International Journal of Coal Preparation and Utilization, 33:277–289, 2013

Copyright # Taylor & Francis Group, LLC

ISSN: 1939-2699 print=1939-2702 online
DOI: 10.1080/19392699.2013.818986

Modeling of Free and Hindered Settling Conditions

for Fine Coal Beneficiation Through a Falcon
Concentrator

FERIDUN BOYLU
Mineral Processing Engineering Department, Istanbul Technical
University, Faculty of Mines, Istanbul, Turkey
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In this study, the free and hindered settling conditions for coal-shale-clay separation
through a Falcon concentrator were determined experimentally using response
surface methodology. The model parameters consisted of the separation efficiency
and ash content of the concentrate and tailings. Based on the model with the highest
response, free settling conditions dominated at centrifugal forces below 100 g and at
solid concentrations of up to 30%–35%, especially for coarser particle sizes of
300 mm. These results revealed that, for effective fine coal beneficiation through
a Falcon concentrator, the solid concentration should be maintained higher than
30%–35% (with a maximum of 45%–50%) to create hindered settling conditions
because separation under these conditions is achieved based on specific gravity.
The best results were obtained at a solid concentration of 50%. This finding was
interesting because separations through enhanced gravity separators were achieved
under conditions similar to separations performed in autogenous media.

Keywords Modelling; Fine coal beneficiation; Free settling; Hindered settling;

Falcon concentrator

Introduction
Fine coal cleaning has received more attention because large amounts of ultrafine
coal are produced by highly mechanized mining techniques, amounting to 20%–
25% of the feed. Treatment of fine coal fractions always creates serious difficulties.
Of the physical and physicochemical treatments of fine coals, gravity-based methods
have been found to be most efficient, especially for coals containing significant
amounts of middlings [1–7]. It is worth it to point out the serious problems in the
processing of coal fines through gravity methods. The main problem with treating
very fine particles by gravity-based methods is the low settling velocity of particles
against a normal gravitational field of 1 g. The settling velocity of very fine particles
can be increased by applying an artificially enhanced gravitational field. Luttrell et al.
[3] illustrated the change in the settling velocities of pure coal, shale, and pyrite
against an applied gravitational field, using the well-known Stokes and Newton Laws

Received 10 April 2013; accepted 20 June 2013.

Address correspondence to Feridun Boylu, Mineral Processing Engineering Department,
Istanbul Technical University, Faculty of Mines, Maslak 34469, Istanbul, Turkey. E-mail:
boylu@itu.edu.tr

277
 278 F. Boylu

for free settling conditions [8]. They also reported in their study that high settling
velocities can be maintained for particle sizes down to 0.1 mm by applying an artificial
gravitational field of 200 g. Creating a high gravitational field with additional
centrifugal force permits efficient separations of even very fine particles. Therefore,
extensive research efforts have been made to increase the inertia of fine particles by
applying enhanced gravitational forces. These efforts led to the development of
various enhanced gravity separators such as the Multigravity separator, Kelsey jig,
Knelson concentrator, and Falcon concentrator [3, 4]. Of these enhanced gravity
separators, the Falcon concentrator was reported as having the minimum separation
density with the highest centrifugal force (gravitational field) of up to 300 g [3, 9–11].
Luttrell et al. [3] stated in their study that the effective specific gravity of separation
can be decreased by increasing the strength of the centrifugal field.
The development of enhanced gravity separators with increased gravitational
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fields for gravity-based separations required that the concept of free and hindered
settling conditions established for normal gravitational fields (1 g) should be reconsid-
ered. The separation of minerals in suspensions is controlled by either free or hindered
settling conditions, which allows for separation based on either particle size or den-
sity, respectively. The condition for free or hindered settling is a function of the solid
concentration in a mineral suspension. It is usually assumed that free settling con-
ditions occur at solid concentrations lower than 15%–20%. To achieve density-based
separation, the solid concentrations should be maintained at levels higher than 20% at
which point separation will be performed under hindered settling conditions. The lim-
iting solid concentration for both free and hindered settling conditions in the presence
of an artificial gravitational field was not identified in early studies. To achieve hin-
dered settling conditions, the limiting concentration should hypothetically increase at
high solid concentrations for separations at high centrifugal forces. Thus, separations
at high solid concentrations would be enabled, leading to increased capacity of the
separators. Running this process at high solid concentration would also result in
separations in denser media (allowing for natural dense media separation).
In this study, coal and its accompanying gangue minerals, largely composed of
shale and clays, underwent separation tests in a Falcon concentrator. The effects
of solid concentration, centrifugal force (gravitational field), and particle size on sep-
aration were investigated by determining the separation efficiency and ash content of
the concentrate and tailings. Both free settling (particle-size-based separation) and
hindered settling conditions (density-based separation) were modeled using response
surface methodology.

