The Peluit Heat Utilization for Low-Rank Coal Upgrading

Abstract

BATAN is developing a power reactor called the Peluit. In addition to electrical generation, the reactor's heat is used for cogeneration. A possible cogeneration process is coal upgrading. Indonesia holds 161,0 billion tons of coal reserves, 60% of which is low-rank coal with a moisture content of over 25%. During combustion, the low-rank coal produces extremely low heat and high CO2 emissions. To increase the coal quality, a drying process is needed. Peluit is designed to generate superheated steam on the secondary side with temperatures above 500°C. It can be used for coal upgrading. Peluit can be built side by side with a coal-fired plant and provide it with good quality coal. Various studies on coal drying using conventional heat have been done and found it ineffective and inefficient. This research aims to determine the total amount of dried coal producible by utilizing Peluit superheated steam. The ChemCAD software package is used for modeling and simulation. Superheated steam is assumed at 500°C, 15 kg/s, and 5 bars. The dry coal combustion heat value is assumed to increase from 4840 kcal/kg to around 6170 kcal/kg. The temperature of the rotary drum is maintained at 150°C to prevent spontaneous dried coal combustion, and the moisture content is set at 10%. Approximately 600 tons/day of low-rank coal can be dried with this method, and its moisture content is reduced from 40% to 10%.