Perspectives of environmental efficiency improvement of coal preparation processes. Part 3

Abstract

The prospects for developing coal-preparation processes based on the best available technologies, with minimal environmental impact, are considered. Against a background of changing coal resources, preparation flowsheets must be designed so as to minimize circulating slime flows and produce pure circulatory water and solid phase with the conditional water content. By beneficiation of the middlings of gravity beneficiation and the overburden rock, the yield of concentrate may be increased and the losses of the coal’s combustible mass may be reduced. More intense dewatering of the flotational concentrate may eliminate the need for thermal drying, a resource-draining process with considerable environmental impact. Another goal is the extraction of coal particles from stored slimes and tailings beneficiation and their inclusion in commercial concentrate. Beneficiation tailings would ideally be stored in discarded mineshafts. At the same time, it is expedient to utilize the inorganic component of the tailings in the production of construction materials, as well as rare, trace, and noble metals.