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ABSTRACT: Arch coal is no stranger to the use of coal analyzers to benefit their coal mining operations. Arch is the single largest user of elemental coal analyzers in the world. In 1993 they installed a Gamma-Metrics 1812C analyzer in their Samples mine complex in Eskdale, WV, to help monitor and sort the mine production. Then in 2002, in conjunction with an upgrade to the nearby Toms Fork loadout complex, Arch installed a Thermo Scientific CQM analyzer in the loadout tower, where the analyzer is fed primary stage material from a 3-stage sampling system. This analyzer is used to control the quality being loaded into each unit train, to ensure that the customer's product meets the contract specification.
The Samples mine complex produces about 5.5 mpty, serving approximately eight customers in a typical month. These utility customers each have very different quality needs, and the mine relies heavily on the analyzer to achieve the different contract specifications. The real-time information from the upstream 1812C analyzer helps the mine sort to, and track the quality of, the coal placed into two silos and two stockpiles. Then the loadout CQM analyzer, in conjunction with automatic coal blending software (COBOS) from Thermo, blends the coal from these four sources to achieve not only shipments which on average meet the contract specifications, but which are also consistent in quality throughout.
This paper discusses how the analyzers are used, what level of performance they achieve, and how the blending software makes it happen. Click here to read the full paper on Automated Coal Blending with Two Control Parameters at One of Arch Coal's West Virginia Mining Complexes |
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