Technical Market Support

Automated Image Analysis System for Coal Petrographic Characterisation

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

Binderless Briquetting of Collie Coal for Synthetic Rutile Production

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

Coal — Guidelines for application of coal grain analysis

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

Coal Blend Analysis by Automated Petrography

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

Coal Grain Analysis

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

Development of a Coal Handleability Index

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

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

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

Guide to Advanced Coal Characterisation

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.

Improved Reference Standards for Reflectance Measurement

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

International Carbonisation and Coke Testing Round Robin

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:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Prediction of Electrostatic Precipitation Performance

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

Revision of AS4156.6 Dustiness Test

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

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

 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

Understanding of How Inertinite Concentrate in Blends Affecting Coke Strength

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

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

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