Electrostatic Separation of Coal

Abstract

In order to recover the bright coal concentrate from coal as well as the high quality coal concentrate of low ash, the electrostatic separation of coal was investigated using some typical coal samples in Japan. From the experiments of the coal separation in the corona dischrge field it was recognized that the recovery of the coal which has less than 3.0% ash content amounted to more than 96%. The concentrate was ascertained micro-scopically as the bright coal concentrate. It is much better in the corona discharge field to recover the coal concentrate of low ash than in the field without corona discharge. The effect of humidity on the electrostatic separation of coal was then studied. From the experi-mental results it was clear that the electrostaic separation was excellent in about 60% relative humidity of atmosphere. Thus, the separation of bright coal from coal is successful by electrostatic separation.