International Journal of Coal Geology 84 (2010) 6369

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International Journal of Coal Geology

j o u r n a l h o m e p a g e : w w w. e l s ev i e r. c o m / l o c a t e / i j c o a l g e o

A study on the abundance of quartz in thermal coals of India and its relation to abrasion index: Development of predictive model for abrasion
A.K. Bandopadhyay
Central Institute of Mining and Fuel Research Digwadih Campus, P.O.-FRI, Dhanbad-828108, Jharkhand, India

a r t i c l e

i n f o

a b s t r a c t
The quartz content of each of the 61 thermal coals used in power stations in India has been determined using Fourier Transform Infra-Red (FTIR) Spectroscopy. It has been observed that quartz is abundant in the thermal coals and its proportion varies from 5 to 20% by wt. The abrasion index (AI), a measure of abrasion caused by coals, has been determined for each coal according to the procedure laid down in Indian Standard IS: 9949 1986. The data generated on abrasion together with ash and quartz percentages of the coals studied have been subjected to regression and correlation analysis. Positive correlations have been found between AI and quartz content and between AI and ash yield, but the correlation between AI and ash (A) and quartz (Q) percentages has been observed to be the most signicant (R2 = 0.86). The linear regression model AI = 1.00A + 1.35Q thus developed has the ability to predict AI of the thermal coals within 10 mg/kg at 95.5% condence level. Results of application of the model to predicting abrasion of a limited number of foreign coals with different origins have been found to be encouraging. Integration of other variables like the size and the shape of the abrading particles along with other physical properties of coal, like the bulk density and the grindability, with the model, in addition to the variables already considered, has been suggested for improved prediction. 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Article history: Received 17 December 2009 Received in revised form 2 August 2010 Accepted 6 August 2010 Available online 26 August 2010 Keywords: Quartz Ash FTIR Abrasion Regression model Indian coals

1. Introduction Research activities focused on the detailed characterization of minerals present in coal have grown in recent years, stemming in part from the growing availability of advanced analytical tools for in-depth investigations into mineralogical composition that are increasingly required for better utilization of coal. Such studies include inter alia data on quartz, which is one of the major constituents comprising the mineral matter in coal (Painter et al., 1978; Jenkins and Walker, 1979; Pollack, 1979: Querol et al., 1994; Jayan and Mandal, 1996; Ward and Taylor, 1996; Ward et al., 2001; Spears and Booth, 2002; Ward, 2002; Wells et al., 2004; Ural and Akyildiz, 2004; Vassileva and Vassilev, 2005, 2006; Matsuoka et al., 2006; Irdi et al., 1993; Dai et al., 2008a,b; Matjie et al., 2008; Vuthaluru and French, 2008; Dyk et al., 2009; Hlatshwayo et al., 2009). Quantitative data on quartz are important as quartz endows coal with an abrasive propensity by virtue of its hardness (7.0 on Mohs hardness scale). Generally a sizeable proportion of the quartz in coal occurs in the form of discrete coarse particles, whereas pyrite, another potentially abrasive mineral, is commonly more nely dispersed within the organic matter. Although nearly as hard as quartz (6.5 on Mohs hardness scale), the abrasion- and erosion-wear damage caused by pyrite is signicantly less than that caused by the same quantity of quartz (Raask, 1985; Basu et al., 2000).

E-mail address: akban2002@rediffmail.com. 0166-5162/$ see front matter 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.coal.2010.08.005

