An efficient process for recovery of fine coal from tailings of coal washing plants

Gravity concentration of hard lignites using conventional jigs and heavy media separation equipment is prone to produce coal-rich fine tailings. This study aims to establish a fine coal recovery process of very high efficiency at reasonable capital investment and operational costs. The technical feasibility to upgrade the properties of the predeslimed fine refuse of a lignite washing plant with 35.9% ash content was investigated by employing gravity separation methods. The laboratory tests carried out with the combination of shaking table and Mozley multi-gravity separator (MGS) revealed that the clean coal with 18% ash content on dry basis could be obtained with 58.9% clean coal recovery by the shaking table stage and 4.1% clean coal recovery by MGS stage, totaling to the sum of 63.0% clean coal recovery from a predeslimed feed. The combustible recovery and the organic efficiency of the shaking table + MGS combination were 79.5% and 95.5%, respectively. Based on the results of the study, a flow sheet of a high-efficiency fine coal recovery process was proposed, which is also applicable to the coal refuse pond slurry of a lignite washing plant.