Commercial separation

of unburned carbon
from fly ash

S
eparation Technologies Inc.’s (STI) electrostatic separation technol-
ogy is a dry, continuous process for the separation of discrete par-
ticles. This high-volume process does not require any additives nor
E. Tondu, member SME, is any additional waste produced.
W.G. Thompson, In December 1993, STI, in cooperation with New England Power
D.R. Whitlock, J.D. (NEP), installed an 18-t/h (20-stph) prototype electrostatic separator at
Bittner and A.
NEP’s Salem Harbor plant. The plan was to convert waste streams of type F
fly ash into commercially valuable products.
E. Tondu,
Vasiliauskas are In July 1995, a second separator was installed at NEP’s Brayton Point
W.G. Thompson,
marketing director, vice plant. Fly ash feed, ranging from 6% to 25% carbon (loss-of-ignition fly ash
president, technology
or LOI), is separated into <3% LOI “clean” ash and sold as a portland ce-
ment substitute in the New England concrete markets.
D.R. Whitlock,
inventor, vice president The carbon-rich fraction has value as a recycled utility fuel, a cement kiln
J.D. Bittner and
of technology and vice raw material and other uses. Depending on feed LOI, clean ash equals 60%
president of operations,
to 80% of throughput. Present production rates of commercial fly ash at
Brayton Point are between 5.9 and 6.3 kt/m (6,500 and 7,000 st/month).
A. Vasiliauskas
respectively, with
Separation Technologies Background
STI was founded in late 1989 to develop and commercially exploit its
Inc., 10 Kearney Rd., unique patented electrostatic technology for the high-volume separation of
Needham, MA 02194 fine powders. Initial efforts focused on applications that offered an impor-
tant technical solution and the potential for high value-added benefits. Three
key application areas of separation were targeted — industrial minerals,
wheat flour and fly ash from coal-burning utilities.
Fly ash is the world’s fifth-largest mineral resource. Its handling, process-
ing and ultimate use and/or disposal are important to the utility industry and
other generators of coal-derived fly ash.

STI’s electro-
static separator
for dry, con-
tinuous fine
powder separa-
tion of fly ash
feed. The unit
is in operation
at New England
Power’s
Brayton Point
plant.

