TECHNOLOGIES F0R FINE COAL

BENEFICIATION IN INDIA

Dr. D.D.HALDAR
Deputy Director & Head, Coal Preparation Division

Central Institute of Mining & Fuel Research (Digwadih Campus)

Erstwhile Central Fuel Research Institute
DHANBAD - JHARKHAND
 INTRODUCTION
9 Indian coals, in general are inferior in quality and difficult in cleaning
characteristics.
9 Due to ‘Drift Origin’, the coals contain inherent mineral matter or
contaminates.
9 The Erstwhile CFRI ever since its inception in 1946 has been
campaigning for establishment of large Coal Preparation plants to
upgrade inferior coking coals for steel making.
9 Upgradation of coal fines and dewatering of clean concentrates is the
real problem of coal preparation in India.
9 The Beneficiation circuit of the washing plants installed in 1960’s did
not include coal fines upgradation due to their acceptable quality.
9 The depletion of good quality reserves and deterioration of quality due
to open cast mines called for coal fines upgradation containing high
ash.
9 The coal fines are normally enriched with vitrinite, a component to
increase the coking propensity and hence their presence in total cleans
is essential.
 INDIAN SCENARIO OF COKING COAL PLANTS
9 Prior to 1950, there were no Beneficiation plants, since selective
mining was in practice.
9 The first Indian coal washery was set up at West Bokaro in 1951,
followed by the second one installed at Jamadoba in 1952 – both
by M/s Tata Iron and Steel Limited. The third washery came up at
Lodna colliery by M/s Turner Morrison in 1955. A large washery
in the public sector was commissioned at Kargali by NCDC in
1958.
9 Five Central washeries were set up by Hindustan Steel Limited
on the recommendation of coal washeries committee during the
period from 1960 to 1968.
9 The Durgapur Washery of DPL and Chasnalla Washery of Indian
Iron and Steel Co. was installed in the year 1968.
9 In 70’s NCDC (now CCL) installed three more pithead washereis
at Kathara, Swang and Gidi for the upgrading of medium coking
coal.
Contd…..
9 After Nationalization of coal mines in 1972, Pithead washeries in
the Jharia coalfield have been installed at Sudamdih and
Moonidih, each with a throughput capacity of 700 tph.
9 The Rajrappa washery (CCL) has been commissioned in 1988 to
beneficiate medium coking coals with the latest equipment and
instruments.
9 A demonstration plant of 100-tph throughput capacity was set
up in 1984 at Barora (BCCL) to beneficiate difficult-to-wash
Prime Coking coal.
9 Two more washeries came into existence at Nandan (WCL) and
Mahuda (BCCL) in mid eighties. Bhelatand washery of TISCO
was commissioned in 1994.
9 Two more washeries Madhuban (BCCL) and Kedla (CCL) were
installed in mid-nineties for treating coking coals.
PROBLEMS IN EXISTING COAL BENEFICIATION PLANTS

• Increased production from Lower Seams.

• Enhanced supplies from mechanical opencast mine consisting

considerable proportions of free dirt, boulders and other lumpy
extraneous materials.

• Increased proportions of fines below 0.5 mm in the feed

• Change in the seam wise composition in feed with the inclusion

of lower horizons, the generation of sinks material has increased
considerably leading to operational problems in the circuit and
lowering washery availability. This also poses handling and
disposal problems.
 NEED & JUSTIFICATION OF TREATING COAL FINES
™ The Coal Beneficiation Plants installed in 1960’s did
not include coal fines circuit.
™ The quality of fines were acceptable for blending
with coarse coal cleans for producing metallurgical
coke.
™ The depletion of good quality coking coal reserves
and inclusion of feed/fines from open cast mines,
deteriorated the quality of fines.
™ The ash content of the coal fines increased to 25%
or even more, which had adverse effects if blended
with coarse cleans.
™ The coal fines are normally enriched with virtrinite,
which is the important component responsible for
increasing the coking propensity of the total cleans.
™ Hence, the coal fines need to be up graded to the
acceptable quality.
 INCORPORATION OF COAL FINES CIRCUITS IN WASHERIES

Sl. Year of Washing system Capacity Manufacture Remarks

No. Washery Installation (tph)
TATA
1 West Bokaro W-II 1981 Flotation 80 Dorr_Oliver In Operation

2 West Bokaro W - III 1994 Flotation 100 OTOKUMPU In Operation

3 Jamadoba 1982 Flotation 30 Dorr_Oliver In Operation

4 Bhelatand 1994 Flotation 60 OTOKUMPU In Operation

BCCL
5 Dugda -I 1986 Flotation 100 Denver Non Coking coal washing

6 Bhojudih 2001 Flotation 100 Denver In Operation

7 Dugda – II 1986 Flotation 150 Denver In Operation

8 Sudamadih 1981 Flotation 100 OTOKUMPU Not in operation

9 Moonidih 1983 W.O.C. 100 MAMC In operation

Contd…..
Sl. Year of Washing system Capacity Manufacture Remarks
No. Washery Installation (tph)
10 Barora 1981 Flotation 250 OTOKUMPU Not in operation

11 Mohuda 1990 Flotation 32 OTOKUMPU Not in operation

12 Madhuban 2000 Flotation 100 Dorr-Olivir Non Coking coal washing

CCL
13 Kargali 1978 W.O.C. 75 West GermanyNon Coking coal washing

14 Kathara 1969 Flotation 100 USSR In operation

15 Swang 1970 W.O.C. 40 West Germany In operation

16 Gidi 1970 Flotation 120 Poland Non coking coal washing

17 Rajrappa 1988 Flotation 120 Denver In operation

IISCO
18 Chasnalla 1990 Flotation 60 Dorr_Oliver Not in operation
 PROBLEMS IN COAL FINES CIRCUITS

It was observed that the general instability and overall poor

performance of the flotation plant are due to: -

™Variation in pulp density of feed slurry

™Variation in quantity of slurry (cum/min) from thickener

underflow

™Improper conditioning

™Inconsistency and poor quality of frother

™No provision for multiple dosing

™Less solids content and higher proportion of ultra fine particles (-

0.053 mm) in concentrate

™Poor recovery of cakes from vacuum filter.

