A new process for the production of medium quality fuels from coal washing plant coarse tailings

Turkey’s proven bituminous coal reserve is very low, and it is about 1.3 billion tons. The annual bituminous coal production is 2 million tons, and the annual import amount is 30 million tons. Turkey is a foreign-dependent country in its bituminous coal requirement. In this respect, the highest recycling of coarse and fine plant tailings is important in respect of the efficient use of limited natural resources. In this study, a novel process was developed for medium quality fuel production from coarse plant tailings. By the developed process, from coarse plant tailings with an ash content of 78.21%, medium quality fuel was produced which has ash content between 29.20 and 44.38% and which has economic value in the current market. The upper calorific values of these fuels change between 5620 and 4350 kcal/kg. The developed process basically includes the stages of micronized grinding and then froth flotation applied to the obtained powder tailing material.