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U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

POC-scale testing of a dry triboelectrostatic separator for fine coal cleaning. Quarterly technical progress report, 1996

Technical Report ·
DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/436455· OSTI ID:436455

The Pittsburgh Energy Technology Center (PETC) developed a triboelectrostatic separation (TES) process which is capable of removing mineral matter from coal without using water. A distinct advantage of this dry coal cleaning process is that it does not entail costly steps of dewatering which is a common problem associated with conventional fine coal cleaning processes. It is the objective of this project to conduct a series of proof-of-concept (POC) scale tests at a throughput of 200-250 kg/hr and obtain scale-up information. Prior to the POC testing, bench-scale test work will be conducted with the objective of increasing the separation efficiency and throughput, for which changes in the basic designs for the charger and the separator may be necessary. The bench- and POC-scale test work will be carried out to evaluate various operating parameters and establish a reliable scale-up procedure. The scale-up data will be used to analyze the economic merits of the TES process. At present, the project is at the stage of engineering design (Task 3). Work accomplished during this reporting period are summarized as follows: (i) An on-line tribocharge analyzer has been developed to study triboelectrification. (ii) The effects of aeration rate, feed rate and particle size on the tribocbarging mechanisms using the on-line tribocharge analyzer. (iii) A continuous bench-scale tnboelectrostatic separator has been constructed. (iv) Shakedown testing of the bench-scale triboelectrostatic separator is on-going.

Research Organization:
Virginia Polytechnic Inst. and State Univ., Blacksburg, VA (United States). Dept. of Mining and Minerals Engineering
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Assistant Secretary for Fossil Energy, Washington, DC (United States)
DOE Contract Number:
AC22-95PC95151
OSTI ID:
436455
Report Number(s):
DOE/PC/95151--T7; ON: DE97051141
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English