Properties and rheology of coal–water mixtures using different coals

Abstract

The properties, settling rates, and the rheology of coal–water mixtures (CWM) made up from different coals were investigated. Test suspensions containing different concentrations of suspended particles were made up from each of four different pulverized parent coals: a Pittsburgh Seam No. 8 coal, an Illinois coal, and the product and feed from a flotation process using an Illinois coal. All the parent coals had broad particle-size distributions. In addition, the Pittsburgh Seam No. 8 coal was classified into four different size fractions using sieving, resulting in three coarser, narrow particle size cuts and the fine residual fraction passing 325-mesh, which had a broad size distribution. The property characterizations for all coals included the following: elemental analyses, heating values, particle size analyses, particle surface areas and pore sizes, solid heat capacities, and thermal conductivities. Tests on the suspensions included detailed supernatant ion analyses, and measurements of pH values and zeta potentials. For each test coal maximum-packing volume fractions were estimated using centrifugation, and the settling rates and directly measured yield stresses, using the vane method, were determined for every concentration of coal–water mixtures (CWM) used. The shear-stress/shear-rate dependences of the test suspensions, covering the shear-rate range from 0.1 to 10 5 s −1, were determined using a capillary rheometer. For some of the test suspensions, correction for a pronounced wall-slip effect was required. Apart from the directly measured yield stresses using the vane method, yield stresses were estimated indirectly by extrapolation and rheological model-fitting. Extrapolation of directly measured yield stresses to infinite limit was used to estimate maximum packing for comparison with those determined from the irreducible sediment volumes using centrifugation. The two-parameter power-law, Bingham plastic and Casson empirical rheological models, and the three-parameter Herschel-Bulkley and Sisko models were used to fit the shear-stress/shear-rate data. In general, the shear-stress/shear-rate dependence was found to be shear-thinning, power-law, over the lower ranges of shear, and to tend to Newtonian limit at high shear; a dependence which is best described by the three-parameter Sisko model.