Two Case Studies - Use of Across-the-Belt Analyzers to ... Case Studies - Use of...
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International On-Line Coal Analyzer Technical Conference St. Louis, Missouri, November 8-10, 2004 Two Case Studies - Use of Across-the-Belt Analyzers to meet Train Quality Targets Steve Foster 1 ______________________________________________________________________________ ABSTRACT: How customers used both the total Ash and Sulfur readings from SABIA XC-5000 OnBelt Analyzers to meet strict train quality targets for both total ash and Sulfur. This paper relates how one of Arch Coal's mines and one of Black Beauty Coal’s mines has used the on-line data to not only ensure that train targets are met but in one case to also transform the total operation. The paper will describe the application, share the impressive comparative data and explain one of the surprising results - the customer was able to completely revise his approach to loading trains, simplifying the process in the bargain. The success of both applications - looking at final product, crushed coal, has now led to the acquisition of a second unit for both customers. Case I. A 6 to 8 million TPY Underground Western US Mine. Achieving Ash Targets. The Basic Operation . The operation takes coal from deep in the earth with a longwall miner, and manually sorts the coal on the ground with information available from on-site lab analysis of samples taken from a mechanical sampler associated with a crusher prior to stacking the coal into several source piles based on ash levels ( a low of 8% with a high of 16% ). These source coal piles are combined onto a 48-inch finished coal belt running at about 1200 tons per hour which takes the coal into either of two different finished product silos. The coal in these finished product silos can be fed separately or combined to load unit trains. The Control Strategy . The control strategy for loading the trains is a simple, but sound approach which involves loading two finished product silos, ahead of the train loadout, with diverging coal ash qualities, one high ash and the other a low ash, so that the silo outputs can be used to blend out to meet the train ash target. The only shortcoming the approach had demonstrated in the past was a lack of reliable information about the actual content of each of the silos. This resulted from a basic lack of information in the actual composition of the source piles since they were evaluated using mechanical samples and lab analysis which was done with long blind periods. One attempt was made to correct this with a nuclear dual-gamma ash gage technology without much success (see results below in graphical form). Finally a PGNA analyzer was installed. This analyzer is able to tell the customer accurately what is on the finished product belt as it goes to the final product silos. 1 Steve Foster is Vice President Marketing, Sales, and Service at SABIA, Inc. 7944 Convoy Court, San Diego, CA 92111. Tel: 858-279-4000. Email: [email protected] .
Transcript of Two Case Studies - Use of Across-the-Belt Analyzers to ... Case Studies - Use of...
International On-Line Coal Analyzer Technical Conference St. Louis, Missouri, November 8-10, 2004
Two Case Studies - Use of Across-the-Belt Analyzers to meet Train Quality Targets Steve Foster1 ______________________________________________________________________________
ABSTRACT: How customers used both the total Ash and Sulfur readings from SABIA XC-5000 OnBelt Analyzers to meet strict train quality targets for both total ash and Sulfur. This paper relates how one of Arch Coal's mines and one of Black Beauty Coal’s mines has used the on-line data to not only ensure that train targets are met but in one case to also transform the total operation. The paper will describe the application, share the impressive comparative data and explain one of the surprising results - the customer was able to completely revise his approach to loading trains, simplifying the process in the bargain. The success of both applications - looking at final product, crushed coal, has now led to the acquisition of a second unit for both customers.
Case I. A 6 to 8 million TPY Underground Western US Mine. Achieving Ash Targets. The Basic Operation. The operation takes coal from deep in the earth with a longwall miner, and manually sorts the coal on the ground with information available from on-site lab analysis of samples taken from a mechanical sampler associated with a crusher prior to stacking the coal into several source piles based on ash levels ( a low of 8% with a high of 16% ). These source coal piles are combined onto a 48-inch finished coal belt running at about 1200 tons per hour which takes the coal into either of two different finished product silos. The coal in these finished product silos can be fed separately or combined to load unit trains. The Control Strategy. The control strategy for loading the trains is a simple, but sound approach which involves loading two finished product silos, ahead of the train loadout, with diverging coal ash qualities, one high ash and the other a low ash, so that the silo outputs can be used to blend out to meet the train ash target. The only shortcoming the approach had demonstrated in the past was a lack of reliable information about the actual content of each of the silos. This resulted from a basic lack of information in the actual composition of the source piles since they were evaluated using mechanical samples and lab analysis which was done with long blind periods. One attempt was made to correct this with a nuclear dual-gamma ash gage technology without much success (see results below in graphical form). Finally a PGNA analyzer was installed. This analyzer is able to tell the customer accurately what is on the finished product belt as it goes to the final product silos.
