Introduction:

The production of charcoal in Cuba, in recent years, has been stimulated due to its prices in the international market and the use of invasive plants for its production. Depending on its quality, a possible use is defined, taking into account its chemical composition.

Objective:

To evaluate the technical feasibility of improving the quality of a marabou charcoal from a physical treatment with water vapor.

Materials and Methods:

The characterization of a marabou charcoal was carried out, which was crushed in a hammer mill, analyzing the granulometric distribution. The density and chemical composition of the coal are determined without treatment and after carrying out a physical treatment, for two hours, with steam.

Results and Discussion:

The characterization resulted in the charcoal meeting international quality requirements. In the untreated coal, the moisture content was 6.4 %, volatile 16.3 %, ash 3.8 %, fixed carbon 73.5 % and the caloric value was 28813.5 kJ/kg. In the case of coal with treatment, the volatile content was 12.9 %, ash 3.3 %, fixed carbon 77.1 %, and caloric value 29508.6 kJ/kg.

Conclusions:

The physical treatment carried out produces a decrease in the volatile matter content and an increase in the fixed carbon content and caloric value, results that support the possibility of using marabou charcoal in the alloy load of welding consumables for welding recharge.

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