Michael V. Ciocco

Physical cleaning of high carbon fly ash

An industrial fly ash sample was cleaned by three different processes, which were triboelectrostatic separation, ultrasonic column agglomeration, and column flotation. The unburned carbon concentrates were collected at purities ranging up to 62% at recoveries of 62%. In addition, optical microscopy studies were conducted on the final carbon concentrates to determine the carbon forms (inertinite, isotropic coke and anisotropic coke) collected from these various physical-cleaning processes. The effects of the various cleaning processes on the production of different carbon forms from high carbon fly ashes will be discussed.

Performance Evaluation of Micronized-Magnetite Cycloning as a Function of Key Operational Variables, Research Report

In 1997, Custom Coals International completed a DOE contract to test the Micro-Mag Process at the continuous bench-scale at DOE’s National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL). As a follow up to these tests, NETL conducted two series of tests to confirm the Custom Coals results and to expand upon the effects of key operational variables on cyclone performance when using magnetite that is finer than conventional Grade E magnetite. This report details the results of batch tests in which the variables were magnetite size, medium density, cyclone orifice sizes, and inlet pressure. The results show that fairly sharp separations (about 0.060-0.090 Ep) can be achieved on coal as fine as 48 x 500 mesh if magnetite that is only about twice as fine as Grade E is used at higher inlet pressures (greater than 20 psi) with the right combination of cyclone orifice sizes.

Separation of Fly Ash Carbons by Various Cleaning Processes

An industrial fly ash sample was cleaned by three different processes, which were triboelectrostatic separation, ultrasonic column agglomeration, and column flotation, cleaned an industrial fly ash sample. The unburned carbon concentrates were collected at purities ranging up to 62% at recoveries of 62%. In addition, optical microscopy studies were conducted on the final carbon concentrates to determine the types of carbon (inertinite, isotropic coke and anisotropic coke) collected from these various cleaning processes. The effects of the various cleaning processes on the production of different carbon types from fly ash will be discussed.

The effect of pressure on first stage coal liquefaction and solvent hydrogenation with supported catalysts

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the hydrogenation activity of supported and unsupported catalysts in the presence and absence of coal. Coal inhibits the hydrogenation of naphthalene solvent by both supported and unsupported catalysts, the greater effect being observed for supported catalysts. Coal conversions are similar for two types of catalysts. The supported catalysts appear to be much more effective than the unsupported catalyst employed for 1-methylnaphthalene hydrogenation and tetralin dehydrogenation. In the presence of coal, solvent hydrogenation is inhibited, and both the supported and unsupported catalysts appear to approach a similar level of solvent hydrogenation. Total hydrogen consumption in the presence of 3.3 g of coal is higher for unsupported than supported catalysts. An important role of the catalyst in the first stage of coal liquefaction is to provide hydrogen (H2) to cap thermally produced free-radicals, aid conversions, and prevent retrogressive reactions. Unsupported catalysts, that provide higher H2 consumptions than supported catalysts are suited for first-stage coal liquefaction.