International reputation for local fine coal lab

Results coming out of a fine coal research laboratory have attracted the interest of some of the world’s largest coal producers. Established by site water management specialists Nalco Australia, the laboratory is adopting a holistic approach to fine coal recovery. A complementary facility to the company’s primary mining R&D laboratories in Western Australia, the new Sydney lab is focusing on the multifaceted optimisation of fine coal circuits.

Based on the often-proved premise that a substantial percentage of revenue could be achieved through correct processing and recovery of fine coal, the staff at the laboratory is adopting a holistic approach to fine coal recovery including infrastructure (thickeners, filters, flotation), chemical reagents (frothers, collectors, dewatering aids, solid/liquid separation) and tailings management.

With a number of successes to date for Australian coal producers - optimising flotation circuits, particularly maximising the recovery of hard-to-float coals - the lab is now engaged in detailed testing of coal samples for a major coal project in Mozambique.

The project owner had set stringent specifications on the moisture content of the coal shipped from the mine and commissioned Nalco to achieve the required level. In conjunction with Dr Roe-Hoan Yoon, Nicholas T Camicia Professor at the Department of Mining and Minerals Engineering at Virginia Tech and an acknowledged worldwide authority in fine coal processing, Nalco established that the best way to meet the stringent moisture specifications was to use novel dewatering aids. The reagents are novel not only for their chemical composition and performance but also for enhanced safety over the current reagents in the marketplace. Based on the laboratory results obtained to date, the project owner sent coal samples to the ACRIL facility in the Hunter Valley for scale-up testing. Nalco’s Sydney-based coal lab was invited to participate in the program and is currently testing the newly developed reagents to improve the overall performance and productivity for the international miner.

Closely allied to the fine coal research program is water recovery, quality and recycling. Described by some in the industry as the ‘new frontier’, environmental issues concerning effective site water recovery and re-use is a by-product of the Sydney-based research. For example, dirty process water will significantly increase magnetite loss beyond the 300 g per tonne which is considered an industry average. The holistic approach adopted by Nalco’s research program helps customers reduce water consumption through optimisation of fine coal circuits and by providing the best possible reagents for different types of coals and processing conditions.

Although not conclusive, and still at the stage of laboratory scale testing, the results obtained to date are encouraging enough to warrant extended research.

The Sydney laboratory represents a new addition to a series of distributed but integrated research facilities around the globe, which are coordinated by Nalco’s central research laboratory in Chicago. In addition to the Sydney lab, the company also conducts fine coal testing and research in India, Kwinana (WA), Virginia and Shanghai. These laboratories represent Nalco’s commitment to providing the best possible expertise to customers, wherever they may be, for improved safety, increased productivity and environmental compliance.