Understanding the critical issue while coal washing in context to Indian non- coking coal produced by Coal India Ltd and its subsidiaries : Padmesh Gupta , MD Gupta coal “Coal being a very important source of energy for industries like steel, cement, fertilizers and chemicals, it has an increased value in modern days. In order to satisfy the growing demand for coal, coal washing has become an integral part of the industry that is required to produce less moisture and ash-based coal to abide by strict environment regulations” says Padmesh Gupta , MD, Gupta coal.

In regard to thermal coal

Thermal coal constituents nearly 87 percent of the total coal reserves of 264.5 billion tons the country is bestowed with. However, nearly 65 percent of it falls under E,F & G categories which would need washing before it can be efficiently fired in pulverized fuel power stations. The washing of Indian thermal coal poses many challenges and this paper highlights some of them and what are the technical solutions available to mitigate these.

The critical issues being faced in thermal coal processing are mentioned in Paragraph, and Gupta coal has made a remarkable feat to address these challenges. We adopted cutting edge technology and process in coal washery said Padmesh Gupta , MD , Gupta Coal.

Padmesh Gupta , MD Gupta coal has more than 3 decade of experience in coal washery . Padmesh Gupta pins down the challenges :

1:-Technology for washing

“While selecting the ‘water based technology’ we must keep the ease or difficulty of separation bases on the NGM of the coal at the separating density. The Bird’s Scale of Classification, given below, can be used to guide the selection process.

The analysis of the Float and Sink data provides the relevant information on the NGM at the density of cut to achieve the desired product ash. As a thumb rule heavy media should be adopted for difficult washing as it provides better yield of clean coal due to its sharper separation (lower EPM). Very easy coal can be washed through Jigs etc.

While it is imperative that ‘dry technology’ is also an alternative and should be adopted as far as possible to conserve the water resources of the country, because of the difficulty in washing Indian coal due to high near gravity material (NGM) and gigantic scale of operations we need to render it to ‘technology of the future’. Considerable R&D work is being done and the industry is looking forward to breakthrough when coal can be economically and efficiently upgraded at large tonnage by conserving the valuable3 natural water resource”. Says Padmesh Gupta

Conclusion : Padmesh Gupta

“Due to technology innovation Industries are experiencing and are able to overcome the major challenges in the field of washing of non- coking coal available in Coal India Ltd and its subsidiaries. And it is high time that only washed power grade coal shall be used in the power house to mitigate the adverse effect on the environment due to use of low grade of raw coal” concludes padmesh Gupta , MD, Gupta Coal .