CFRI CONRTRIBUTION ON BENEFICIATION OF COAL FINES

CFRI has been working on the treatment of coal

fines/finely ground high ash coals/Middlings for a long
time.

The Institute has developed the following processes to

meet the requirement of the coal based industries mainly
the Steel Industries

♦ Improved Froth flotation Process

♦ Oleo flotation Process
♦ Oil Agglomeration Process
Improved Froth flotation Process

1. CFRI has developed an Improved Flotation

Process for the beneficiation of high ash coal
slurry.

2. The process can recover finest cleans (less than

15% ash) from Indian coal slurry.

3. This is a cost effective process for beneficiating

high ash coking coal fines
4. Three Flotation Plants having 10-15 tph capacity
plants have been installed by Private firms on
CFRI Process
 Novelty of the Process

™ Flotation cell with self suction of input slurry from conditioner.

™ Provision of secondary feeding for re-treatment of froth/tailings.

™ Pulp level control in each flotation cell.

™ Low powered emulsifier fabricated at CFRI.

™ Belt discharge type vacuum filter

™ Gravity filtration/settling tank for dewatering of tailings for use

in briquette making, brick burning, etc.

™ Completely closed water circuit process.

™ No air or water pollution.

 Oleo Flotation Process
™ Oleo Flotation Process has been developed at
CFRI for the beneficiation of Natural slurry and
dewatering of concentrate with cyclone cleans in
centrifuge.

™ The thick slurry is conditioned with two reagents

comprising diesel oil and fraction of tar oil.

™ The conditioned pulp after dilution is treated in

flotation cells with controlled aeration to
separate concentrate as oil flocs.

™ After partial removal of water, the concentrate is

mixed with over size cyclone cleans.
™ The combined clean coals are dewatered in
centrifuge.

™ The final product is having moisture content of

6-8%.

™ The process provides for cleaning and

dewatering of coal fines to the acceptable limit
in terms of ash and moisture content.

™ Oleo flotation pilot plant of 20 tph capacity with

around 40 tph dewatering arrangements of
combined cleans has been set up in the
Sudamdih washery of BCCL.
 Oil Agglomeration Process
‘ CFRI developed an emerging process called “Oil-
Agglomeration” for the effective beneficiation of coal
fines, finely ground high ash coals and washery
middlings. The process has three distinct merits
‘ High yield of cleans with very low loss of
carbonaceous matter through tailings.
‘ Easy dewatering characteristics of cleans and
‘ Improvements in the coking propensities of the
cleans.

‘ Coal fines or finely ground high ash coal / middlings in

thicken slurry under controlled pH are agitated in a
suitable designed conditioning vessel with mineral oil
‘ The coal particles get preferentially coated with
thin layer of oil.

‘ These selectively coal particles along with non-

combustibles and water are agitated in an
agglomeration cell in presence of agglomerating
oil.

‘ Clean coal particles form dense, compact and

spherical agglomerates and mineral matter remain
dispersed in water;

‘ These materials (agglomerates and tailings) are

passed over a bent sieve followed by a vibrating
screen.
‘ The agglomerates being bigger in size are
separated and collected and the water carrying the
mineral matter passes through the aperture of the
screen.

‘ The process provides an attractive method of

beneficiation and dewatering.

‘ The process has been successfully demonstrated

in a 2 tph plant at Lodna, BCCL.

‘ A 10 tph demonstration module was installed and

commissioned at Patherdih washery, BCCL.
FINE COAL TREATMENT PILOT PLANT (FCTPP)
Installed and Commissioned in the year 2004

Modern Fine Coal Treatment Pilot Plant with on line instruments

and PL control comprise the following facilities/circuits :

¾ Experimental Batch Rotary Breaker, 3. 5 m dia

¾ Primary Crushers (in closed circuit)
¾ Closed circuit Secondary Crushing House
¾ Size classification equipment (Screens and Hydro Cyclone Classifier)
¾ 200mm HM Cyclone Unit
¾ Spiral 1 m dia.
¾ A battery of Flotation Cells with dewatering devices
¾ Oil agglomeration unit
¾ Grinding Mills
 OTHER TECHNOLOGIES FOR FINE COAL BENEFICIATION

Some of the other technologies, which are emerging for fine

coal beneficiation are as follows:

¾ Column Flotation

¾ Spiral

¾ Jameson Cell

¾ Kelsy Jig

¾ Multi-Gravity Separator

¾ Knelson Separator

¾ Falcon Separator

¾ Water Only Cyclone

 CONCLUSIONS

9 The beneficiation circuits incorporated in the existing

Coal preparation plants in India for the upgradation of
coal fines have been discussed.
9 It reveals that the circuits are not producing clean
concentrates of desired quality and quantity.
9 Beneficiation of coal fines containing enriched
vitrinite is essential to maintain the quality of
metallurgical coke.
9 Attention needs to be paid to revamp/renovate the
fine coal circuits for producing the desired quality
products.