Experimental
Material and Methods
The coal samples used in the tests were 1 mm samples of a 50 mm feed sample from
the Tuncbilek Region in Turkey. The proximate analysis of the tested coal is given in
Table 1. To investigate the effect of particle size, these fine coal samples were ground
in a wet ball mill to sizes of
300,
150, and
75 mm.
Concentration tests were performed using a lab-scale L40 model Falcon
enhanced-gravity separator (Sepro Mineral Systems Corp., Canada) with a bowl
measuring 25 cm at the top where the overflow stream exits the unit. The parameters
used for effective coal-gangue separation were a concentration of solids ranging from
 Fine Coal Beneficiation and a Falcon Concentrator 279

Table 1. Proximate analysis of tested coal sample (dry basis)

Components Content

Ash (%) 49.50

Total Sulfur (%) 2.04
Volatile Matter (%) 29.10
Fixed Carbon (%) 21.40
Upper Calorific Value (kCal=kg) 3102

5%–50% by wt., centrifugal forces of 20, 100, and 300 g, and particle sizes of
300,

150, and
75 mm. The feed rate was kept constant at 1.5 l=m, the optimum value
found in the literature [4–7, 12]. Only one cleaning stage was used in this series of tests.
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To avoid overspill of the feed material [12] due to overthickening of the sediment bed
and to standardize the sediment bed thickness, the feed was obtained in 6–7 intervals
especially for separations at 50% solid concentration.
Neither the clay minerals nor the
38 mm fractions were removed prior to
application of the Falcon concentrator, contrary to the general procedure
reported in the literature [3–8, 12]; both were kept with the original coal sample,
thus providing an opportunity to follow the clay fractions and to determine the
free settling conditions. In general, the coal samples in low specific gravities
and the clays with ultrafine particle sizes were expected to be found in the
overflow. However, in some separations (solids content of feed <10%), the ash
content of the overflow products was higher than in the feed ash, meaning that
most, if not all, of the clay minerals reported to the overflow, leaving the lighter
coal particles in the sedimentation bowl (for size-based particle separation).
Following the separation through Falcon concentration, the
38 mm size fraction
was then removed by a screening method that can be simulated to hydrocycloning
(separation at free settling conditions).
The separation results were finally evaluated based on the degree of ash removal,
combustible recovery, and separation efficiencies as calculated by the following
equations:

C  ð100
cÞ
Rcomb: ð%Þ ¼ ; ð1Þ
F  ð100
f Þ

T t
Rash ð%Þ ¼ ; ð2Þ
F f

Effsep: ¼ Rcomb:
ð100
Rash Þ; ð3Þ

where Rcomb, Rash, and Effsep are the combustible recovery, ash removal, and
separation efficiency, respectively; C, T, and F represent the yields and c, t, and f
are the ash content of the concentrate, tailing, and feed, respectively.
Modeling studies were performed using response surface methodology, which is
a collection of statistical and mathematical methods that are useful for modeling and
analyzing engineering problems. The main objective in this technique is to optimize
the response surface, which is influenced by various operating=process parameters.
 280 F. Boylu

