Coal preparation plants incorporate a wide array of cleaning and dewatering processes that operate in relatively independent circuits. Studies have shown that maximum tonnage of saleable clean coal product occurs when all plant circuits are operated at the same incremental quality. This usually requires that each circuit produce a different quality product to account for the fact that finer particles have a higher degree of liberation and retain greater amounts of moisture. While the optimum operating points can be determined using simulation programs, these mathematical routines usually require detailed data (washability, partition, etc.) that is not often available to plant operators. In addition, routine fluctuations in the washability and particle size consist of the plant feed make this approach impractical for real world applications. As an alternative, practical optimization guidelines have been developed for plant operators that allow "near optimal" conditions to be maintained using easy-to-follow rules-of-thumb. This article provides an overview of these optimization rules and provides real examples that illustrate the large financial benefits of this practical approach to plant optimization.
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