Superior Quality

 
Captain Michael
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Post by Captain Michael » Wed. Apr. 29, 2009 11:13 pm

I work for a very large bituminous coal mining Company. I spoke to our lab today and they have agreed to test a sampling of the rice coal I purchased this past week end at Superior. It will be interesting to see what the quality is. Ash, Sulfer, moisture and BTU. I will post it as soon as I have it!


 
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VigIIPeaBurner
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Post by VigIIPeaBurner » Wed. Apr. 29, 2009 11:21 pm

As a lab rat and a satisfied Superior customer, I'll be interested as well!

 
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brckwlt
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Post by brckwlt » Thu. Apr. 30, 2009 9:23 am

when do you expect the results?

 
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coal berner
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Post by coal berner » Thu. Apr. 30, 2009 2:17 pm

Captain Michael wrote:I work for a very large bituminous coal mining Company. I spoke to our lab today and they have agreed to test a sampling of the rice coal I purchased this past week end at Superior. It will be interesting to see what the quality is. Ash, Sulfer, moisture and BTU. I will post it as soon as I have it!
You should of asked for a copy of there reports then you can compare the two They test there own coal every few weeks

 
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Post by Captain Michael » Fri. May. 01, 2009 12:44 am

I'll get it to the lab next week, then a day or two for results

 
Captain Michael
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Post by Captain Michael » Mon. May. 04, 2009 10:09 pm

OK here is the test results from Superior. First I want to say I make no claims good or bad about the results.
Total moisture 3.39
Residual moisture 2.21

As Rec'd Ash 14.36
As Rec'd Sul 0.93

As Rec'd BTU 12,351

Dry Ash 14.86
Dry Sul .96

Dry BTU 12,785

MAF BTU 15,016 This is the hypothetical BTU value with all the moisture and ash taken out.
They will run the volatile matter on midnight shift tonight to see what those values are. I will post tomorrow night.

Below is the analysis of a high quality bituminus coal mined today in Washington county, South west Pa. just for comparison.

Total Moisture 6.04
Residual Moisture 1.56

As Rec'd Ash 6.95
As Rec'd Sul 1.91

As Rec'd BTU 13,111

Dry Ash 7.94
Dry Sul 2.04

Dry BTU 13,954

MAF BTU 15,068

 
Captain Michael
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Post by Captain Michael » Mon. May. 04, 2009 10:25 pm

If you compare the 2 products, except for the sulfer, the bituminous seems to be better product. The scrubbers currently being installed on all coal fired power stations takes care of the sulfer. So thats really a non issue. My lab guy said that depending on the volatiles I should be able to burn this particular bituminous in my stoker. I'm certainly skeptical of that and said so out loud. I gotta say my lab guys where really fired up and curious to do this test but at the end of the day they we not that impressed. None of these guys had ever tested antracite before, I think they where expecting super coal.


 
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Post by 009to090 » Mon. May. 04, 2009 10:53 pm

Captain Michael wrote:OK here is the test results from Superior. First I want to say I make no claims good or bad about the results.
Good stuff! Now only if we could compare it against the other anthra mines :D Blaschak next? :o

 
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Yanche
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Post by Yanche » Mon. May. 04, 2009 10:56 pm

Looks like it was a proximate analysis, ASTM D3172-07a. Right? Does the lab have the ability to do an ultimate analysis, ASTM D3176-89(2002)?

 
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Post by Captain Michael » Mon. May. 04, 2009 11:37 pm

If you say so!! I don't have a clue what type of test it was. I didn't ask for the bituminous results, they just thru them in for the sake of comparison.

 
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Post by Captain Michael » Mon. May. 04, 2009 11:44 pm

I can buy Reading or Blaschak bagged locally. I'm not real sure the lab wants to test all this stuff for me but maybe I'll give it a shot sometime down the road. I'm interested in the coal up the road a little further. Is it UAG? UA something around Mt Carmel. Hows that stack up against Superior? I need to come back out for another load, maybe some of that. what do you guys think?

 
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CoalHeat
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Post by CoalHeat » Tue. May. 05, 2009 6:32 am

UAE-Harmony.

I've burned coal from Superior, UAE, Lenigs, Reading, Blaschak, Kimmel, and several varieties of mystery coal. Superior consistently ranks #1.

 
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Richard S.
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Post by Richard S. » Tue. May. 05, 2009 7:23 am

Captain Michael wrote: I gotta say my lab guys where really fired up and curious to do this test but at the end of the day they we not that impressed. None of these guys had ever tested antracite before, I think they where expecting super coal.
Tell them to fire up a bit stoker in a high class neighborhood and see if the neighbors are impressed. :P

The BTU's of bituminous coal are typically the same or even higher. The difference of course between it and anthracite is the burning characteristics. Firstly you don't have the volatile matter and high sulfur content so your neighbors are not going to want kill you because you're belching black smoke and stinking the neighborhood up.

The second issue of course is the "clinkers", red ash like Superior is actually more like bit. coal in this regards where the ash will fuse together creating a large mass that can break a stoker mechanism or jam hand fired stoves especially if you fire it real hot. White ash won't do that under but apparently has a lower BTU....

 
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CoalHeat
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Post by CoalHeat » Tue. May. 05, 2009 8:13 am

I agree Richard, that red ash like Superior will clinker up when fired too hot, however the clinkers break up easily and the grates in my Harman can grind them up, although if I really fire it too hot I'll end up with a clinker too large to pass through the grates.
the ash will fuse together creating a large mass that can break a stoker mechanism
Huh? The stoker mechanism feeds fresh coal to the grate, burn pot, etc. Did I miss something here? :?

 
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Richard S.
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Post by Richard S. » Tue. May. 05, 2009 9:08 am

Wood'nCoal wrote: although if I really fire it too hot I'll end up with a clinker too large to pass through the grates.
Not sure where the coal came from but it was red ash and the new customer had a clinker the size of soft ball. :P

That was one nice thing about the white ash, rarely had troubles or complaints from anyone. From a dealers perspective even if the Superior is has a higher BTU than the best white ash I wouldn't want to be delivering it. Other than the a few loads where the customer had a legitimate complaint which was really rare the biggest problem I had was the one fall they were putting out some really low ash coal around 6% and people were having trouble keeping it lit. :| Most were quite happy with it but some needed a little guidance to get it burning right.

My Uncle put some coal in my Grandmothers once the stuff was so hard it wouldn't burn.

It's pretty easy to spot the red ash, it has duller grayer look (not to be confused with bone). The white ash is pitch black and really shiny, the hardest will have the consistency of glass.


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