Seed Grant: Development of Dry Fine Coal Processing

The main goal of the proposed project is to develop an advanced dry coal cleaning technique to process fine coal of size -114 inch by 16 mesh. As part of the proposed project, the pneumatic air table separator will be developed with a leading manufacturing company and evaluation of the separation performance achieved will be conducted on high ash bituminous coal samples of Kentucky. It is anticipated that a successful development of the process will provide Kentucky coal industry with an economical process that will also avoid water usage and thus avoid slurry disposal problem. The proposal specifically addresses Kentucky 2005 Comprehensive Energy Strategy which call for provision for low-cost and responsible development of energy resources in an environmentally- friendly manner.