Predictions of wear rates of components in grinding mills at pulverized coal-red power stations are currently made using empirical relationships based on the ash percentages of the coals (Raask, 1985; Wells et al., 2004). However, if the mineral components associated with the coal, especially quartz, responsible for both abrasive and erosive wear can be accurately quantied, it should be possible to predict wear rates much more reliably. Quartz present in coal can cause serious damage to coal handling machinery and boiler tubes and surfaces of power plants and thereby affects the performance of power plant (Drbal, et al., 1996; Gupta, et al., 1999; Bhatt, 2006a, b). Major power stations in India burning low grade thermal coals containing high proportions of quartz have experienced rapid wear of the grinding elements causing considerable reduction in the service life of the mills. Mill life, for example may be as low as 1100 h compared to 800010,000 h if the mills had used better quality coals (Prasad, 1986). Fly ash generated during combustion also contains quartz inherited from the parent coal (Martinez-Tarazona and Spears, 1996; Ward and French, 2006; Dai et al., 2010). Fly ash particles entrained in the ue gas of coal red boilers causes erosion on the critical components along the ow path, which may signicantly jeopardize the operational life of a boiler (Das et al., 2008; Nagarajan et al., 2009). Therefore, quantication of quartz and study of its abundance in thermal coals are prerequisites for prediction of wear caused by coals and ipso facto helpful for the design of machinery as well as of planned maintenance in power stations. The abrasion characteristics of an Indian thermal coal (Talcher coaleld, Orissa) were rst studied by Sinha et al. (1982) and the

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A.K. Bandopadhyay / International Journal of Coal Geology 84 (2010) 6369 Table 1 Ash yields, quartz contents and abrasion indices of the power station coals. Coal samples from diff. power stations 01.TPS/Coal/01/01 02.TPS/Coal/02/01 03.TPS/Coal/03/01 04.TPS/Coal/04/01 05.TPS/Coal/05/01 06.TPS/Coal/06/01 07.TPS/Coal/07/01 08.TPS/Coal/08/01 09.TPS/Coal/09/01 10.TPS/Coal/10/01 11.TPS/Coal/11/01 12.TPS/Coal/12/01 13.TPS/Coal/13/01 14.TPS/Coal/14/01 15.TPS/Coal/15/01 16.TPS/Coal/16/01 17.TPS/Coal/17/01 18.TPS/Coal/18/02 19.TPS/Coal/19/02 20.TPS/Coal/20/02 21.TPS/Coal/21/02 22.TPS/Coal/22/02 23.TPS/Coal/23/02 24.TPS/Coal/24/02 25.TPS/Coal/25/02 26.TPS/Coal/26/02 27.TPS/Coal/27/03 28.TPS/Coal/28/03 29.TPS/Coal/29/03 30.TPS/Coal/30/03 31.TPS/Coal/31/03 32.TPS/Coal/32/03 33.TPS/Coal/33/03 34.TPS/Coal/34/03 35.TPS/Coal/35/03 36.TPS/Coal/36/03 37.TPS/Coal/37/03 38.TPS/Coal/38/03 39.TPS/Coal/39/03 40.TPS/Coal/40/04 41.TPS/Coal/41/04 42.TPS/Coal/42/04 43.TPS/Coal/43/04 44.TPS/Coal/44/04 45.TPS/Coal/45/04 46.TPS/Coal/46/04 47.TPS/Coal/47/04 48.TPS/Coal/48/04 49.TPS/Coal/49/04 50.TPS/Coal/50/04 51.TPS/Coal/51/04 52.TPS/Coal/52/04 53.TPS/Coal/53/04 54.TPS/Coal/54/04 55.TPS/Coal/55/04 56 TPS/Coal/56/08 57.TPS/Coal/57/08 58.TPS/Coal/58/08 59.TPS/Coal/59/08 60.TPS/Coal/60/04 61.TPS/Coal/61/08 % ash by wt. % quartz by wt. % quartz by Abrasion (dry basis) in coal (dry basis) wt. in ash index (mg/kg) 39.8 51.0 44.2 42.9 37.9 42.2 48.4 45.7 53.2 43.1 39.4 35.8 32.2 47.4 31.5 43.3 43.9 31.6 62.8 38.3 44.2 21.3 29.1 41.3 41.9 43.6 29.9 50.2 29.1 33.1 41.2 49.7 25.8 30.0 45.6 47.3 43.3 37.1 25.0 46.7 23.8 50.1 35.5 44.6 41.3 42.3 33.4 31.1 41.0 50.3 47.8 27.5 45.4 49.7 41.1 46.4 56.7 52.7 43.4 41.5 32.3 11.7 12.4 9.8 10.1 8.6 7.9 8.8 10.5 13.0 8.1 10.1 8.5 13.6 7.3 6.0 9.0 7.6 9.5 11.2 9.2 13.4 5.2 8.0 9.2 11.5 12.2 5.2 12.3 7.8 10.5 8.5 17.6 8.3 8.0 11.2 10.1 12.1 6.4 6.4 12.6 7.5 14.1 8.1 11.5 6.1 6.6 7.3 6.1 9.6 18.4 9.0 6.7 11.7 15.6 14.7 13.0 17.9 20.1 13.3 11.0 7.8 29.4 24.3 22.2 23.5 22.7 18.7 18.2 23.0 24.4 18.8 25.6 23.7 42.2 15.4 19.0 20.8 17.3 30.1 17.8 24.0 30.3 24.4 27.5 22.3 27.4 28.0 17.4 24.5 26.8 31.7 20.6 35.4 32.2 26.7 24.6 21.4 27.9 17.3 25.6 27.0 31.5 28.1 22.8 25.8 14.8 15.6 21.8 19.6 23.4 36.6 18.8 24.4 25.8 31.4 35.8 28.0 31.6 38.1 30.6 26.5 24.1 57 60 55 50 45 46 59 57 78 62 60 52 48 63 34 57 53 41 85 48 57 24 36 51 63 58 38 62 42 52 45 65 37 44 52 67 55 50 41 67 38 63 42 59 42 50 44 47 57 80 63 40 64 77 60 70 86 81 63 61 45

