Introduction:

Coal is a mixture of organic and inorganic material. The inorganic portion is

often called mineral matter. This mixture varies from seam to seam; and
within a seam both horizontally and vertically over a mines extent. This
variation in the relative amounts of organic and inorganic material is
reflected in the quality differences from one coal to another. As coal varies in
quality, the amount of ash and sulfur change, with a corresponding change in
heating value. Other variations are hardness and friability, inherent moisture,
and the amount of out of seam material accompanying the coal (dilution). In
addition to variation in quality the most notable variation from one coal to
another is the rank of the coal.
Coal cleaning is a process by which impurities such as sulfur, ash, and rock
are removed from coal to upgrade its value.

Coal cleaning processes are

categorized as either physical cleaning or chemical cleaning. Physical coal

cleaning processes, the mechanical separation of coal from its contaminants
using differences in density, are by far the major processes in use today.
Chemical coal cleaning processes are currently being developed, but their
performance and cost are undetermined at this time.
Coal cleaning equipment is mostly based on the fact that raw coal can be
physically separated into clean coal and refuse because of the specific
gravity difference between the two fractions. The two constituents of coal are
the organic compounds and the mineral matter. The organic compounds
have a lower specific gravity than the mineral matter. The effective specific
gravity of the organic portion is dependent on the rank of the coal but
generally ranges from 1.2 to 1.7. The mineral matter is heavier, generally
greater than 2.0. The proportion of these fractions, as determined by the
washability

test,

determines

the

coals

cleaning

characteristics.

The

washability of a coal is determined by sink-float testing. The test is

performed by placing a sample of coal in progressively heavier specific
gravity baths and scooping off the material that floats. This test shows how

the quality and weight of the coal varies as the specific gravity changes. The
cumulative float at any float specific gravity is what a "perfect" separation
would produce in the way of clean coal yield and quality, with the cumulative
sink being the refuse from the perfect separation.
Jig:
The jig is one of the most common devices in conventional coal cleaning. In
the jig, a bed of particles is retained on a screen and water current
periodically passes through the screen. Jigging is a process of particle
stratification resulting from an alternate expansion and compaction of a bed
by pulsating fluid flow. The repetition of the jig stroke permits vertical
movement of different density particles by their initial settling velocities
rather than by the particles terminal velocities. Although the elements of a
jig stroke seem simple, success in achieving the bed conditions that permit
the particles to stratify by density is highly dependent on coordinating the
ascending and descending water movements with the condition of the bed
during each phase of the jig cycle. The rearrangement results in layers of
particles that are arranged by increasing density from top to bottom of the
bed.
The

jig

box

may be divided

vertically

into

compartments.

As

the

compartments are separated by fixed weirs and have separate reject

withdrawal systems, this multi-compartment jig is really a series of jigs
designed to produce multiple products.
According to the difficulty of separation, each compartment is divided into
two, three, or four cells. Individual cells can be controlled separately by
pulsation and water introduction. Water is introduced continuously into the
chamber of each cell and its volume is an important control parameter. The
support screen normally has about 20mm apertures and may be horizontal
or sloped towards the feed or discharge end of the jig, depending on the
nature of the feed, processing objective, and manufacturer design.

Table:
Tables have been in use for over 60 years in treating 1-1/2 inch x 28 mesh
coal. The most generally accepted explanation of the action of a
concentrating table is that as the material to be treated is fanned out over
the table deck by the differential motion and gravitational flow, the particles
become stratified in layers behind the riffles. This stratification is followed by
the removal of successive layers from the top downward by cross-flowing
water as the stratified bed travels toward the outer end of the table. The
cross-flowing water is made up partly of water introduced with the feed and
partly of wash water fed separately through troughs along the upper side of
the table. The progressive removal of material from the top toward the
bottom of the bed is the result of the taper of the table riffles toward their
outer end, which allows successively deeper layer of material to be carried
away by the cross-flowing water as the outer end of the table is approached.
By the time the end of the table is reached, only a thin layer, probably not
thicker than one or two particles, remains on the surface of the deck, this
being finally discharged over the end of the table.
Heavy Media Separation:
Heavy medium separation provides more accurate separation and higher
recovery of salable coal than jigging. Coal is slurried in a medium with a
specific gravity close to that of the desired separation. The lighter coal floats
and the heavier refuse sinks. The two fractions are then mechanically
separated. While other media have been used, most coal cleaned by the
heavy medium process is separated in suspensions of magnetite in water.
This suspension is achieved using very finely ground magnetite. By varying
the amount of magnetite in the suspension, the specific gravity of the
medium is changed, which changes the gravity of separation. The process is
versatile, offering easy changes of specific gravity to meet varying market
requirements and the ability to handle fluctuations in feed in terms of both
quantity and quality.

Heavy media Cyclones

For hard-to-clean coal in a size range of 1-3/4 inch to 28 mesh, the
heavy medium cyclone is becoming widely utilized. In its operation, a slurry
of coal and medium (magnetite dispersed in water) is admitted at a tangent
near the top of a cylindrical section that is affixed to a cone-shaped lower
section. The slurry forms a strong vertical flow; and under gravimetric forces,
the refuse with its higher specific gravity moves along the wall of the cone
and is discharged at the apex. The coal particles of lesser specific gravity
move toward the longitudinal axis of the cyclone and finally through the
centrally positioned vortex finder to the discharge outlet as clean coal. The
heavy medium cyclone functions efficiently even with large amounts of near
gravity
material in the feed.
Spiral:
Spiral separation uses a flowing film principal based on the size and specific
gravity difference present in a mineral suite. When fed a dilute pulp mixture
of minerals of different specific gravities, the lighter minerals are more
readily suspended by the water and attain relatively high tangential
velocities so that they climb toward the outer rim of the spiral trough. At the
same time, the heavier, non-suspended grains migrate by saltation along the
spiral surface at the lowest portion of the spiral cross section. (Saltation is
defined as non-linear motion that is a combination of rolling and bouncing.)
In a spiral, heavy mineral concentrate is selectively directed into the spiral
trough near the inside of the spiral surface through the use of adjustable
product splitters. The concentrate then flows through product discharge
outlet ports down the length of the helix.
Single-stage Spirals-A number of different types of spirals are available,
with differing numbers of turns around the central axis and differences in
trough profile. It was determined that for 1000X 150m (180X100 mesh)
material, the number of turns had little effect on the performance, while the

spiral

with

the

smallest

diameter

showed

the

best

sulfur

removal

performance. It was also found that by using a rougher/cleaner spiral

configuration, the sulfur content of the final product could be reduced still
further. Work is also being done to reduce the height of spirals, so that they
can be more easily installed in existing coal processing plants.

Figure-5: Single Stage Spirals

Two-stage Spirals-In most industrial coal-cleaning operations, the need for
high throughput at low cost makes multi-stage separation impractical;
however, the low cost and simple operations can make it feasible to use twostage processing circuits, such as rougher-cleaner or middlings retreatment.
It has been found that the best two-stage spiral circuit for pyrite rejection is a
rougher-cleaner circuit.

Figure-6: Two-stage Spirals

Compound Spirals-A compound spiral can be considered to be a twospiralcircuit with middlings retreatment, with both spirals sharing a single
central column. The reason for using this arrangement is that in a spiral,
much of the separation occurs within the first few turns, and the middlings

material in the center of the spiral largely consists of misplaced coal and
mineral particles and not of true middlings with an intermediate density.

Figure-7: Compound Spirals