1 Steve Foster is Vice President Marketing, Sales, and Service at SABIA, Inc. 7944 Convoy Court, San Diego, CA 92111. Tel: 858-279-4000. Email: [email protected].
2 FOSTER – INTERNATIONAL ON-LINE COAL ANALYZER TECHNICAL CONFERENCE
TrainLoadout
CrusherSampler
Longwall
Stackers Used toCreate Source Piles of
Varying AshComposition
Finished ProductSilos
Diversion CoalPiles
SABIA OnBeltNuclear Elemental
Analyzer on48 inch FinishedProduct Belt at1200 tons/hr
Figure 1a. The Operation
Figure 2a. The analyzer, a rather tight fit.
3 FOSTER – INTERNATIONAL ON-LINE COAL ANALYZER TECHNICAL CONFERENCE
Figure 3a. Stackers used to create source piles of crushed, sampled coal
4 FOSTER – INTERNATIONAL ON-LINE COAL ANALYZER TECHNICAL CONFERENCE Figure 4a. Two silos, loaded with high and low ash respectively
Figure 5a. The 2 silos feed coal over to a Kanawha Loadout across the highway The Unacceptable Intermin Results with a dual gamma ash gage. For a period of over 2 years the customer made a valiant attempt to utilize dual gamma ash gage technology to optimize his train loading operation. One year’s comparative data is shown in the graphs below. The frustration of dual gamma has always been that for brief periods of time it seems to almost be working but because its calibration and performance is vulnerable to a number of potential changes in the coal quality in many applications it doesn’t deliver the kind of performance necessary to help a customer get control of his operation.
Lab Ash vs Dual Gamma Ash GageFor One Year Period
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Dual Gamma Ash Gage Ash (%)
Lab
Ash
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r2 =std.error 0.824
0.334
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Figure 6a. One Year of Dual Gamma Ash Gage Performance in an XY Graph
Ash Trend1 month trend, last half of Jan and 1st half of Feb, 2001
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ght %
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Figure 7a. A look at the trend data over a 4 week period in the same year The Results with PGNAA. The customer now uses the real-time PGNAA analyzer results as shown below to dynamically (manually for the time being) adjust the mix of coal coming from the different source piles to achieve the target Ash levels. As indicated from these graphs, the results have been very good. So much so, that the customer now loads the coal directly into one silo, achieving a result close enough to the target quality level to preclude the need to load divergent ash levels into two different silos. Now the customer simply fills one silo to the target Ash and then loads this directly into unit trains with confidence that he will meet his contract specs for the train, significantly simplifying his operation.
Lab Ash vs Sabia AshFinished Product Belt, 48", 1200 tons/hour, 2x0 topsize, constant loading
SABIA XC-5000 On-Belt Coal Analyzer
y = 1.0209x - 0.2025
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Sabia Ash (%)
Lab
Ash
(%)
r2 =
std.error =
0.95
0.311
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Figure 8a. Analyzer ash vs. lab ash – each point is a unit train
Ash TrendFinished Product Belt, 48", 1200 tons/hour, 2x0 topsize, constant loading
SABIA XC-5000 On-Belt Coal Analyzer
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Est. Ash Lab Ash
Figure 9a. Trend Plot of Ash data in figure 8a.
Figure 10a. Analyzer sulfur vs. lab sulfur – each point is a unit train
Lab Sulfur vs Sabia SulfurFinished Product Belt, 48", 1200 tons/hour, 2x0 topsize, constant loading
SABIA XC-5000 On-Belt Coal Analyzer
y = 1.1814x - 0.129
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Sabia Sulfur (%)
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r (%
)
r2 =
std.error =
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0.038
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Sulfur TrendFinished Product Belt, 48", 1200 tons/hour, 2x0 topsize, constant loading
SABIA XC-5000 On-Belt Coal Analyzer
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Est. Sulfur Lab Sulfur
Figure 11a. Trend plot of sulfur data in figure 10a.
