Techno-economic impact of optimized lowgrade thermal coal export production through beneficiation modelling
JP Bergh, RMS Falcon, LM Falcon
The advent of low-quality export coal demand has brought a new
range of possibilities to the South African coal industry. Products that
traditionally were only of value to the domestic or combustion
industry sectors now have the potential to be exported, with only
minor amounts of upgrading required through beneficiation.
Comparatively high steam-coal export prices can be obtained for lowquality
export coal, which enhances the economic feasibility of
expanding low-quality thermal coal exports. There are, however,
increasing concerns about the feasibility of lower quality thermal coal
exports and the broader implications. These concerns relate to the
environmental impact of low-quality thermal coal production for
export and the inherent threat to the security of domestic thermal
coal supply in South Africa.
Against this background, this paper serves to explain the
extended value chain in the production of export coal. The technical
and economic advantages and disadvantages of low-grade exports
versus coal production for domestic use are evaluated. The value
chain estimation is calculated by the beneficiation modelling and
characterization of two coals. Based on the value estimation, the lowgrade
export production scenario, and finally the modelling of
potential pollutant distribution, are described.
Keywords: coal beneficiation, techno-economics, thermal coal, dense medium
processing, dry processing, fine coal processing, environmental
impact.