Coal Mineral Facts and the Importance of Mining Equipment Accuracy

September 26, 2018

Rich in combustible carbon, mountains of coal once powered the steam engines that energized the industrial revolution. Even today, Australians enjoy their home comforts because 73% of all generated electrical power comes from this burnable mineral. Down below the ground, deep inside an underground mine, that coal seam sure is kicking up a lot of black dust.

A Few Coal Mining Facts

Coal is a combustible mineral. Leftover from prehistoric times, the mineral is composed of carbon and hydrogen, plus a few more trace elements, including oxygen. Those elements are all that’s left of the vegetation that decayed back in those olden times. Now, no longer used to heat homes or power steam engines, the mineral is used as a turbine-spinning energy source, with the generated heat finding its way to massive boilers. As that fossil fuel burns, it generates movement, and that movement is translated into electricity.

The Equipment Hampering Realities

Australia has a place of prominence on the coal production top five. On that same list, the USA and China also mine huge quantities of the fossil fuel. It’s the anthracite, the coke and charcoal that powers Asia and Australia. Meanwhile, working the mining equipment, the operators know accuracy is everything. There’s a permanent black mist suspended in mid-air. It chokes and covers every exposed surface. Stopping frequently to check the gear and realign their parts, the mineral chain can be hampered by a poorly configured machine setup. To keep productivity high, mining equipment accuracy is considered a top feature on every crusher, screening deck, and vibrational element.

Optimising the Coal Screening Process

Unlike most mineral streams, coal exits its chute as a non-abrasive load. Contrary to normal processing conventions, numerous crushers and feeders aren’t required to smash the mineral. In fact, because of this fragile medium structure, equipment designers focus more on volume and screening, not on crushing efficiency. That principle extends to the screening equipment, where the vibrational cycle is tuned to prevent the frangible materials from breaking down any further. The goal is to get the coal down to a manageable size, but the aggregate must also be handled accurately and screened precisely so that it doesn’t end up as some hard-to-manage, powder-thin stream.

Reduced into that powdery form, the whole setup worsens. The film of air-suspended coal gets into the equipment and lungs of workers. Special wetting stations bring the stuff back to earth, where it’s then disposed of or recycled. As for coal-based mining equipment accuracy, this essential feature ensures the fist-sized lumps don’t break down any further until they’re a hard to transport mountain of black powder.

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