POC-SCALE TESTING OF A DRY TRIBOELECTROSTATIC SEPARATOR FOR FINE COAL CLEANING
It is the objective of the project to further develop the triboelectrostatic separation (TES) process developed at the Federal Energy Technology Center (FETC) and to test the process at a proof-of-concept (POC) scale. This process has a distinct advantage over other coal cleaning processes in that it does not entail costly steps of dewatering. The POC-scale unit is to be developed based on (i) the charging characteristics of coal and mineral matter that can be determined using the novel on-line tribocharge measuring device developed at Virginia Tech and (ii) the results obtained from bench-scale TES tests conducted on three different coals. During the past quarter, most of the personnel assigned to this project have been performing work elements associated with the engineering design (Task 3) of the TES process. This activity has been subdivided into three subtasks, i.e., Charger Tests (Subtask 3.1), Separator Tests (Subtask 3.2), and Final POC Design (Subtask 3.3). In Subtask 3.1, several different tribocharging devices have been constructed using materials of various work functions. They are currently being tested to establish the best materials to be used for designing and manufacturing the optimum tribochargers that can maximum charge differences between coal and mineral matter. In Subtask 3.2, bench-scale cleaning tests have been conducted to study the effects of the various operating and design parameters on the performance of the electrostatic separator. Two different TES units have been tested to date. One uses drum-type electrodes to separate charged particles, while the other uses plate-type electrodes for the separation. The test results showed that a major improvement in separation efficiency can be achieved by recycling the middlings back to the feed stream. It has also been established that the major source of inefficiency arises from the difficulty in separating ultrafine particles. Understanding the behavior of the ultrafine particles and finding appropriate methods of handling them would be the key to further improving the separation efficiency of the TES process. It has been established that the optimum lies in the 62 and 350 microns when using the plate type separator. Finally, in Subtask 3.3, engineering work has been initiated in order to address issues related to the design, scale-up, construction and operation of a POC-scale TES unit.
- Research Organization:
- Federal Energy Technology Center, Morgantown, WV (US); Federal Energy Technology Center, Pittsburgh, PA (US)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- US Department of Energy (US)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC22-95PC95151
- OSTI ID:
- 14225
- Report Number(s):
- DE-AC22-95PC95151--12
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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