"Illawarra Coke"

foreign foreign foreign my name is noel leader i am works manager of the illawarra coke company at coalcliff i am also a keen amateur movie maker and have made this film to show the important part played by illawarra coke in the development of australian secondary industry and also in export markets in southeast asia the pacific coast of the illawarra district of new south wales 35 miles south of sydney and 20 miles north of port kembla one of australia's two big steel centers and the heart of a major region of industrial development this is coal cliff rugged sandstone cliffs frame the site where the australian coal mining industry was born at this point in 1797 a party of seamen found coal lying near high water mark the men were walking north to sydney following the wreck of their ship in bass strait the turbulent waterway between victoria and tasmania 80 years later a tunnel was driven into the bullet seam at this point in the clips a pioneering venture which was followed by the building of a jetty into the open sea here coal ships were loaded direct from the main tunnel for sydney and other markets now a century later a modern scenic road winds round the foot of the hills above the remains of the old jetty and trains fly to and from coalcliff through a tunnel under the mountain the early development at the foot of the cliff has grown into the nationally important enterprise of kembla coal and coke proprietary limited proprietors of the coal clip colliery and the illawarra coke works a fully mechanized mine has been developed at a cost of more than 5 million pounds to produce large quantities of coking coal the illawarra coke works uses this coal in the production of high quality metallurgical coke for australian industries and for export overseas coal from the mine which produces over 3 000 tons a day is washed in a 400 tons an hour preparation plant and then transferred into product bins for delivery coal going to the coke works is moved by conveyor at 250 tons an hour into the coke works raw coal bins a 50 000 tonne coal stockpile is kept to ensure uninterrupted supplies of coal for coking and export overseas this high capacity tractor shovel has a six ton bite motor lorries transport car from stockpile to a hopper feeding the coal conveyor to the works raw coal bins these vibro feeders transfer the coal to a flight conveyor oil is added to assist coal handling and improve its bulk density for better coking a bucket elevator feeds the coal to grinders of 140 tons an hour capacity careful preparation is vital at this stage to provide the proper size and distribution of the petrographic constituents of coal used for kogi movement of coal from the colliery bins to the oven charging bins is automatically controlled accuracy in loading the coal charge for the ovens is achieved by electronic weighing using recently developed load cells specially designed in holland for this application the first of its kind in the world this equipment automatically stops the flow of coal when correct weight has been obtained two charge cars each carrying 15 tons transport coal to the oven to recharge the illawarra coke company is australia's largest producer of high quality metallurgical coke made in this battery of big compound under fluid coke ovens these most efficient ovens were designed by illawarra's own technical personnel and constructed under their direct supervision modern co-governed construction overseas has recently adopted the basic principles embodied many years earlier in the illawarra design red heat retained in the oven from the previous charge ignites the coal which is leveled mechanically the oven door is then sealed with a special clay mixture to prevent the entry of air all stages of a coking cycle are carefully supervised beginning with a visual check of the oven immediately after charging works foreman john burnett has been making coke for 40 years the coking cycle goes on 24 hours a day until completed and a further temperature check determines when the oven is ready for discharge it's hot in there 1200 degrees centigrade after coking is completed doors at the front and back of the oven are lifted mechanically to allow the discharge of the coke the coat ram is positioned for the pushing of the oven so the ram pushes the red hot coat through the oven to the coke cow coke guides prevent spillage during passage of the coke across the house 22 tons of coke is discharged from each oven nothing is left to chance and careful control at all stages of manufacture ensures a consistently high quality product the use of water during quenching is kept to a minimum the aim being to quench the coat by forming a steam underneath rather than by the use of excessive water this keeps final moisture content to a minimum on the coke wharf cast steel tiles resist the extreme heat and abrasion of the newly quenched coke then small pockets of unquenched kirk are extinguished by hand the cooled coke is fed under gravity through quadrant gates onto a heat resisting neoprene conveyor belt for transfer to the screening plant illawarra coke is screened on the largest vibrating screen in the world a resonance screen with a single horizontal screening surface 55 feet long and six feet wide before a decision was made to install this revolutionary screen technical officers of the company carried out an intensive investigation in australia and overseas paratests were conducted on a small prototype to establish the suitability of the resonance screening principle these slow-motion film