3.5.2.4 Water Clarification
The water clarification plant receives all the slurry from the washing plant, separates the -48 mesh fraction for cleaning, and returns the water for reuse. The 48 mesh fraction flows to froth flotation cells, where it is mixed thoroughly with a reagent (light oil). The coal accepts a coating of oil and floats off the top of the liquid to a disc filter, where the excess water is drawn through a fabric by a vacuum. The water is recirculated to the washer, and the fine coal is transported to loading or to a dryer.
The refuse does not accept the oil coating and sinks, to be removed with most of the incoming water to a static thickener. The thickener is a large, circular, open tank, which retains the water long enough to permit the particles of refuse to sink to the bottom. Clarified water is removed from the surface by “skimming troughs” around the perimeter of the tank and is recirculated to the cleaning plant.
The tank is equipped with a rotating rake, which rakes the fine refuse from the bottom of the tank to the center of the tank, where it is collected by a pump and transferred to a disc filter. The filter removes part of the water for recirculation and discharges the solids as refuse.
3.5.2.5 Other Processes
Washability is a concept that exploits the differences that exist between the specific gravity of different coals and the associated minerals as a basis for predicting the yields and qualities of the products obtained for any given partition density (Mazumdar et al., 1992; Ryan, 1992). Washability data are always reported in terms of mean specific gravities of particles and those of the liquids used to effect separation. Some degree of predictability during washing operations has become available (Vassallo et al., 1990) which affords a degree of luxury in the determination of recovery and overall behavior of the coal.
Separation of coal and mineral matter can also be achieved by exploiting differences in the surface properties. Froth flotation and oil agglomeration methods (Mehrotra et al., 1983; Schlesinger and Muter, 1989; Couch, 1991; Carbini et al., 1992) are examples of how such separations can be achieved and although differences exist in the surface properties of the coal components.
In coal cleaning by cyclone (Figure 3.4), raw coal and fluid enter tangentially close to the top of the cylindrical section, forming a powerful vertical flow (Meyers, 1981; Couch, 1991). The separation of the impurity from the coal occurs due to a buoyancy effect which arises because of the difference between the mass of any particle and mass of an equivalent volume of displaced fluid. When the fluid is water, this factor is equivalent to the specific gravity. The densest particles therefore move to the wall and downward, and exit with the cyclone underflow. Conditions can be adjusted so that less dense particles remain suspended in the vertical flow and exit from the top of the cyclone. This density separation can be controlled with great precision.
Figure 3.4 Cyclone separation (Speight, 2013).
In practice, a material such as magnetite is reduced to fine sizes, usually in ball mills. The viscosity of the suspension increases with increasing fineness of particle size and particle concentration. The settling rates may be reduced and the stability of the suspension improved by the presence of clays and it may be necessary to recondition the suspension by bleeding off part of the circulating volume and recovering the magnetite in magnetic drums and rejecting the clays. Indeed, there is cause for optimism that magnetic methods of coal cleaning (pyrite removal) will be successful and be applicable as a complement to other methods (Kester et al., 1967; Ergun and Bean, 1968; Trindade et al., 1974; Oder, 1978, 1984, 1987).
Various polymeric flocculants exhibit some degree of selectivity for coal against mineral matter and include chemicals such as partially hydrolyzed polyacrylamide, nonionic polyacrylamide, polystyrene sulfonate, and polyacrylamide containing chelating and complexing groups. In some cases, selective flocculation processes suffer from relatively low selectivity. Thus, selective flocculation processes are usually run in multiple stages to remove the entrained ash-forming minerals.
Traditionally, precombustion cleaning has been concentrated on two major categories of cleaning technology: physical cleaning and chemical cleaning (Wheelock, 1977). A new category of coal cleaning, biological cleaning, has recently attracted much interest as advances have been made in microbial and enzymatic techniques for liberating sulfur and ash from coal (Dugan et al., 1989; Beier, 1990; Couch, 1987, 1991).
Microbes are effective in converting organic sulfur compounds such as thiophene derivatives and dibenzothiophene derivatives. Organic sulfur removal is in the neighborhood of 25% (there are claims of higher removal of sulfur) and the combined use of microbes, either simultaneously or sequentially, could potentially improve organic sulfur rejection. The limiting factors appear to be those of accessibility and residence time. Therefore, finer size coal should be used not only to improve accessibility of microbes to coal particle surfaces but also to reduce the overall retention time in the bioreactor.
3.6 Coal Drying
The water content of a coal reduces its heating value, causes handling difficulties, increases handling and transportation costs, and reduces yields in carbonization and other conversion processes. Reduction of the water content is often desirable. In fact, drying coal helps the coal to burn cleaner and more efficiently but because of the unique properties of each type of coal this drying process must be done differently.
Combined reserves of subbituminous coal and lignite (brown coal) make up approximately one-half of the world coal reserves and about one-half of the coal resources of the United States and these coals are rarely processed before shipment or use. However, the oxygen and moisture contents of low-rank coals are greater than those of bituminous coals, which reduces the heating value of the coal as mined, which increases the transportation cost on a heating value basis and reduces the thermal efficiency of the steam boilers that use these coals. One way to offset these disadvantages is to dry the coal before transportation or utilization. However, the characteristics of dried low-rank coal – it is friable, has a tendency to spontaneously heat, and readily reabsorbs moisture – constitute major obstacles that must be overcome to produce a saleable, transportable, dry coal product.
Water occurs in coals in three ways: (i) as inherent moisture contained in the internal pores of the coal substance, including water associated with the mineral impurities, (ii) as surface moisture wetting the external surfaces of the coal particles in which adsorption may play a small part, and (iii) as free water held by capillary forces in the interstices between the coal particles.
Inherent moisture is related to coal rank, being greatest for lignite and brown coals. However, the inherent moisture in coal can make a significant impact on the performance of low-rank coals (which are primarily used for electricity generation) and drying is generally restricted to (i) washed bituminous coals that are required to meet user specifications, and (ii) lignite or subbituminous coals that are employed for the manufacture of briquettes or of other specialty products such as absorbent carbon.
Surface moisture is related to the amount of available surface and the wettability of the coal but moisture contents are lower than might be expected from the available surface area because of the low wettability of coal compared with the surfaces of minerals. Surface moisture can be removed from washed higher rank (bituminous and anthracite) coals by drainage on a screen while the dewatering of washed small coal or coal fines can he accomplished by use of cyclones or centrifuges. If the moisture content must be reduced to lower levels there are two alternate methods which involve the use of rotary kilns or fluidized bed dryers.
