Industrial Application of a Modularized Dry-Coal-Beneficiation Technique Based on a Novel Air Dense Medium Fluidized Bed

Coal is one of the most important primary energy sources all over the world. One of the clean-coal technologies is coal preparation, and dry-coal beneficiation plays an increasingly important role with an increasing shortage of water. A novel air dense medium fluidized bed (ADMFB) separator developed by the China University of Mining and Technology, with magnetic powder and fine coal acting as the heavy medium, has the advantages of uniform and stable bed density, low cost, and high reliability. The world’s first modularized dry-coal beneficiation based on the novel ADMFB was established, realizing the industrial application of ADMFB separation technology. The industrial application showed that the ash content of coal decreased to 3.46% with an ash rejection of 85.57%, the yield of clean coal was 67.88%, the probable error (E value) was 0.055 g/cm3, the organic efficiency was 93%, and the heavy-medium loss when separating one ton of coal was 0.42 kg. Less than $2 was spent for separating one ton of raw coal.