This methodology also quantifies the relationship between the controllable input
parameters and the response surfaces obtained [13–15].
The theoretical background is successfully obtained using the commercial
software MINITAB, which only requires loading the collected experimental data
to the program. The collected experimental data were thus evaluated with uncoded
units of the response surface regression method using MINITAB 14 software.
The response surface analysis studies were performed as follows:
1. Modeling the response of separation efficiencies (Y1) of coal and accompanying
gangue minerals based on the centrifugal force (X1), solid concentration of the
pulps (X2), and particle size (d90) (X3);
2. Establishing the relationship between the responses of separation efficiency,
concentrate and tailings ashes (Y1, Y2, and Y3), and the operational factors of
g force, solid concentration, and particle size (X1, X2, and X3).
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3. Evaluating the free and hindered settling regions by overlaying contour plots.
For Item 3, the region in which the separation efficiencies are less than zero and the
concentrate ash content is higher than in the feed ash was defined as the free settling
region, whereas the region in which the separation efficiencies are greater than zero
and the concentrate ash content is lower than in the feed ash was defined as the area
of hindered settling.
For the modeling studies, more than 50 separations were performed with
different parameters. The details of the investigated parameters are given in Table 2.

Table 2. Tested parameters and their ranges in modeling studies

Part. G % Part. G % Part. G %
Test size Force Solids Test size Force Solids Test size Force Solids
no. (X3) (X1) (X2) no. (X3) (X1) (X2) no. (X3) (X1) (X2)

1
75 20 5 19
150 20 5 37
300 20 5

2 micron 10 20 micron 10 38 micron 10
3 20 21 20 39 20
4 30 22 30 40 30
5 40 23 40 41 40
6 50 24 50 42 50
7 100 5 25 100 5 43 100 5
8 10 26 10 44 10
9 20 27 20 45 20
10 30 28 30 46 30
11 40 29 40 47 40
12 50 30 50 48 50
13 300 5 31 300 5 49 300 5
14 10 32 10 50 10
15 20 33 20 51 20
16 30 34 30 52 30
17 40 35 40 53 40
18 50 36 50 54 50
 Fine Coal Beneficiation and a Falcon Concentrator 281

Results and Discussion

Modeling Studies
The modeling results are given in Table 3. The operational centrifugal force used and
the solid concentration have strong effects on the separation efficiencies, concentrate,
and tailing ashes, with p values lower than 0.005 (keeping the confidence level at 95%)
in all cases. The effective operating factors appear in bold font in the quadratic equa-
tions in Table 3. Regression coefficients greater than 0.80 and Pearson correlation
coefficients of quadratic equations nearly greater than 0.9 confirm the good response
of the stated model. It is also worthy to mention that the large changes on standard
deviation (SD) values should be attributed to the application of lower centrifugal
force at 20 g causing undesired separations. The minimum centrifugal force of Falcon
separation tests is recommended as 50 g.
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Determination of Free and Hindered Settling Conditions Based on Particle Size

The modeling studies investigating separation efficiencies and concentrate ashes as
a function of particle size are shown in Figures 1 and 2, respectively. These figures
also illustrate the relationships between the actual and predicted data from
second-order state quadratic equations.
As seen in Figure 1, high separation efficiencies (i.e., 29%) were observed for
separation at a solid concentration greater than 30%. However, the maximum solid
concentration for effective separation was limited to 45% for ultrafine particles
(Figure 1A). This limit is most likely due to the highly viscous nature of the separation
media, which prevents the settlement of gangue minerals. It has been well documented
in the literature that increasing the number of fine particles in suspension resulted in
increased viscosity. Separation with fine particles yielded a maximum separation
efficiency of 29% (for separation at
75 mm). For separations at coarser particle sizes,
higher separation efficiency (32%) was possible. However, the separation efficiency of
32% was obtained for separations at solids concentrations of higher than 40% and
45% for particle sizes of
150 and
300 mm, respectively.
Likewise, the lowest ash content in the coal concentrates was obtained with
separations at solid concentrations of 30%–45% for particle sizes of
75 and

