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FUEL CONTAMINANTS: VOLUME 4. APPLICATION OF OIL AGGLOMERATION TO COAL WASTES
Citation:
Mezey, E., S. Min, AND D. Folsom. FUEL CONTAMINANTS: VOLUME 4. APPLICATION OF OIL AGGLOMERATION TO COAL WASTES. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D.C., EPA/600/7-79/025B.
Description:
The report gives results of a study of the application of oil agglomeration to coal wastes. There are an estimated 3000-5000 sizeable active and abandoned coal waste piles and impoundments in the eastern U.S. coal fields alone, containing 3 billion tons of refuse, part of which are slurry ponds. The impoundments, containing coal fines from coal preparation/cleaning plants, are a ready reserve of mined fuel for use in times of shortages. It appears that oil agglomeration could contribute significantly to the removal of contaminants before the conversion process is undertaken. The ability of agglomeration to dewater finely ground wet coal also suggests further incorporation of the process in any environmentally sound preparation plant supplying these conversion plants. Early studies indicated that, although agglomeration can effectively remove much of the ash forming minerals, it was unable to separate the liberated pyrite from coal. This program was undertaken to investigate several approaches, identified during the first phase, to enhance pyrite removal during agglomeration and to demonstrate the utility of the technology to reduce the environmental impact of increased quantities of coal cleaning refuse. Study results show that the coal recovered is of better quality than the coal now being shipped from the mine, in that sulfur and ash values are lower. Coal value recoveries were greater than 90%.