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Technical Market Support                          reports

Technical Market Support

Our work in this area is aimed at understanding the properties of Australian coals which impact on market acceptance and emphasising the advantages of our coals over our competitors. The major markets for Australian coals are electricity generation and iron production.

ACARP has also published a series of whitepapers in this area:

Coal Nitrogen Report
Inertinite Report
Trace Elements in Coal
Electrostatic Precipitation
The Hardgrove Grindability Index


General (19 Reports)

Binderless Briquetting of Collie Coal for Synthetic Rutile Production

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C705601/07/2003
Author: Clive Pearson, Keith Clark | Griffin Coal, CSIRO Energy Technology

The primary objectives of this development program were,

  • to construct a semi commercial pilot plant to produce from Collie sub-bituminous coal, dried and binderless briquettes, which provide greater value to metallurgical coal customers (including the synthetic rutile producers of
 ....  read more

 

Automated Image Analysis System for Coal Petrographic Characterisation

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C805601/08/2001
Author: Barry Jenkins, Graham O'Brien, H Beath, Joan Esterle | CSIRO Exploration & Mining

A low-cost imaging system has been developed to characterise coal by accurately determining the reflectance distribution of its constituents. It is a tool that can be used by coal producers, coal users, and commercial and research laboratories. It can be fitted to existing petrographic ....  read more

 

Coal Grain Analysis

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C1005301/02/2003
Author: Graham O'Brien, Barry Jenkins, H Beath | CSIRO Exploration & Mining, Jenkins-Kwan Technology

A new classification method has been developed that uses imaging techniques for the microscopic characterisation of the individual grains present in ground coal samples. The grains are sorted into five grain classes, based on vitrinite abundances. This system is simpler and less subjective ....  read more

 

Guide to Advanced Coal Characterisation

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C1005901/10/2001
Author: Richard Sakurovs, Bob Creelman, John Pohl, Lindsay Juniper | CSIRO Energy Technology, Ultra-Systems Technology

This project was aimed at providing the Australian coal industry with a clear, concise, unbiased and critical "Manual of Modern Coal Testing Methods" that might be of useful to coal technologists to solve problems relating the use of their coals.

 ....  read more

 

Investigation into Problems of Discharging Queensland Coals from Bottom Dump Rail Wagons

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C1006101/11/2002
Author: Graham O'Brien, Mike O'Brien, Bruce Firth, D Nemeth, J Graham, S Gnanananthan | CSIRO Exploration & Mining, CSIRO Energy Technology, Queensland Rail

Coals from some Queensland mines cause varying degrees of difficulty due to hangup in rail wagons during unloading at the ports. Jackhammers are currently used at the ports to vibrate the wagons and initiate flow of the coal. Fieldwork, laboratory and pilot scale investigations have been ....  read more

 

Coal Blend Analysis by Automated Petrography

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C1102201/04/2006
Author: Barry Jenkins | Jenkins-Kwan Technology

Leading coal laboratories and ironmaking plants use light microscopy methods to quantitatively estimate the composition of blends of product coking coals. Although various automatic imaging systems have been used by plants for routine blend analysis, the overwhelming majority of blend ....  read more

 

Improved Reference Standards for Reflectance Measurement

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C1205901/04/2007
Author: Barry Jenkins, HA Kwan | Jenkins-Kwan Technology

Reflectance reference standards play a vital role in the quality assessment of coking coals for export and coke-making processes. The aim of this project was to improve the design of reflectance reference standards used in coal petrography, especially for new-generation imaging systems, ....  read more

 

Development of a Coal Handleability Index

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C1407101/04/2007
Author: Graham O’Brien, Michael O’Brien, A Taylor, Stephen Fraser | CSIRO

The project’s objective was to develop a reliable handling index that could be used to predict whether handling issues were likely for different coals. A comprehensive suite of thirty-three coals (coking, thermal and PCI coals) from seventeen NSW and QLD coalmines was assessed for ....  read more

 

Investigation of Factors Which May Be the Cause of Flow Problems During Discharge From Rail Wagons

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C2203425/11/2014
Author: John Planner | Introspec Consulting

This report provides details of an investigation of the causes of "sticky coal". It includes a series of laboratory tests conducted to explore coal characteristics, review of mine site operational procedures, and laboratory tests on wagon loading procedures, which may be contribute to ....  read more