Lab SO2 vs Sabia SO2Finished Product Belt, 48", 1200 tons/hour, 2x0 topsize, constant loading
SABIA XC-5000 On-Belt Coal Analyzer
y = 1.0415x - 0.0661
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TU)
r2 =
std.error =
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Figure 12a. Analyzer SO2 vs. lab SO2 – each point is a unit train
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Figure 13a. Analyzer BTU vs. lab BTU – each point is a unit train
Looking Ahead. The customer has resolved any issues with missed train targets through the use of this OnBelt analyzer on his finished product prior to the train loadout. His next step is to install a similar analyzer on his run-of-mine coal prior to the stackers. In this way he hopes to more intelligently create source piles of know quality. This should help him to deliver even more consistent coal quality to his customers. Case II. A Large Multimillion Ton/Year Mine, Illinois Basin. Achieving Sulfur Targets The Basic Operation. After being mined the coal is run through a prep plant and then placed into source coal stock piles of low, medium and high sulfur (a low of 0.5% and a high of over 2.0% Sulfur). Underneath each pile is an in-line feeder. The operation uses a Kanawha Scales Loadout system to control the contribution of each pile onto a 72” finished product belt running at 2400 tons per hour. The Control Strategy. The control strategy for loading the trains was a straightforward approach which assumed that the composition of the source piles was fairly well known and therefore with a predetermined blend setting the loadout operator could hit the train sulfur target, independent of the wide variation of sulfur in the seam being mined. As in the first case study, the only shortcoming the approach had demonstrated in the past was a lack of reliable information about the actual content of each of the source piles because conventional samplers and labs are not
Lab BTU vs Sabia BTUFinished Product Belt, 48", 1200 tons/hour, 2x0 topsize, constant loading
SABIA XC-5000 On-Belt Coal Analyzer
y = 1.0281x - 340.88
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r2 =
std.error =
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83.64
9 FOSTER – INTERNATIONAL ON-LINE COAL ANALYZER TECHNICAL CONFERENCE timely enough for real-time control. In order to increase this visibility a PGNA analyzer was installed. This analyzer is able to tell the customer accurately what is on the finished product belt as it goes to a Kanawha Scales Loadout.
Prep Plant
Mine
Source Piles of High,Med, and Low Sulfur
SABIA OnBeltNuclear Elemental
Analyzer on72 inch FinishedProduct Belt at2400 tons/hr
Analyzer in at exit ofunderground feeder
tunnel on finalproduct belt headed
to train loadout
TrainLoadout
Figure 1b. The Operation
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Figure 2b. The analyzer installed at exit of feeder tunnel
Figure 3b. The feeder tunnel
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Figure 4b. The 72 inch belt in feeder tunnel before analyzer is installed
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Figure 5b. The nuclear source container
The Results. The customer now uses the real-time analyzer results as shown below to dynamically (manually for the time being) adjust the mix of coal coming from the different source piles to achieve the target Sulfur levels. At the outset of loading the first car of a train the loadout operator pushes a button on the analyzer computer to begin displaying a graph of cumulative Sulfur for that train on the analyzer interface screen. As the total sulfur changes, the operator manually adjusts the proportions of his source material feeds to achieve the correct end result for the train. The operator has become very adept at hitting his target using this manual technique. As the graphs below show, the analyzer is able to deliver an accurate measurement of the coal over wide swings in train targets, between 0.7% and 2.0% Sulfur.
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Recent XC-5000 OnBelt Analyzer Performanceat Train Loadout
r2 = 0.78 standard error = 0.35
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Figure 7b. Analyzer ash vs. lab ash – each point is a unit train Recent XC-5000 OnBelt Analyzer Performance
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ue ASH SABIA ANALYZER
Lab Ash
Figure 8b. Trend plot of ash data in figure 7b
14 FOSTER – INTERNATIONAL ON-LINE COAL ANALYZER TECHNICAL CONFERENCE Recent XC-5000 OnBelt Analyzer Performance
at Train Loadoutr2 = 0.98 Standard Error = 0.055
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Figure 9b. Analyzer sulfur vs. lab sulfur – each point is a unit train
Recent XC-5000 OnBelt Analyzer Performance
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%Su
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Figure 10b. Trend plot of ash data in figure 9b
15 FOSTER – INTERNATIONAL ON-LINE COAL ANALYZER TECHNICAL CONFERENCE Looking Ahead. There are no more missed train targets. As a result of this successful application of the technology this customer has ordered a second unit for a similar operation also in the Illinois Basin. Looking beyond the current manual application of the technology the customer can potentially further optimize the utilization of the information made available by the OnBelt analyzer with a software controlled PID loop which automatically makes adjustments to the proportions from each source pile. With the results the customer is getting manually there is some question of the value of this next step.
