US1940893A - Procedure of coking pitch and coal in a by-product coke oven battery - Google Patents

Description

-'1=RoDUcT com: ovEN BATTERY w. 'rlDDY PROCEDURE O F COKIN@ FITCH AND COAL IN A BY Dec. 26, 1933.

1930 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Oct. 30,

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Dec. 26, V1933.

PROCEDURE OF COKING PITCH AND` COAL IN A BY-PRODUCT COKE OVEN BATTERYv 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 lFiled Oct. 50. 1950 Il.. l

R .mM/w Nn R E o V T mm /WM H7 W Y B Patented Dec. 26, 1933 UNITED. STATES PROCEDURE OF COKlNG PITCH AND COALl IN A BY-PRODUCT COKE OVEN BATTERY William Tiddy, Scarsdale,

Semet-Solvay Engineering a corporation of New York York, N. Y.,

N. Y., assigner to Corporation, New

Application October 30, 1930. Serial No. 492,178

3 Claims.

This invention relates to coking of pitch, and more particularly to the distillation of the tar produced at a coke oven plant with production of pitch and distillate oils and the coking of the 5 pitch thus produced in one or more of the coking chambers of the coke oven battery., This invention is in the nature of an improvement on the invention disclosed in the pending application of Stuart Parmelee Miller, Serial No. 413,253, filed.

December 11,1929. f

One object of this invention is to provide a process for simultaneously coking coal and pitch in the coking chambers of a coke oven battery, the coalbeing coked in some of the chambers,

pitch in othersthe removed therefrom, the contact with hot gases from the coking chambers, and the resultant pitch coked in some of the coking chambers. Other objects and advantages will appear from the following detailed description.

The process of this invention can be carried out in ordinary coke oven batteries such as the horizontal flue type batteries, vertical flue type batteries, or batteries involving alternate heating walls and coking chambers, the heating walls having no defined flue structure, with but slight valterations and the addition of a small amount of equipment to such batteries. This invention includes such modified coke oven batteries. I have discovered that lining the interior of one` or more coking chambers of a coke oven battery with a high temperatureheat resisting metal, adapts such coke oven batteries to the efficient coking of pitch.

At the temperatures prevailing in the coking tar distilled to pitch by chambers during coking, pitch is fluid and seeps through the refractory material of the chambers into the ues and regenerators soon interfering 40 with and preventing satisfactory operation of the battery. Coking chambers constructed in accordance with this Iinvention are not subject to the seepage and leakage of pitch through the refractory brickwork which occurs when coking pitch in the usual refractory brickwork structures.

The coking chambers may inlets for a gas, chemically inert with respect to the pitch, such as nitrogen or other inert gas, preferably steam, 4which is introduced into the 5.0 chamber during the coking and prevents the fo and boiling over characteristics encountered in the coking of pitch.

Inapplying this -invention to existing coke oven -batteries or in the building of new batteries, pref'- erably, but not necessarily, only a portion of the distillate gases collected, .tar

be equipped with v coking chambers are provided with a lining of high temperature heat resisting metal and inlets for theintroduction of inert gas. The unllned coking chambers of such batteries may be used to coke coal, tar being recovered from the distillation gases and distilled at the plant in a tar still, such as disclosed in the .aforementioned pending application, the resulting pitch being charged into the lined coking chambers and the distillation products from the pitch 'admixed 65 with those from the coal and utilized for the dis'- tillation of the tar in the still. A

In the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, and showing, for purposes of exemplication, a preferred form of this invention but without limiting the claimed inven tion to such illustrative instances- Fig. l is a fragmentary diagrammatic plan view of a coke oven battery equipped to carry Aout this invention; 75

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary elevation, partlyin section, showing the tar still with the pitch feed to 'the three ovens atone end of the coke oven battery;

Fig. 3 is a section through the tar still in the 80 plane indicated by the line 3-3 of Fig. 2; and

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary vertical section through a coking chamber embodying this invention, the regenerators beneath the coking chambers, which are of usual design, and per se form no part of S5 this invention being omitted for the sake of clearness.

, In the preferred embodiment illustrated 'in the drawings, the invention is shown incorporated in a coke oven battery of the horizontal iiue type and the present description will be confined to the present illustrated embodiment of the invention in such oven battery. 'It will be noted, however, that the novel features and improvements are susceptible to other applications, such, for example, as vertical flue coke oven batteries or coke ovenV batteries involving alternate coking chambers and heating walls which have no well defined ues. Hence, the scope of this invention is not confined to the embodiment hereloo in described. l

The coking chambers vof the coke oven battery 5 connect in the usual way with the collector main 6 through uptake pipes 7'.' The oven battery as shown in Fig. 2 involves alternate coking 105 chambers 15 and heating walls 16, the heating walls in the embodiment of the invention shown in Fig. 2 being constituted of horizontal zigzag series-,connected combustion ues. Regenerators, not shown in thedrawings, extend cross- Wise of the battery beneath the coking chambers and supply the ues with preheated air. Fuel gas is introduced directly into the I lues through the usual burners, burning therein, the products of combustion leaving the llues through the outllow regenerators. This operation, as customary, is periodically reversed, the inow regenerators becoming outflow regenerators and serving to extract heat from the products of combustion, and the outflow regenerators becoming in ow regenerators and imparting the heat retained by the checker-brick to the air fed therethrough into the ues.

