The coal fed to gravity enrichment consists of coals coming from different deposits and exploitation fronts. These coals differ in quality parameters, especially the amount of gangue (stone) changing over time. This results in the instability of work, especially jiggers, which have a relatively low accuracy assessed by probable scattering or imperfection rates. This deteriorates the quality of the concentrate obtained, the quality parameters of which change over time. The improvement of jiggers work would be possible by averaging the feed. This process is practically impossible due to the failure to design such a node during plant construction, which are, in most cases, directly related to the shaft. In the article, the authors propose to solve the process of averaging the feed before directing it to the enrichment process in jiggers by introducing its deshaling in vibratory- air separators of the FGX type.
The paper presents a simulation analysis of four control systems of the raw coal feed to a jig: stabilization of the volumetric flow of the feed, stabilization of the feed tonnage, stabilization of the feed flow with the additional measurement of the feed bulk density or the additional measurement of ash content in the feed. Analysis has been performed for the first and second compartments of a jig. The aim of the feed control was to stabilize the mass of the bed in the zone where the material stratifies; the mass may change due to changes in the washability characteristics of the feed. Such control should result in stable conditions in which material loosens during subsequent media pulsation cycles; stabilizing conditions minimizes the dispersion of coal particles in the bed. The best results have been achieved for the system of feed control where the ash content was measured in the first compartment, and for feed tonnage control in the second compartment.
In recent years, more and more attention has been paid to the quality of produced coal size categories for energy purposes. This is important from the perspective of promoting clean coal technologies which aim at changing the perception of coal as a fuel friendly for the environment. This is specifically because hard coal resources in Poland allow the national energy security to be guaranteed on the basis of energy production based on hard coal. Fine coals upgraded at coal processing facilities in the separation process in fine coal jigs are mainly used in energy production from coal. In the article, an analysis of hard coal upgrading in a jig regarding the optimum recovery of a useful fraction in the concentrate (combustible and volatile matter) and non-useful fraction in tailings (ash and sulfur) was conducted. Based on the industrial testing of a fine coal jig, the granulometric and densimetric analysis of the taken samples of concentrate, middlings and tailings of coal was conducted in laboratory conditions. Yields of products were calculated in separated size-fractions of separation products, and ash content and total sulfur content were determined in them. Based on the results of granulometric, densimetric and chemical analyses of the obtained size-fractions, the balance of separation products and appropriate calculations, Fuerstenau upgrading curves which allowed the process to be evaluated and a comparison of the results of hard coal upgrading regarding the optimum recovery of the organic phase in the concentrate and mineral components in tailings to be drawn. The obtained results were evaluated on the basis of different criteria for changing the device’s hydrodynamic operational conditions. The ash content and total sulfur content were analyzed as non-useful substances.
The process of enrichment in a jig has usually been described and analysed using particle density as a separation feature. However, a degree of particle loosening in the jig bed is affected by, inter alia, the terminal particle free settling velocity which in turn is affected by the size, density and shape of a particle. Therefore, the terminal particle settling velocity clearly characterises the feed transferred to a jig for the enrichment process. Taking the comprehensive particle geometric (particle size and shape) and physical properties (particle density) into account comes down to the calculation of the terminal particle settling velocity. The terminal particle settling velocity is therefore a complex separation feature which comprises three basic particle features (particle density, size and shape). This paper compares the effects of enrichment of coal fines in a jig, for two cases: when the commonly applied particle density is separation feature and for the particle settling velocity. Particle settling velocities were calculated in the selected three particle size fractions: –3.15+2.00, –10.00+8.00 and –20.00+16.00 mm based on the industrial testing of a jig for coal fines and detailed laboratory tests consisting in determining particle density, projective diameter and volume and dynamic particle shape coefficient. The calculated and drawn partition curves for two variants, i.e. when particle density and particle settling velocity were taken into account as the separation argument in selected particle size fractions, allowed to calculate and compare separation precision indicator. With the use of a statistical test, the assumption on the independence of random variables of the distribution of components included in the distribution of the particle settling velocity as a separation feature during enrichment in a jig was verified.