Nuclear assay of coal. Volume 10. Operation of a continuous coal assay system - laboratory performance. Final report. [Continuous on-line coal analyzer (CONAC)]

Technical Report · Mon Oct 01 04:00:00 EDT 1984

OSTI ID:6429241

Brown, D R; Gozani, T; Spencer, C M; Viswanath, P

This report describes the full-scale continuous on-line analyzer of coal - CONAC, and its successful laboratory testing. The report gives the specifications to which the CONAC system was built. These specifications include basic coal analysis time of 1000 seconds and automatic calibration every 10,000 seconds. Various electrical and mechanical requirements are reviewed and details of the controlling computer system and software structure are given. The basic physical principles of prompt gamma neutron activation analysis upon which the CONAC analysis is based are given. The calibration of the CONAC for the laboratory testing is described; in this calibration the coefficients which convert the elemental signals measured by the CONAC instrument system to weight percentage of elements, moisture and calorific values are determined. This calibration was carried out using three sets of coal standards, carefully prepared for this purpose and characterized by three commercial coal analysis laboratories in accordance with ASTM procedures. The set of 17 coals used for the acceptance test calibration included 7 coals used by the Tennessee Valley Authority's Paradise Wash Plant, where the CONAC is to be installed, and 10 other coals from different parts of the USA and the world. The CONAC underwent a stringent laboratory acceptance test which included several tests to check its accuracy and precision for measuring the elemental constituents of coal, its moisture, ash and calorific value. These successfully completed tests are described. Other tests confirmed the excellent mechanical and electrical performance of all parts of the CONAC and checked its radiation levels, the software and the operator's interface. 25 references, 70 figures, 36 tables.

• Research Organization: Science Applications, Inc., Sunnyvale, CA (USA)
• OSTI ID: 6429241
• Report Number(s): EPRI-CS-989-Vol.10; ON: TI85920114
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT
010600* -- Coal
Lignite
& Peat-- Properties & Composition
37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY
400101 -- Activation
Nuclear Reaction
Radiometric & Radiochemical Procedures
ACTIVATION ANALYSIS
ASH CONTENT
AUTOMATION
BARYON REACTIONS
BENCH-SCALE EXPERIMENTS
CALIBRATION
CALORIFIC VALUE
CARBONACEOUS MATERIALS
CHEMICAL ANALYSIS
CHEMICAL COMPOSITION
COAL
COAL PREPARATION
COMBUSTION PROPERTIES
COMPUTERIZED CONTROL SYSTEMS
CONTROL SYSTEMS
DATA
ENERGY SOURCES
EXPERIMENTAL DATA
FOSSIL FUELS
FUELS
HADRON REACTIONS
INFORMATION
MATERIALS
MIXING
MOISTURE
NEUTRON REACTIONS
NUCLEAR REACTIONS
NUCLEON REACTIONS
NUMERICAL DATA
ON-LINE MEASUREMENT SYSTEMS
ON-LINE SYSTEMS
SPECIFICATIONS