Means is provided for spraying the gases in the uptake pipes and in the collector main with ammonia liquor from the line 8. The collector main 6 may connect with about 20 ovens in one section of a battery of, for example, ovens. The gases pass from the collector main 6 through the cross-over main 9 to condensers 10. In the condensers 10, the gases are sprayed with ammonia liquor. The tarry oils and ammonia liquor are drawn oi from -the condensers to one or more decanters 1l; From the decanters, tarry oils are collected in storage tanks 12 and ammonia liquor is separately collected in ammonia liquor storage tanks 1 2. An exhauster 13 is provided for drawing the gases through the system.

The three coking chambers 15 (Fig. 2), hereinafter more fully described, located at the end of the coke oven battery adjacent the pinion wall 17, are connectedthrough the usual uptake pipes 7 with the collector main 6. Tar from the gases,coming off from the coking chambers 15 is preferably distilled with the `tar from the coal distillation gases coming from the other ovens.

The -tar and ammonia-liquor collected in main 6 are drawn oi through the collector main at the end of the oven adjacent to the pinion wall into the decanter 18. The heavy tar and ammonia liquor are separately drawn oi from the vdecanter .18 and separately passed to storage tanks 19 and 20 respectively.

Either the tarry oils from the tanks 12 or the heavier tar in the tanks 19, or a blend of both of these tars or tar otherwise derived may be distilled in still 25. Any tar produced in connection with the operation of a gas producer or water gas machine employed for making gas for heating .the ovens, may be added to the tar to be distilled in the still.

The tar still is indicated Iat 25. It connects through the hot gas header 26 with uptake pipes 27 on a number of the coking chambers. By a proper manipulation of the valves on the uptake pipes 27 and the uptake pipes 7 on these coking chambers, the hot gases from the chambers may be diverted either to theV collector main 6 ori through the hot gas header 26 into the still 25.

A roll 28 is rotatably mounted in the still 25. This roll is adapted to be driven for example, 900 to 1200 r. p. m., by the motor 29. Rapid rotation of this roll throws a fine intense spray of tar into the hot gases thereby exposing a large surface of the tar to the distilling effect of the hot gases, whereby distillation is rapidly and eiciently eiected without any.con siderable decomposition of the tar. The ne intense spray of tar simultaneously scrubs the gases, removing entrained impurities present in the gases. The hot gases leave the still 25 enriched in oil vap'ors and substantially free from entrained impurities through the scrubber 25. Preferably, the tar to be distilled is supplied to this scrubber through the line 30. Battling means at a high speed,-

3l and 32 are provided in the scrubber tower 25 to remove entrained particles of tar spray from the gases. The tar sprayed into-the gases passing up through the scrubber 25' is partially distilled and the semi-pitch produced passes through the line 33 into the end of the tar still at which the hot gases enter. In the still 25, the semipitch is distilled to a pitch of high melting point. The pitch is drawn 01T from the still through the coke trap 34 and the levelling arm 35, into the pitch bay 44. The pitch is advantageously distilled to a high melting point, for example, 400 F. or higher.

The hot gases and vapors from the scrubber 25 pass through the main 36 to a heat interchanger 37 in which they are brought into indirect heat interchange relation with the tar to be distilled. The tar is thus preheated and heat economy is velected. Heavy oils are separated from the gases and collected in the storage tank 38. The gases then pass through a further condenser which may be a direct condenser 39 in which the gases are sprayed with water or ammonia liquor from the line 40. This condenser drains into the decanter 4l and separate means are provided at 1 42 and 43 for receiving the ammonia liquor and lighter oils from the decanter 41.

The pitch may be supplied directly from the tar still 25 to the coking chambers l15 or it may be rst cooled and solidified and supplied to the ovens in solid form, or according to the pre ferred embodiment shown in the drawings, it is first collected in the pitch bay 44 Where it is maintained in a hot iluid condition by heavy insulation or by indirect contact with hot ue gases. Bay44 may serve as an accumulator for the pitch which is to be supplied to theA ovens. While a portion of the pitch charge is being coked, suicient pitch for the next charge accumulates in the bay 44.

