Development of a Technique for Rapid Efficiency Determination of Coal Cleaning Devices: Final Report

摘要

In this work a novel technique which uses tagged particles to generate partition data is presented. Individually prepared tagged particles are added to the feed and detected in the product or refuse ports of specific gravity-based processes. Providing that a computer can interpret the output of a detection device tracing particles of predetermined physical properties as they pass through the coal processing equipment plant, and that the particles' behavior is similar to that of coal, sufficient partition data can be provided for computer analyses and control of processing efficiency. The objectives of this work were the following: to develop a method to manufacture synthetic particles of different specific gravities; to develop a method of detecting the tagged coal particles and/or synthetic particles in the output streams from various coal cleaning equipment; to interpret the information obtained in order to rapidly evaluate the performance of the equipment; and to test and optimize the method in laboratory-scale equipment. The overall aim of the project was to develop and test an on-line detection and analysis technique for generating equipment performance information on processes based on specific gravity differences. A manufacturing technique was developed by which synthetic magnetic particles were produced that could closely resemble coal particles in density-separating coal preparation equipment. Under the current effort, the development and testing of a detection system capable of detecting the synthetic particles in the output streams from various coal cleaning equipment have been completed. 16 refs., 23 figs., 27 tabs. (ERA citation 12:040321)