MINING ENGINEERING ■ JUNE 1996 47


STI technology, overview
Process description. STI’s triboelectric separation
process, with a new patented separator geometry, solves
scale-up problems and improves electrostatic separation
by four or more orders of magnitude. This improvement
allows the economical dry separation of materials that
were once inseparable by other means. It is effective
with small-particle separations.
Material is fed into the thin gap between two paral-
lel-plane electrodes (Fig. 1). The particles are then swept
up by a moving open-mesh belt and conveyed in oppo-
site directions. The moving belt sets up a counter current
plane-couette flow-field independent of the electric field.
The particles charge by contact with their neighbors.
The electric field moves opposite charged particles
up or down depending on their sign of charge. The field
need only move the particles a fraction of an inch to
move a particle from a left-moving to a right-moving
stream. The belt moves the particles adjacent to each
electrode toward opposite ends of the separator. The
counter current flow of the separating particles provides
for multiple opportunities for separation and results in
good separation and recovery.
The separator is simple. The belt and the associated
48 JUNE 1996 ■ MINING ENGINEERING
Flowsheet of Separation Technologies’electrostatic
separation process. The electrostatic separation is in
operation at New England Power’s Salem Harbor and
Brayton Point power plants.
rolls are the only moving parts. The electrodes are sta-
tionary and are composed of an appropriately durable
material. The belt is an open-mesh polymer. Overall
separator length depends on the specific application.
However, it usually about 6-m- (20-ft-) long in addition
to the space required for the rolls and end hoppers. The
belt speed is the same as that of pneumatic conveying
systems. Power consumption of the electrostatic power
supplies is negligible. Power consumption of the belt
drive is about 1 kWh/t processed.
Critical features of the separator are the short gap,
the very high voltage field, the counter current flow, the
vigorous particle-particle agitation and the self-cleaning
action of the belt on the electrodes (Fig. 2).
Overall separation performance attributes include:
• Broadness of feed particle size distribution: The
separator can process material with a particle size
from greater than 250 to <5 µm (60 to <2,500 mesh).
• Electrical conductivity of feed particles: Separation
is irrespective of electrical conductivity. This makes
it possible to separate good insulators (dielectrics)
and good conductors (metals).
• Low power consumption: The separator has demon-
strated at full-scale (23 t/h or 25 stph) a power con-
sumption of less than 1 kWh/t of feed.
• Scalability: The capacity of the separator is a linear
function of separator width. A separator has been
operated for thousands of tons at rates up to 23 t/h
(25 stph).
Separation principle
Electrostatic separators that use contact potential
differences between materials are also known as tri-
boelectric separators. Triboelectric is a misnomer be-
cause electrostatic charging occurs as a result of surface
contact. Rubbing and the resultant friction is unimpor-
tant except to increase the degree and area of surface
contact.
FIG. 1
Diagram of the STI separator.
Contact-charging theory
All solids are held together by chemical bonds.
These bonds result from the energy structure of elec-
trons in the material. Some electrons are held tightly in
bonds, some are free to move and some can only move if
a sufficient activation energy is provided. The magni-
tude of the activation energy for electron migration de-
termines if a material is a metallic conductor, an
insulator or a semiconductor. The semiconductor indus-
try is based on the electrical properties that originate at
the junction between different material phases.
When two materials are in contact, electrons move
(or tunnel) until the energy of electrons in each material
at the interface is equalized. The material with a higher
affinity for electrons gains electrons and charges nega-
tive. The material with the lower affinity loses electrons
and charges positively.
A measure of the relative affinity for electrons is the
work function. This is the energy needed to move an
electron from the surface to infinity (99% of which
amounts to 10-8 meters). The work function depends on
the chemical composition of the surface. Two surfaces of
different work function in contact will exchange elec-
trons until there is a voltage between them equal to the
difference in their work functions.
Charge transfer continues between the two materi-
als until the developing electric field at the interface
equalizes the energy of electrons at the surfaces of the
two materials. As the materials are then moved apart,
charge can no longer transfer across the intervening gap
and the two particles now possess equal but opposite
sign charges.
The contact exchange of charge is universally ob-
served for all materials. This causes the electrostatic nui-
sances that are a problem in some industries. Contact
charging of a surface is necessarily an averaging of
charge exchange at many points. A particle exchanges
charge with every particle it contacts. So its net charge
fluctuates around an average that depends on its neigh-
New England Power/STI’s building
at Brayton Point in operation as of
July 1995 at a rate of 218 kt/a
(240,000 stpy).
bors.
NEP was concerned about the increasing cost of dis-
posing its fly ash, as well as the potential for environ-
mental and other liability conflicts. These concerns are
shared by most electric utilities.
The Salem Harbor plant has about 330 MW of coal-
derived capacity. Three units burn coal, primarily sup-
plied from Colombia and South Africa.
NEP agreed that the Salem Harbor plant was the
most logical site for the first separator. It refurbished an
existing building for the unit. The building contains a silo
for holding the fly ash received from the plant. This ash
serves as the feed material to the separator. The feed fly
