ash fouling deposits with physical characteristics that could be partially predicted by the sodium/ash ratio in the coals. The relatively high weight and hardness of the White pit deposits could not be predicted using this one parameter, but may have been due to the high silica and ash content of the coal as well as the high potassium and low calcium concentrations in the deposit.