studies were made as part of this investigation the resonance principle involves the use of special synthetic resonance rubbers which give the screen a high degree of efficiency its conventional eccentric action is greatly amplified by the use of resonance rubbers these can press on contact store energy and then on the reverse stroke release this energy to thrust the screen basket back against rubbers at the other end of the stroke the action is then repeated with the result that this screen is capable of operating horizontally while still beating gravity six times a conventional screen must operate in mid-grind position and can only exceed gravity by a maximum of two and a half times the huge screen area ensures that each piece of coke is sized correctly great interest has been shown by engineers from all over the world in the 55 foot long screening surface the screen was specially designed in germany for this application and manufactured in australia in practice it has been found to give high screening efficiency at a rate of 140 tons an hour the big screen is located 70 feet above the rail sidings and screened coke in six sizes goes into steel storage bunkers below for dispatch by rail and road this accurate coat separation ensures that consistency and quality are always maintained quality control means constantly testing the coke for chemical properties and physical strength a sample of coke is finely ground and a representative fraction submitted to laboratory testing of its chemical composition another sample of the coal used to make it is submitted to a determination of swelling index as a measure of its coking quality so the coke button produced by heating the coal sample in the crucible is measured against standard profiles on this chart for determination of its swelling index number physical tests include the determination of shatter index a representative sample of coke is dropped onto cast steel plates and the amount of coke shattered measured for a screen abrasion index is obtained by tumbling a representative sample of coke for 1000 revolutions in the abrasion test drum and then measuring how much degradation of size has taken place road lorries are loaded from the bunker below the screening plug using specially designed shoots to minimize breakage coke is dispatched by road to many parts of australia and has achieved a firm reputation with foundry men for consistency and quality a victorian consignment of coke leaves the eel while it works bound for general motors holden's limited the fisherman's bend works are general motors holden's limited operators of one of australia's largest and most efficient hot blast cubulas this plant demands coke of strictly uniform quality to produce the high temperature pouring metal required for automotive casting the coke is batch weighed for charging to the cupula a significant feature of the plant is automatic recording of all phases of pupillar operation hot metal is poured from the holding furnace into the casting ladle then transferred into molds to form cylinder blocks and cylinder heads for one of australia's greatest success stories the holden car another hot blast cubula operated by mcelrath industries in sydney melts metal for a wide variety of products uniformly sized illawarra coke is charged to the cupula by skip hoist and hot metal poured for a production run in the casting of bathtubs so after preheating in the enameling furnace the baths are sprayed with several coats of enameling powder and replaced in the furnace to allow the enamel to fuse to its characteristic high gloss finish do now ready for the home the finished quality of these baths reflects the high standard of production control in their manufacture coke for the broken hill associated smelters plant at port pirie in south australia is railed to the shipping point at port kimbler 20 miles from the illawarra coatworks reserve coke supplies are maintained in a stockpile near the loading jetty ships carrying up to 6 000 tons of coke operate on a regular shuttle service on the five-day run to port pirie where the coke is used to smelt and refine lead and zinc from concentrate produced at broken hill the port fury works as the world's largest producer and exporter of lead and only the highest quality coke can meet the rigid furnace conditions required in this operation coke is stored in graded heaps at the wharf side and moved by telpa system with the concentrates to the furnace charge hopper molten lead tap from the furnace enters the refinery building where zinc is removed by vacuum distillation caustic soda is added to remove impurities and pure metal is cast into ingots for shipment to the consumer an important byproduct is electrolytic silver which is raked from a solution also containing gold in a highly mechanized operation pure lead produced at port pirie is shipped to the markets of the world hard coking coal mined at the coalcliff colliery has an established market in southeast asia the quality and consistency of illawarra coke are also being recognized and appreciated by progressive foundry operators in this area a short haul to port kembla and illawarra coke is on its way to foundries in other countries a product of australia helping to build trade and goodwill with australia's neighbours you

Channel: Noel Leeder

Views: 313,861

Rating: 4.7647853 out of 5

Keywords: coke, metallurgical coke, smelting, Australia, latest technology, manufacturing, Skills, Sydney, Melbourne

Id: 1ZMxW5UKRFA

Length: 28min 34sec (1714 seconds)

Published: Fri Nov 18 2011