150 mm and at solid concentrations of 45%–50% for a particle size of
300 mm.
In addition, an increase in particle size resulted in a lower ash content in the coal
concentrates; it was possible to produce clean coal concentrates with a minimum
ash content of 35% with
75 mm particles, whereas an ash content of 30%–31%
was achieved with separations at particle sizes of
150 mm and
300 mm.
When the clean coal product ash contents are evaluated based on the operational
centrifugal forces, the optimum centrifugal forces were found as 225 g and 200 g for
the feed sizes of 75–150 and
300 mm, respectively. Higher centrifugal forces on
separation of coal sample in coarse size caused to increase on dragging forces that
provide the coarse tailings reporting the overflow.
Interestingly, solid concentrations above 40%–45% can also change the separ-
ation conditions. That is, rough estimates indicate that a specific gravity of the pulps
or the separation medium of approximately 1.35–1.40 g=cm3 is approximately equi-
valent to a natural=autogenous separation medium. In addition to increased pulp
density, the presence of ultrafine coal particles and clay minerals also acted as natural
dense media. The behavior of ultrafine coal particles and clay minerals was illustrated
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Table 3. Summarized data of modeling studies, second-order quadratic equations and coefficients
Operating factors
Particle Resp. R2
size (mm) Y X1 X2 EQUATIONS % SD p

75 Sep. Cent. Solids Y75 ¼
24.2 þ 0.279 X1 þ 1.27 X2
0.0006 X21
0:017 X22
0:001 X1X2 0.898 4.61 0.948

150 Eff. Force Conc. Y150 ¼
30.5 þ 0.31 X1 þ 1.4 X2
0.0007 X21
0:016 X22 þ 0:001 X1X2 0.876 5.97 0.936

300 Y300 ¼
36.3 þ 0.42 X1 þ 0.83 X2
0.001 X21
0:003 X22
0:0009 X1X2 0.850 6.953 0.922

282

75 Conc. Cent. Solids Y75 ¼ 67.14
0.176 X1
0.83 X2 þ 0.003 X21 þ 0:01 X22
0:0007 X1X2 0.901 2.753 0.949

150 Ash Force Conc. Y150 ¼ 76.66
0.2 X1
1.37 X2 þ 0.0005 X21 þ 0:018 X22 þ 0:0002 X1X2 0.827 5.003 0.909

300 Y300 ¼ 84.87
0.26 X1
1.34 X2 þ 0.0006 X21 þ 0:014 X22 þ 0:0004 X1X2 0.792 7.068 0.890

75 Tailing Cent. Solids Y75 ¼ 38.2 þ 0.13 X1 þ 0.65 X2
0.003 X21
0:009 X22 þ 0:0005 X1X2 0.845 3.036 0.919

150 Ash Force Conc. Y150 ¼ 36.73 þ 0.15 X1 þ 0.4 X2
0.0004 X21
0:002 X22 þ 0:0000 X1X2 0.892 2.723 0.944

300 Y300 ¼ 37.48 þ 0.17 X1 þ 0.12 X2
0.0004 X21 þ 0:002 X22
0:0003 X1X2 0.827 2.837 0.910
Note. R2 ¼ regression coefficient, SD ¼ standard deviation, p ¼ Pearson correlation coefficient.
 Fine Coal Beneficiation and a Falcon Concentrator 283
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Figure 1. The effect of solid concentration and centrifugal force on the separation efficiencies
of particle sizes of (A)
75 mm, (B)
150 mm, and (C)
300 mm and (D) the correlations
between the actual and predicted separation efficiencies based on the established model.
(Color figure available online.)

