LAUSR

Abstract Biomass was used as additives in coal blending for making coke in terms of widening the alternative raw materials and reducing CO2 emissions. To obtain the influences of biomass incorporation on the semicoke formation, the chemical structure transformation as well as the gas evolution during sawdust (SD)/coal blending (BC) co-coking were investigated using in-situ Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy coupled with mass spectrometry (In-situ FTIR-MS). Meanwhile, the role of biomass in the semicoke formation was also characterized by several analytical techniques. The transformation of the five main functional groups between SD and BC exhibited the largest difference, and the synergistic effect based on the chemical structure transformation was also proposed for the SD/BC blends co-coking. The synergistic effect based on the chemical structure transformation was divided into two stages during semicoke formation. One stage occurred at 100–280 °C that was assigned to the physical effect that inhibited the BC decomposition. Another stage happened at 280–500 °C that was mainly attributed to the hydrogen transfer that enhanced the aromatization of semi-coke. In addition, it was also noted that the thermoplastic properties decreased proportionately to the quantity of the SD, and the non-agglomeration between BC and SD was clearly observed by SEM.