Semester

Spring

Date of Graduation

2006

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Type

MS

College

Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources

Department

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Committee Chair

Eric Johnson

Abstract

The wet, density based, separation processes employed at the coal preparation plant do not deal with particles under the size of 150 micrometers, resulting in the waste of precious coal resources. An exploratory fluidized bed riser system was developed to separate pyrite from fine coal particles under 150 micrometers in diameter. Gas velocity U0 and solid mass flux G p were the controlled variables so that the flow pattern within the riser was in the transition region from fast fluidization to dilute regime. Nine tests were conducted using coal and nine tests were conducted using a mixture of 10% iron and 90% coal by mass so as to study the effect of iron particles on the separation of pyrite from coal. Different feeder configurations for injecting solid particles in the riser were also employed in this study and their performance was compared. The separation of pyrite from coal was insignificant for the conditions employed in the study.

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