FY 86 in-House Coal Preparation Research at DOE'S Pittsburgh Energy Technology Center

摘要

Over the last few years, the objective of the DOE Office of Fossil Energy coal preparation program has been, and still is, to develop coal preparation technology that can reduce the ash and sulfur contents of raw coal so that the product can be used directly as a clean fuel that could replace oil and natural gas and reduce environmental emissions. Beneficiation to superclean levels requires near-complete liberation of coal from its associated impurities, and this, in turn, requires comminution to ultrafine sizes (<74 microns). Thus the focus of each project in the coal preparation program is on the potential problems presented by beneficiating ultrafine particles as opposed to conventional size particles. This paper will highlight six projects currently being conducted in PETC's Coal Preparation Division: centrifugal float-sink, automated petrography, heavy-liquid cycloning, dry electrostatic separation, froth flotation, and fundamental coal surface science. The objective and background of each project will be discussed, along with recent progress and future direction. (ERA citation 12:036231)