proportion of quartz (free silica) in different size fractions of coal was determined chemically (Talvitie, 1951). It has been inter alia shown that quartz, mainly responsible for abrasion, is uniformly and intimately distributed throughout the seam sections. Apart from this study, investigations relating abrasion index and quartz and ash contents for the coals used as feed to a few Indian thermal power stations have also been reported. The quartz content in these investigations was determined either from ash analysis data (Foster et al., 2004) or by XRD (Irdi et al., 1993; Jayan and Mandal, 1996). More recently Bandopadhyay (2010) has developed a rapid and accurate method for the determination of quartz using Fourier Transform InfraRed (FTIR) spectroscopy. The object of the present study is to apply that method to determining the abundance of quartz in Indian thermal coals and explore the possibility of making a model of abrasion to predict and compare the abrasiveness characteristics of thermal coals based on the data generated on AI (abrasion index) and quartz and ash percentages of the coal samples investigated using the statistical method of regression and correlation (Levin and Rubin, 2009; Levine et al., 2010). 2. Experimental methodology 2.1. Selection of coal samples A suite of 61 coal samples used as feed to different thermal power stations under National Thermal Power Corporation Ltd., namely, Farakka Super, Talcher Super, Talcher, Kahalgaon, Unchahar, Vindyachal Super, Singrauli Super, Rihand Super, Dadri Super, Mejia, Tanda, NSTCL, and Chandrapura, located in various parts of India was selected for the study. The coals are supplied to the power stations from different coalelds under the jurisdiction of various subsidiaries of Coal India Ltd., namely, the Eastern Coalelds Ltd., the Western Coalelds Ltd., the Northern Coalelds Ltd., the South Eastern Coalelds Ltd., and the Mahanadi Coalelds Ltd.. Each coal sample was ground to less than 6.3 mm for determining abrasion index and to less than 211 m for determining ash yield and subsequently for quartz content by FTIR. 2.2. Determination of abrasion index Coal exhibits a range of abrasive properties, depending upon the hard minerals present. Wear on vital parts of crushers, pulverizers; transporting machinery and boilers is a matter of concern for users. It is, therefore, important to assess the relative abrasion characteristics of coal, as indicated by an abrasion index, for selection of right type of equipment and materials for mining machinery, as well as for crushing, grinding and burning of the coal. The abrasion index (AI) of the coals was determined for the present study according to the method given in IS: 9949-1986 (1986), which was developed at US Bureau of Mines and at the BCURA Industrial Laboratories, UK. The abrasion index is the average loss in mass of four standard metal blades of medium carbon steel when rotated at 1450 rpm for 12,000 revolutions in a known mass of coal (2 0.001 kg) of specied size. The loss is expressed in mg (metal)/kg of coal ground and the value of abrasion index (AI) is taken as the average loss in mass from three independent tests (M). Thus AI is expressed by the following equation: AI = M 2 1

The abrasion indices of the coals studied are shown in Table 1 along with their quartz contents and ash yields. 2.3. FTIR analysis The quartz content of the coal samples was determined by a recently developed FTIR spectroscopic method (Bandopadhyay, 2010). The coal

samples were ashed at 815 10 C for 1 h and the ash of each was then taken on KBr matrix by the usual procedure of KBr pellet technique for FTIR examination. The spectrum of each ash sample was recorded at a resolution of 2 cm1 using a Perkin-Elmer model Spectrum GX spectrometer and the quartz doublet at ca. 800 cm1 was used for quantitative determination (Bandopadhyay, 2010).

