Determination of the validity of coal washability data obtained via the RhoVol.
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17159/Abstract
Float-and-sink analysis is widely used in the coal industry to obtain washability data yielding important information to measure mineral processing potential and performance. It is well known that this method is associated with health and environmental problems, and research into alternative densimetric methods is important. The RhoVol is a new technology developed by DeBeers Technology South Africa (DebTech) for the image-based generation of densimetric data from commodity ores. The analysis is done on a per-particle basis, within a size range of +3mm-24mm. This paper compares the established methods used for the float-and-sink analysis of coal with a new method using the RhoVol. The objective of the study was to determine the validity of the information obtained from the RhoVol by performing comparative densimetric analysis on three different coal samples in the size range: +3mm-8mm. Float-and-sink analysis with zinc chloride was compared to RhoVol analysis for the same three coal samples. The results showed that the use of the RhoVol was more rapid, safe and precise, but it tended to consistently underestimate the density of the coal sample, likely caused by varying coal porosity. The use of coal specific calibration data for the RhoVol will lead to more accurate results.
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Copyright (c) 2024 Dyllan Stone, Quentin Campbell, Marco Le Roux, Mohamed Fofana
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