THE INGNITIBILITY OF BITUMINOUS COAL (A RESUME OF A LITERATURE SURVEY)

Special Research Report SR-9 A thorough search of the literature was made and resulted in the study of thirty-six references pertaining to ignitibility. This work revealed that no standard ASTM test method for determining ignitibility exists in spite of a substantial research effort by numerous investigators. It appears that no single test will be suitable for calibrating the ignition temperature for both fuel bed and pulverized firing of coal. Since the major consumer of bituminous coal is pulverized firing, attention will be given first to this phase. An "inflammability" test has been chosen which, although completely empirical in nature, seems to offer the best possibility of correlating laboratory results with field performance, The test apparatus is shown in Figure 3 and was employed by Lambie (14) in his work on combustibility. A test somewhat similar to this has been explored by the Babcock and Wilcox Company Research Laboratory at Alliance, Ohio. Both techniques will be investigated simultaneously in an effort to learn which is the better all-around method.