Coal is one of the most important
primary energy sources worldwide
that requires an economic, effective, and clean preparation method.
As the shortage of water resources increases, the wet beneficiation
technology became questionable. The air dense medium fluidized bed
(ADMFB) is a good alternative for dry coal beneficiation processes
that require no water. In this account, a pulsating air flow was introduced
into the ADMFB system to generate a pulsing dense-phase gas–solid
fluidized bed (PDGFB). The effects of the pulsating air flow on the
minimum fluidization velocity, stability of the bed density, and motion
of the heavy medium were investigated. The pulsating air flow is shown
to reduce the minimum of the fluidization velocity, modify the stability
of the bed density, and regularize the motion of the heavy medium.
Fine anthracite of −6 + 1 mm size is cleaned using PDGFB at
elevated separation densities with a true value of 2.03 g/cm3 and probable error (E) of 0.09 g/cm3. In comparison to vibrated fluidized beds, PDGFB has no mechanical
vibration and, hence, is advantageous in terms of the mechanical structure,
easy operation, and susceptibility to lower failure.