Beneficiation and Development of Process Flowsheet of High Ash Non-Coking Coal from Talcher Coalfield, Odisha

In India, Coal is the irreplaceable preferred energy fuel due to its abundance, availability and affordability and it would continue to be so in the foreseeable future. Around 73% of the entire power generated in the country is coal based, which bears testimony to the immense significance of coal in India’s economic growth and development. However, Indian coal has been observed to be of low quality on account of its high ash content attribute and non-coking category coal constitutes sizeable quantity of near-gravity materials (NGM), which entails beneficiation, to suit end-users. The objective of the present study demonstrates beneficiation of high ash non-coking coal from Talcher coalfield, Odisha, with 34.31% ash content intended for scaling down the ash content to 25% in obtaining clean coal at a reasonable yield, deploying physical beneficiation techniques. The coal sample was characterised thoroughly in terms of petrography, size analysis, washability and chemical composition. Beneficiation process was initiated at a top size of 6.3 mm due to its high ash content. Tactical combination of gravity separation and flotation techniques yielded clean coal with 23.3% ash at 49.7% yield, an intermediate clean product with 30.9% ash at 12.1% yield and a reject with 49.8% ash at 38.2% yield.