 

Prediction of Electrostatic Precipitation Performance

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C2203814/10/2014
Author: Don Holcombe, Yonggang Luo, Philip Bennett | ALS Coal

The collection efficiency of fly ash from Australian thermal coals in electrostatic precipitators (ESPs) is sometimes marginal in regard to satisfying emission limits with the installed ESP equipment. The prediction of ESP performance of a coal is presently less reliable than most other aspects ....  read more

 

Extension of the CGA Maceral Chemistry Database and Development of Optical Mineral Markers

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C2305030/06/2015
Author: Priyanthi Hapugoda, Gregoire Krahenbuhl, Graham O’Brien, Bruce Firth and Karryn Warren | CSIRO

CSIRO have developed an optical reflected light imaging and analysis system (Coal Grain Analysis) which provides reflectance and composition information on individual coal particles.  A feature of this system is that colour images, collected with an air objective, are mosaiced together to ....  read more

 

Revision of AS4156.6 Dustiness Test

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C2305407/08/2015
Author: Dusan Ilic, John Planner, Alan Roberts | The University of Newcastle, Introspec Marketing Services

The current Australian Standard AS4156.6 "Coal Preparation - Part 6: Determination of dust/moisture relationship for coal" describes a unique method to determine the minimum moisture content required for the dust extinction of coal, termed the Dust Extinction Moisture (DEM). This method ....  read more

 

Phosphorus In Coal: Status Of Test Methods In Use And Applicability To Industry Needs

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C2305504/12/2015
Author: Christine Foster, Ian Anderberg | QCC Resources

The specific objective of this study was to assess whether laboratory testing of phosphorus in coal is meeting current and future industry needs, or if further work is required in this area.

 

This project established that a range of analytical methods are currently in use, ....  read more

 

Trace Elements in Coal; Status of Test Methods in Use and their Applicability

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C2504426/10/2018
Author: Christine Foster, Ian Anderberg | QCC Resources

 STAGE 1 REPORT

The key objectives of this stage of the project were to:

  • Determine if Australian laboratories are meeting expected accuracy and precision requirements of ISO standards;
  • Determine if precision and accuracy levels being achieved meets
 ....  read more

 

International Carbonisation and Coke Testing Round Robin

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C2504716/02/2018
Author: Adrian Reifenstein, Philip Bennett | ALS Coal

A global round robin cokemaking and coke testing exercise was conducted in 2016, with results being collated in 2017. This involved thirteen organisations and included ten pilot-scale coke ovens and seven smaller scale coke ovens.

The exercise consisted of two components:

 ....  read more

 

Overview of outcomes of research supported by ACARP and NERDDC on the utilisation of coking coals, 1978-2014

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C2505001/07/2018
Author: Richard Sakurovs, Mihaela Grigore, Lukas Koval and Merrick Mahoney | CSIRO, University of Newcastle

The Australian coal industry has funded a substantial body of work on coking quality, coking behaviour and analytical methods. Many of the findings of this work have not been published in open literature and researchers entering the field are unlikely to be aware of them. The objective of this ....  read more

 

Understanding of How Inertinite Concentrate in Blends Affecting Coke Strength

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C2806901/03/2021
Author: Wei Xie, Rohan Stanger, Terry Wall, John Lucas, Quanganh Tran, Merrick Mahoney, Robert Fetscher | University of Newcastle

This project extended the work undertaken in project C25052, including both small and large inertinite particles which (0.25-0.5 mm) were blended with coals at three different ratios, 25%, 50% and 75% to study the mechanism of how inertinite concentrates in blends affect thermo-plasticity. The ....  read more

 

Coal — Guidelines for application of coal grain analysis

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C3300411/07/2023
Author: Bruce Atkinson | Basacon Services

This Handbook has been developed to provide clear and concise background information and procedures for the practical application of coal grain analysis data.  It lays out the applications and clearly describes the limitations of each approach, as well as describing the validation ....  read more

 

Update of Coal Dustiness and Dust Extinction Moisture (DEM) Standard AS4156.6

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C3307019/10/2023
Author: Dusan Ilic | The University of Newcastle

This project involved assessing the accuracy and precision of a proposed revised method of preparation for the Australian Standard AS 4156.6 “Coal Preparation - Part 6: Determination of dust/moisture relationship for coal”.  Three different laboratories/entities conducted ....  read more

 

Underground

Health and safety, productivity and environment initiatives.