clearly in Table 4. Overflows from Falcon concentrations performed at optimal con-

ditions were introduced to screening of
38 mm fractions for removal of natural dense
media (clays and ultrafine coals). Removal of
38 mm fractions resulted in clean coal
products with the ash contents of 16.37%, 9.94%, and 10.61% for the separations
performed at sizes of
75,
150, and
300 mm, respectively.
In Figure 1 (A, B, C), certain separations resulted in separation efficiencies less
than zero. This result is due to the low solid concentration under a high centrifugal
force up to 100 g, which leads to primarily clay minerals in the overflow. This
phenomenon is also seen clearly in Figure 2 (A, B, C) in which the concentrate
ash content was higher than that of the feed ash; separations were performed under
free settling conditions equivalent to particle-size-based separation conditions. The
 284 F. Boylu
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Figure 2. The effect of solid concentration and centrifugal force on the concentrate ashes with
particles sizes of (A)
75 mm, (B)
150 mm, and (C)
300 mm and (D) correlations between the
actual and predicted separation efficiencies based on the established model. (Color figure
available online.)

free settling conditions varied based on particle size. That is, for a centrifugal force of
50 g, the limit on the solid concentration under free settling conditions corresponded
to 13%, 16%, and 25% for particle sizes of
75,
150, and
300 mm, respectively.
Thus, if the particle size is coarse and if enhanced gravity separation is used, free
settling conditions can be established at solid concentrations of up to 30%–35%,
despite being reported that, without a centrifugal force in the separation area, free
settling conditions occurred at solid concentrations below 15%–20%. This is an
interesting finding because, in past studies, the solid concentration in the Falcon
concentrator was applied to have a maximum of 30% or a minimum of 7%–8%
[13]. Our study noted the importance of high solid concentrations in enhanced
gravity separators.
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Table 4. Final concentrates and tailings before and after removing the natural media (
38 mm)
Particle
size Conc. Conc. Tailing Tailing Feed Comb. Ash Sep.
(mm) Application W (%) Ash (%) W (%) Ash (%) Ash (%) Rec. (%) Rem. (%) Eff. (%)

75a Falcon Conc. only 55.6 37.62 44.4 64.31 49.47 68.6 57.7 26.4
Falcon Conc. þ Screening
38 mm 35.9 47.80
þ38 mm 19.7 16.37 80.3 56.49 48.59 32.0 93.4 25.4
150a Falcon Conc. only 54.4 36.56 45.6 64.75 49.41 68.2 57.1 25.4

285
Falcon Conc. þ Screening
38 mm 32.6 51.04
þ38 mm 21.8 9.94 78.2 57.84 47.40 37.3 95.4 32.7
300b Falcon Conc. only 48.5 36.35 51.5 60.64 48.86 60.4 63.9 24.3
Falcon Conc. þ Screening
38 mm 24.5 59.72
þ38 mm 24.0 10.61 76.0 59.97 48.12 41.4 94.7 36.1
a
Operational centrifugal force is 300 g.
b
Operational centrifugal force is 100 g.
 286 F. Boylu

Discussion
The modeling results shown in Figures 1 and 2 revealed that free settling conditions
appeared at a centrifugal force of 100 g and at solid concentrations below 20%.
Therefore, the free and hindered settling conditions were modeled individually in
Figure 3A and B. In Figure 3A, the centrifugal force and solid concentrations were
assumed to be <100 g and <20%, respectively, for the free settling conditions,
whereas the hindered settling conditions were modeled in Figure 3B with a centrifu-
gal force and solid concentrations of >100 g and >20%, respectively.
As seen in Figure 3A, free settling conditions, that is, regions where the separation
efficiencies are less than zero, appeared at centrifugal forces lower than 70 g. Interest-
ingly, finer particles required centrifugal forces lower than what was expected. This
result was most likely due to the settling of coarse coal particles that required high cen-
trifugal forces to travel and be reported to the overflow. Hindered settling conditions
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were reached at centrifugal forces greater than 100 g. It is clear in Figure 3B that finer
particles need higher centrifugal forces for effective separation. For example, to
obtain the highest separation efficiency value of 22.5%, the required centrifugal force
was determined to be 100, 140, 200, and 270 g for separations with particle sizes of
200, 150, 100, and 50 mm, respectively (Points I, II, III, and IV, respectively). Another
important finding was that efficient separation with coarse particle sizes of up to
200–220 mm is possible and is in agreement with previous studies [4–7, 12]; the separ-
ation efficiency deteriorated when increasing the particle size above 250 mm.
In addition to the individual models given above, free and hindered settling
conditions were modeled as a function of solid concentration and centrifugal force
in Figure 4. The results of the model were plotted with the combined data of
Figure 1A–C for clear comparison. As seen in Figure 4, free settling conditions appear
at centrifugal forces lower than 100 g, which does not mean that higher centrifugal
forces create free settling conditions; certainly, this result is expected, but, in the case
of higher centrifugal forces, lighter coarse coal particles leave the bowl (for example,
the settlement area) and report to the overflow under the dragging effect of high

