Classification of solid fossil fuels and their processing products depending on trace elements contained in them

Abstract

It was shown that products or wastes (the primary concentrates of potentially valuable elements (PVEs)) suitable as source materials for the manufacture of commercial PVE compounds or their industrial concentrates can be obtained upon the processing of coal, oil shale, or peat as fuel for combustion or a source material for coking. It was proposed to classify solid fossil fuels containing PVEs with the following two groups: the first group, those suitable for the priority use in the production of primary PVE concentrates and the second group, those promising for the production of primary PVE concentrates after performing appropriate technical and economic calculations. The type of the initial solid fossil fuel or its processing product; the PVE content of the initial solid fossil fuel; the characteristics of PVE distributions in the products of its enrichment, coking, combustion, gasification, and hydrogenation; and the chemical species of ash and slag residues upon combustion (gasification) were chosen as classification parameters, which were designated using numerical or alphanumeric codes.