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Virginia Tech

Optimization of Integrated Coal Cleaning and Blending Systems

Abstract

dc:description.abstract

The fundamental requirement for a coal preparation plant is to transform low value run-of-mine (ROM) material into high value marketable products. The significant aspect relative to the plant is that any gain in efficiency flows almost entirely to the "bottom line" for the operation. The incremental quality concept has gained wide acceptance as the best method to optimize the overall efficiency of the various cleaning circuits. Simply stated, the concept requires that all the cleaning circuits operate as near as possible to the same incremental quality. To ensure optimal efficiency, a plant that receives ROM feed from multiple sources must develop a strategy to operate at the same incremental quality, which yields wide ranges in product qualities from the individual ROM coals. In order to provide products that meet contract specifications, clean coal stockpiles can be utilized to accept coals with various qualities, such as "premium," "low," and "filler" qualities, with shipments formulated from the stockpiles to meet product specifications. A more favorable alternative is raw coal blending to produce the specified clean coal qualities. This study will review the incremental quality concept and present case studies in applying the concept to meet product specifications.

Degree

thesis:*
Name thesis:degree_name
Master of Science
Level thesis:degree_level
masters
Discipline thesis:degree_discipline
Mining Engineering
Department dc:contributor.department
Mining and Minerals Engineering
Grantor dc:publisher
Virginia Tech
Year dc:date.issued
2014

Author and committee

dc:creator, dc:contributor.*
Author dc:creator
  • Wimmer, Christopher Lance
Chair dc:contributor.committeechair
  • Luttrell, Gerald H.
Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember
  • Ripepi, Nino S.
  • Adel, Gregory T.

Subjects

dc:subject × 3

Rights

dc:rights
Statement dc:rights
  • In Copyright

Identifiers

dc:identifier.*
Dc Identifier Other
vt_gsexam:3394
OAI identifier oai:identifier
oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/50493

Chain of custody

source
Harvested from
Virginia Tech
Base URL
vtechworks.lib.vt.edu/oai/request
Last updated
2026-07-22
Source record
OAI-PMH GetRecord
citation

Wimmer, Christopher Lance. Optimization of Integrated Coal Cleaning and Blending Systems. masters thesis, Virginia Tech, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/50493