Production of Low-Ash Coking Coal by Tabling, •With Special Reference to U. S. Practice

CIM Bulletin, 1973

This paper was' prepared to emphasize the part that coal washing tables can play in the development of many of the reserves of coking coals in Western Canada_ It covers a brief history of the development of the coal washing table through the present third-generation unit, which suspends from overhead steel beams and is driven by a counter-rotating gear mechanism. The design and operation of this unique table are covered in detail_ An analysis of actual operating data is included, with explicit statistical breakdowns of the table products. The data used were actually produced by operating coal companies, and also produced by the United States Bureau of Mines while gathering data for a research investigation. Table feed capacity is discussed, as well as performance criteria and the parameters of relative table performance. Several typical table flowsheets are described, emphasizing the specific reasons for their use. The paper covers the past and present value of the table to the United States coal industry, and makes mention of the newest addition to the family of suspended, multiple-deck, counter-rotating, gear-driven, coal washing tables, the CONCENCO "88" Deister table.

Keywords: Ash, Coal, Coal washing, Coking coal, Deister Concentrator Company, Efficiency of Coal, Fort Wayne, Indiana, specific gravity, United States, mining, Performance, Plants, Tabling, United States