Recently Completed Projects

C34019Longwall Bretby Cable Handling Monitoring With Fibre Optics

This project examined the potential of using fibre optic sensing tec...

C27049Mine Machine Radar Sensor Integration

The aim of this project was to develop an integrated radar sensor an...

C29007Innovative Coal Burst System To Investigate The Influence Of Confinement Loss And Pre-Conditioning On Coal Burst Mechanism

The challenges associated with designing and operating a safe and pr...

Underground

Open Cut

Safety, productivity and the right to operate are priorities for open cut mine research.

Recently Completed Projects

C33035High Water Recovery, Low Cost Desalination Using PV-Powered Membrane Capacitive Deionisation (Mcdi)

Capacitive deionization is a robust, energy efficient and cost effec...

C28035Topsoil Deficits In Site Rehabilitation Accelerated Transformation Of Spoils To Functional Soils

The incorporation of commercial biological amendments (compost, worm...

C34036Tyre Handler Testing Rig Stage 2: Lifting Trials

Tyre handling is a major source of risk in surface mining operations...

Open Cut

Coal Preparation

Maximising throughput and yield while minimising costs and emissions.

Coal Preparation

Technical Market Support

Market acceptance and emphasising the advantages of Australian coals.

Recently Completed Projects

C34060In-Situ Investigation Of Coke Structure Formation Under Stamp Charged Coking Conditions

Stamp charged cokemaking has emerged as an effective technique to im...

C34062Improving The Classification Of Microstructure Distribution In Coke CT Images Using Deep Learning And Lineal Path Calculations

This project builds on a number of earlier projects that have helped...

C29071Source Of Variability Of Reactivity Of Coke In The CSR Test

The Coke Strength after Reaction (CSR) test is used worldwide to det...

Technical Market Support

Mine Site Greenhouse Gas Mitigation

Mitigating greenhouse gas emissions from the production of coal.

Recently Completed Projects

C28076Selective Absorption Of Methane By Ionic Liquids (SAMIL)

This third and final stage of this project was the culmination of a ...

C29069Low-Cost Catalyst Materials For Effective VAM Catalytic Oxidation

Application of ventilation air methane (VAM) thermal oxidiser requir...

C23052Novel Stone Dust Looping Process For Ventilation Air Methane Abatement

This multi‐phase project is concerned with the mitigation of m...

Mine Site Greenhouse Gas Mitigation

Low Emission Coal Use

Step-change technologies aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Recently Completed Projects

C17060BGasification Of Australian Coals

Four Australian coals were trialled in the Siemens 5 MWth pilot scale ga...

C17060AOxyfuel Technology For Carbon Capture And Storage Critical Clean Coal Technology - Interim Support

The status of oxy-fuel technology for first-generation plant is indicate...

C18007Review Of Underground Coal Gasification

This report consists of a broad review of underground coal gasification,...

Low Emission Coal Use

Mining And The Community

The relationship between mines and the local community.

Recently Completed Projects

C16027Assessing Housing And Labour Market Impacts Of Mining Developments In Bowen Basin Communities

The focus of this ACARP-funded project has been to identify a number...

C22029Understanding And Managing Cumulative Impacts Of Coal Mining And Other Land Uses In Regions With Diversified Economies

The coal industry operates in the context of competing land-uses that sh...

C23016Approval And Planning Assessment Of Black Coal Mines In NSW And Qld: A Review Of Economic Assessment Techniques

This reports on issues surrounding economic assessment and analysis ...

Mining And The Community

NERDDC

National Energy Research,Development & Demonstration Council (NERDDC) reports - pre 1992.

Recently Completed Projects

1609-C1609Self Heating of Spoil Piles from Open Cut Coal Mines

Self Heating of Spoil Piles from Open Cut Coal Mines

1301-C1301Stress Control Methods for Optimised Development...

Stress Control Methods for Optimised Development and Extraction Operations

0033-C1356Commissioned Report: Australian Thermal Coals...

Commissioned Report: Australian Thermal Coals - An Industry Handbook

NERDDC