Figure 3. The effect of particle size and centrifugal force on separation efficiencies in the (A)
free and (B) hindered settling regions. (Color figure available online.)
 Fine Coal Beneficiation and a Falcon Concentrator 287
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Figure 4. Comparison of the free and hindered settling regions as a function of particle
size and based on the solid concentration and centrifugal force (regions are attributed to
separation efficiencies). The regions of A, B, and C illustrate the separation efficiencies higher
than 29% for separations at
75,
150, and
300 mm size fractions to point out the auto-
genous medium separations.

centrifugal force. When free settling conditions are considered as a function of the solid
concentration, coarse particles require a high solid concentration in the separation
media to create a barrier to settlement. The solid concentration should be approxi-
mately 30%–35% or higher for separations of coarse particle sizes using enhanced
gravity separators, such as the Falcon concentrator. In addition, it was determined
that for separations of ultrafine particle sizes (such as 50–75 mm), the upper limit of
solid concentration should be approximately 40%–45%, above which, increasing the
solid concentration increases the viscosity of the separation media and deteriorates
the separation efficiency. For coarser sizes, the limits of solids concentration of the feed
can be increased up to levels of higher than 45% since the viscosity of suspensions with
coarser feed size are in the lower levels when compared to suspensions with finer sizes.

Conclusion
The separation of minerals in suspensions is controlled by either free or hindered
settling conditions, which allows for separation based on either particle size or
density, respectively. It is usually assumed that free settling conditions occur at
solid concentrations lower than 15%–20% while density-based separation is achieved
at the solid concentrations higher than 20% at which point separation will be
performed under hindered settling conditions. The limiting solid concentration for
both free and hindered settling conditions in the presence of an artificial gravitational
field was investigated and modeled in this study. The evaluation of separation
results based on the process variables such as solids concentration, centrifugal force,
feed sizes, and results of modeling studies based on these factors were given below.
 288 F. Boylu

Separation Results
The application of high solids concentration resulted in relatively higher separation
efficiencies and lower ash content of the clean coal products for the separations at all
feed sizes. However, these increases for the separations at finer feed sizes were limited
up to some extent because of the negative effect of the extensive increase on feed
slurry viscosity. The hindered settling conditions were obtained with the centrifugal
forces higher than 100 g. The limited solids concentrations for the separations under
hindered conditions and at feed sizes of 75, 150, and 300 mm were found as 20%,
25%, and 40%, respectively. Maximum separation efficiencies (29%, 32%, 32%)
and the lowest ash content (35%, 31%, 30%) were found possible with the solids con-
centrations of 30%–45%, 35%–45%, and >40% and centrifugal forces of 225–250 g
for feed sizes of 75, 150, and 300 mm, respectively.
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Modeling Studies
The optimal pulp loading and the free and hindered settling conditions were
determined from detailed experiments on the separation of coal-gangue minerals
in a Falcon concentrator and from the modeling results using response surface meth-
odology. Models of the experimental data yielded regression coefficients higher than
0.8. The established second-order quadratic equations correlated with the actual and
predicted data and resulted in Pearson correlation coefficients higher than 0.9. All of
these results confirm the accuracy of the established model. The free and hindered
settling conditions were also modeled as a function of particle size, centrifugal force,
and solid concentration. Interestingly, modeling studies revealed that when enhanced
gravity separators are used for coal-shale separation, the solid concentrations in
the suspension should be high; a solid concentration of 40%–50% was found to be
optimal for effective separation.

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