In accordance with this invention, the interior Walls of each of the coking chambers 15 are formed with a lining of high temperature heat resisting metal, such, for example, as an alloy containing nickel. One example of a suitable alloy is the alloy known commercially as Fahrite which contains 40% nickel and 20% chromium and will withstand temperatures of 2000 F. This lining is indicated by the reference numerals 5l in Figs. 2 and 4. If desired, the refractory 1 brickwork of the doors extending within the coking chambers may also be lined withA high temperature heat resisting metal as indicatedat 52. Although three coking chambers 15 are shown equipped for coking pitch and the remaining 1 ovens l5 (Fig. 1) are not provided with a high temperature heat resisting metal lining and are adapted to be used for coking coal, it will be understood that the number of coking chambers equipped with this invention may be modied in l accordance with operating conditions at the coke oven battery. A line 45 leads from the pitch bay 44 and is arranged to discharge pitch into any desired coking chamber 15. Suitable valve means indicated at 47 is provided for controlling the feed of pitch through the line 45 into the coking chambers. Pipe 45 communicates with pipes 54 extending above the battery longitudinally of the coking chambers. Each pipe 54 is provided with a, plurality of n ilet pipes 55 which extend through 145 each of the pipes 54. Valve controlled pipes 57 150 extend through the doors of the collecting chamber. Preferably, the pipes 57 are provided with flexible connections to a main communicating with the source of inert gas. The flexible connections of pipes 57 permit movement of the doors.

As well lknown, pitch when subjected to heat to form coke starts to boil and foam, accompanied by a sharp rise in level of the pitch. nnally reaching a maximumlevel, at which point the level recedes and continuesto do so until the level in some cases is below the original level of the melted pitch. I have found that the foaming and boiling over tendencies of the pitch during coking in a coke oven' battery can be retarded and eliminated to an extent permitting eillcient use of the capacity of the coking chamber by introducing an inert gas,-such as nitrogen or preferably steam. during the coking of the pitch. The inert gas is introduced into the coking chamber 15 during *he coking of the pitch through the pipes 56, 53. 54, 55 and 57, the inert gas in passing through pipes 54 and 55 removing residual pitch therein and thus preventing clogging oi.' these pipes, at the sametime conserving the pitch since it passes with the inert gas into the coking chambers. Anyinertgasmaybeused, the introduction thereof into the top of the chamber acting mechanically to prevent foaming ofthe pitch charge. Steam is particularly suitable for this purpose as it does not retard the coking operation but assists same since it aids in driving oft the volatiles and assists in the passage of the volatiles out of the coking chamber, prevents foaming and involves no diillculties in the handling of the mixture of volatiles and After the coking chambers have been charged and the coking operation is completed, the charge of coke from the ovens is removed in' any suitable manner. The pusher which operates on tracks (not shown) and which is employed for pushing the coke resulting from the distillation of coal in the balance of the ovens of the battery, may be employed for pushing the coke from the coking chamber 15.- The coke car which operates on tracksat the opposite side of the battery may be employed for receiving the coke as it is pushed from the chambers 15. The coke quenching equipment employed for cooling the coke produced from the coal may be employed for cooling the pitch coke. In this way the cost of the original equipment is kept at a minimum by employing the same means for handling the coke motcciced from coal and the coke produced from pi The invention as hereinabove disclosed is embodied in a particular form of construction but it may be variously embodied within the scope of the following claims.

I claim:

1. The method of operating a coke oven battery, involving coking chambers and heating walls therefor arranged side by side in a row. the heating walls being constituted of combustion ilues, the walls of some of the coking chambers being lined with a high temperature heat resistant metal while the remaining coking chambers are unlined and are composed of refractory brickwork, which comprisesI coking coal in the unlined coking chambers, coking pitch in the lined coking chambers to form pitch coke, withdrawing the hot gases resulting from the coking of the coal and the pitch, admixing these hot gases, removing tar from the admixed hot gases,

distilling the tar removed from said admixed hot gases by contacting the tar with hot gases from the coking chambers so as to form a pitch residue. and coking the pitch residue in the lined coking chambers to produce pitch coke.

2.' The method of operating a coke oven battery involving coking chambers and heating walls therefor, arranged side by side in a row in alternate relation, the heating walls being constituted of combustion flues, the walls of some of the coking chambers being lined with a high temperature heat-resistant metal while the walls of the remaining coking chambers are unlined and are composed of refractory brickwork which comprises: (1) coking coal in the unlinedcoking chambers; (2) coking pitch obtained by step (5) hereinafter recited, in the lined coking chambers simultaneously with the coking of the coal; (3) collecting the distillate gases from the coking of the pitch and the distillate gases from the coking of the coal and admixing said gases: (4) removing tar from the distillate gases; and (5) distilling the tar 'removed from the distillation gases so as to form distillate oils and a pitch residue by contacting the tar with said admixed gases.

3. The method ofv operating a coke oven battery involving coking chambers and heating walls therefor, arranged side by side in a row in alternate relation, the heating walls being constituted of combustion ilues, the walls of some of the coking chambers being lined with a high temperature heat-resistant metal while the walls 'of the remaining .coking chambers are unlined and are composed of refractory brickwork, which comprises: (l) coking coal in the unlined coking chambers; (2) coking pitch obtained by step (5) hereinafter recited, in the lined coking chambers simultaneously with the coking of the coal; (3) collecting the distillate gases from the coking of the pitch and the distillate gases from the coking ,of the coal and admixing said gases; (4) removling tar from the distillate gases; (5) distilling the tar removed from the distillation gases so as to form distillate oils and a pitch residue by contacting the tar with said admixed gases; and (8) introducing inert gas into the lined coking chambers during the.coki ng of the pitch to prevent foaming and boiling over of said pitch.

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