ash is trucked to and then pumped into the feed silo. It
is conveyed to the separator’s feed port by a balance-of-
plant system that includes a rotary feed valve and a final
air-slide leg.
The separator separates the feed ash into two
streams — a clean ash portion and a carbon-rich portion
— with an average respective weight split approaching
70:30. End hoppers take these two streams to separate
trucks to be removed from the building.
This first-of-a-kind separator successfully performed
its separation task from the beginning. However, it was
a prototype machine that was functioning at a beta site.
Several technical, logistical and mechanical issues
needed to be handled. These issues were the natural off-
shoot of the scale-up from the laboratory-sized units to
the commercial-scale field unit. Mechanical issues in-
cluded fly ash feed transport and placement, bearing and
roller wear, belt tracking control and belt wear and re-
placement.
The belt wear issue continues to be a major area of
focus. Much time and money has been spent developing
more durable belt materials and construction. This on-
going program has achieved some positive results by in-
creasing average belt life by about 300%.
Logistical problems revolved primarily around truck
delivery and take-away operations. Others included
MINING ENGINEERING ■ JUNE 1996 49
Brayton Point production results (typical daily average, %)
Feed LOI Low LOI ash stream
10.88 2.39
timely loading and unloading procedures, particularly
when throughput capacities began to increase.
Solutions to the mechanical and logistical problems
have proven to be relatively straightforward. However,
technology-related issues have been more challenging.
The operators had to learn how to handle continually
changing LOI levels in the incoming fly ash feed mate-
rial while maintaining a consistent, contract mandated
<4%, clean-ash product to be delivered to the concrete
end user.
Differing coals and varying burner operations posed
different challenges to the STI technical personnel.
Similar problems had to be addressed concerning the
temperature and/or the relative humidity of the feed fly
ash and how best to handle it before delivery to the sepa-
rator.
Once NEP became sufficiently comfortable with the
operating capabilities of the prototype separator in-
stalled at the Salem Harbor plant, it ordered a second
generation unit for its Brayton Point facility. NEP and
STI agreed that the Salem Harbor machine should re-
main in operation but with a different short-term re-
search and development-related mission.
For example, as part of its present function, the Sa-
lem Harbor separator has the added responsibility of in-
vestigating the production of very high LOI material
(>60%) with an eye towards higher valued uses of the
material. This joint STI-NEP effort will continue for the
foreseeable future. In trials conducted during August
1995, the STI process has produced high-carbon materi-
als with LOI levels of more than 70%.
Brayton Point power plant installation
In July 1995, STI delivered its second 18 t/h (20 stph)
fly ash separator to the Brayton Point plant. Brayton
Point operates three coal-burning units generating about
1,200 MW. A fourth unit fires oil. At present, STI’s tech-
nology does not address oil ash separations.
To get the machine operational as soon as possible,
STI designed a mobile system that would operate in a
temporary space. The existing fly ash handling system
consists of four 910-t (1,000-st) silos with a drive-through
area underneath for truck removal. The separator rests
on a flatbed trailer under one of the silos. The controls
and the necessary balance-of-plant equipment to deliver
fly ash to and remove material from the separator have
50 JUNE 1996 ■ MINING ENGINEERING
High LOI stream Yield of low LOI
25.46 62.9
FIG. 2
Cross cut section of electrodes.
been designed to adapt to the existing plant equipment.
The feed fly ash is received at one of the silos and
the resultant clean ash is transported to a second silo.
The utility uses the remaining two silos for other disposal
needs. Therefore, for now the carbon-rich material from
the STI process is being mixed with this other NEP ma-
terial. It is anticipated that this setup will be altered once
the permanent facility becomes operational.
The separators for the permanent Brayton Point fa-
cility incorporate several machine design improvements.
These were prompted by field experience at the Salem
Harbor unit and a 9-t/h (10-stph) that unit has been op-
erating in the industrial minerals industry since January
1995.
Primary consideration was given to ease of belt re-
placement and an overall reduction in machine mainte-
nance. The equipment is easy to use and requires only
routine lubrication of bearings and a few other moving
parts. The commercial machines presently use Allen
Bradley motors and controllers that are designed to
minimize operator intervention. The separator has
proven to be reliable, low maintenance and uses less
than 1 kWh/t of throughput.
The Brayton Point unit has been in 24-hour commer-
cial production for almost one year. Its production re-
sults are impressive. The initial production focus has
been on the consistency of the low LOI clean ash. A sec-
ondary focus will be on improving the yield split be-
tween the low and the high LOI streams, much of which
depends on the LOI levels of the incoming feed fly ash.
Laboratory trials indicate that the present average two-
third/one-third yield split can be increased to levels ap-
proaching 80:20.
Summary
STI’s electrostatic technology efficiently and eco-
nomically separates fine powders on a continuous and
high-volume basis. Based on triboelectric or contact-
charging principles, the unique geometry of the design
allows for production rates of more than 18 t/h (20 stph)
with good separation performance and high product
yields. The Brayton Point station is operating around the
clock. It is processing fly ash with LOI percentages that
average more than 10%. The plant is producing consis-
tent <3% LOI ash that is currently being sold to the con-
crete and construction markets of the Northeast. ■