State Marine Technical University (Saint Petersburg, Russia):

Nifontov Yu. A., Head of Chair, Doctor of Engineering Sciences, Professor, nifontov@yandex.ru
Nifontova T. I., Consultant of Chair, Candidate of Engineering Sciences, Associate Professor, nifontovа_ti@yandex.ru

The Inta coal deposit, part of the Pechora coal basin, was discovered in the 1930s. Its coal was processed using the dense medium separation method. The finished products were used exclusively for direct combustion, and therefore no parameter measurements were conducted to establish the respective coal sintering and coking properties. In addition to energy applications, Inta coals may be used to produce fuel briquettes, synthetic liquid fuel, absorbents, semi-coke, carbon-graphite materials, hypercoal, and other products following their respective traditional or combined processing (with thermochemical treatment). Due to the specific physical and mechanical properties of the coal and the use of advanced mining, transportation, and processing methods, the resulting products have high concentrations of fines. When handled at consumption sites, warehouses, and large terminals, the coal is inevitably further disintegrated. Material composition studies of Inta coals confirm their feasibility and applicability, including as agglomerated fuel for layered combustion (briquetting, pelletizing) at medium and small enterprises and in households. It is currently inexpedient to process coal slurries from the Inta industrial region into traditional briquette fuel as it would require the use of more advanced technologies. It is technologically and economically feasible to employ agglomeration technologies without the use of binding materials to produce domestic fuel for local consumption, avoiding long-distance transportation and unnecessary rehandling. This approach is facilitated by the composition of coal fines and the structural peculiarity of briquettes formed.
This work was financially supported by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation (agreement No. 075-15-2020-903).

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