Washing of Coal

Most of the coals when mined contain impurities associated with it which must be removed before it is
used.Impurities are removed from coal by washing. Coal contains two types of impurities.
Fixed impurities: It is derived from coal forming plant and cannot be separated from coal by washing.
Free impurities: These are the impurities adhering to the surface of the coal and comprise mainly of
dirt band and rock particles which can be removed by washing of coal
Nature of Impurities;
• Residual inorganic matter of coal forming plants
• Mineral matter washed or blown into the coal forming mass during the period of its formation
• Pyrites formed by the reaction of iron sulphate with coal forming matter.
• Sedimentary deposits during coal forming periods
• Deposits formed through deposition on bedding planes
• Saline deposits
• Slate, shale, clay etc. from the underlying and overlying strata
• Moisture
Objectives of Coal Washing; Reduces its ash content, Reduces its sulphur and phosphorous contents
which are detrimental particular to metallurgical coals, Increases its heating value, Improves its coking
properties, Increases the fusion point of its ash by removing alkali chlorides and Reduces its clinkering
tendency and increases its efficiency in use.
Washing Processes; Based on physical properties of pure coal and mineral matter. Maximum processes
use difference in their Specific gravity and Wettability. Specific gravity at which coal is to cleaned is
determined from washability data and economic considerations. Coefficient of Friction, Wettability and
resilience are used in few commercial washing processes. Some methods have also been suggested on the
basis of optical and electrical properties. Size and shape of the solid particles influence all coal cleaning
processes to a greater or lesser extent. Processes are termed Dry and Wet depending upon medium used
for coal cleaning.
Dry Processes
Pneumatic Table; It is perforated and riffled sloping deck which is rapidly reciprocated. Coal is fed from
upper corner of the table. Air is blown through the deck and coal spreads out over the deck and is
segregated into clean coal and refuse under combined action of air flow, reciprocating movement and
frictional resistance of table. Heavy refuse trapped in riffles and transported to end of table while clean
coal passes over riffles and travels towards lower corner of table.
Air-Sand Process:A suspension of sand in air of a particular suitable specific gravity is used as medium
for coal washing in which clean coal floats and the dirt sinks
Berrisford Process: It is based upon difference in resilience of clean coal and dirt. The feed is
dropped onto an inclined plane containing a gap of chosen width, The clean coal bounces and falls on
a receiver while the dirt falls through the gap.
Advantages of Dry Processes: Elimination of cost of drying wet coals and No problem of disposal
of slurry of water and fine dust
Disadvantages of Dry Processes: Feed should be very closely sized otherwise separation efficiency
will be very poor and Coals of difficult washability cannot be cleaned satisfactorily.
Wet Processes
Jig Washer: A coal bed is maintained on a perforated plate and subjected to action of periodic
upward and downward current of water to separate coal bed in different layers depending on specific
gravity. The clean coal being lighter is concentrated in upper strata and dirt accumulates in lower
strata. (Most common type is Baum Jig)
Baum Jig: It is U shaped box divided by a vertical partition into washing and air compartments.
Washing section is divided into two parts each having a sieve. Water pulsation is created in air
compartment and relayed to adjoining washing compartment. The Coal is fed at one end of washing
compartment. The large pieces of refuse collect at bottom of first section. Clean coal and finer dirt is
carried forward over the weir to the second section. Here the refuse sinks and clean coal is carried by
flowing water over discharge weir.
Advantages: It gives better separation efficiency for finer sizes of coal (25-200mm) than dense
medium separator, High efficiency for coals (98%) and High optimum capacity (200-400 tons/hr).
Disadvantages: It cannot wash fines below 0.5mm.
Froth Floatation Process: Froth is made in a flotation cell by bubbling air through water in presence
of frothing agents like cresol, pine oil or alcohols. When dirty coal powder is added to cell, pure coal
particles adhere to the bubbles of froth while dirt is wetted by water and sink to bottom. Clean coal
particles floats and is separated. This separation is done by adding collecting agents like creosote oil,
spindle oil to the system. Cleaned coal is recovered by vacuum filtration of the froth
Advantages:
• It is suitable for fine coals (< 0.5mm)
• It is especially used for producing ultra pure coal for electrode carbon manufacture.
Disadvantages:
• It has a high capital and running cost.
• It can’t clean lumpy coals unless powdered.
Cyclone Washer
 • The cyclone washer employs the same principle as cyclone dust collector except that the coal is
fed in a STREAM OF WATER (or dense medium) instead in air
• It is a settling chamber in which settling force is replaced by centrifugal force
• The clean coal is obtained as an overflow from the cyclone
• The underflow from the cyclone contains the heavier material or impurities
• Advantages
• Efficient for small sized coal
• High flexibility of operation with respect to near gravity material, coal size and feed size
Disadvantages :
• Higher power consumption
• Higher maintenance cost
Dense Medium Washers
• Properties of the Medium
• The medium used to float the coal from its impurities must be of low viscosity
• The medium must have also some stability so that it has effective uniform density
• High specific gravity of the medium solid (the grains suspended in water) is also desirable to give
effective medium densities upto or over 2.0
• Mixture of sand and water can be used as washing medium
• Many designs have been employed so not possible to generalize
• Mainly there are two processes under this heading
(i) Chance Process
(ii) Tromp Process
• Chance Process
• Washing medium is a mixture of sand and water
• A deep bath of sand and water having intermediate specific gravity between clean coal and ash is
used
• Clean coal floats and dirt sinks and removed
• Tromp Process
• A shallow bath instead of deep bath of sand and water is used
• Clean coal floats and dirt sinks which is removed by scraper conveyor
• Requires much lesser volume of fluid
• Requires lesser building height