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3. Results and discussion 3.1. Abundance of quartz in Indian thermal coals The 61 coal samples studied are found to have high ash yields (30 60%). Some of them with ash yields higher than 50% by weight may be classied as carbonaceous samples or carbonaceous shales as per the denition in international standards, such as International Organization for Standarization (ISO) (2005). Indian non-coking coals are classied as grades AG, with grades AC representing the superior grades, while thermal coals are generally understood to represent coals of grades DG (Price Notication of Coal India Limited, 2009; Mathur et al., 2003). The grading and pricing of non-coking coals is done on the basis of UHV (Useful Heating Value), which is estimated by the following semi-empirical equation: UHV kcal = kg = 8900138A + M 2

A critical appraisal of Fig. 1 reveals that the frequency distribution is not normal, as shown by the polynomial curve (sixth order), but skewed towards higher % quartz values. The frequency distribution curve passes through a maximum at ca. 25% quartz, which means that for most of the coals investigated, quartz in ash amounts to approximately one-fourth of the ash. To compare Indian coals with foreign coals, correlation between quartz as percentage of the coal and the coal's ash yield has been evaluated. Fig. 2 shows a relatively poor correlation (R2 = 0.43), but nevertheless suggests that quartz in coal increases with ash yield following the regression equation: %Quartz = 0:25%Ash0:5 3

It is worthwhile to add that, based on the mineralogical data for British coal, an approximate empirical relationship of similar type has been proposed between quartz and ash as follows (Raask, 1985): %Quartz = 0:15%Ash5:0 4

where A and M refer to the percentages of ash and moisture at 60% relative humidity at 40 C. Use of the above Equation has been in vogue since 1979. Non-coking coals produced in all states other than Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Nagaland are graded as A (N6200 kcal/kg), B (56006200 kcal/kg), C (49405800 kcal/kg), D (42004940 kcal/kg), E (33604200 kcal/kg), F (24003360 kcal/kg) and G (13002400 kcal/kg). The quality of thermal coals has deteriorated over the years, and power plants mainly receive grades EG containing high levels of ash, consistent with the coals analyzed for this study (Table 1). Apart from the inherent minerals, which in themselves are high because of the origin of the coals (Dwari and Rao, 2006; Choudhury et al., 2007; Dwari and Rao, 2007), the coals become contaminated with adventitious minerals containing especially quartz, during the open-cast mining operation, increasing the ash yield of the coals to as high as 60%. Some of the common problems associated with the use of such high-ash coals are higher coal transportation costs, higher wear and tear on coal handling elements, reduced ame stability, slagging and fouling, reduced plant performance, higher emissions and related environmental problems (Sachdev, 1998). FTIR examination for the present study has revealed that the quartz content of the coals varies from 5 to 20% by weight of coal, and represents 1535% of the coal ash in more than 90% of the cases. The data are depicted graphically in Fig. 1. The range of quartz percentages found in the ashes of the coals has been divided into intervals of 4% and the frequency of occurrence in each interval has been plotted.

For Polish coals similar equation has also been put forward (Cumo and Naviglio, 1990): %Quartz = 0:35%Ash6:7 5

A comparison of the above Eqs. (3), (4) and (5) indicates that the percentage of quartz in British coals is much less than those found in Indian and Polish coals. 3.2. Contribution of quartz to abrasion Quartz is the hardest common mineral associated with coal. In run of mine (ROM) coal samples, quartz occurs partly as inherent mineral matter (Mishra et al., 1990) and partly as adventitious material originating from mining operations, both in underground (Schatzel, 2009) and in opencast (Sachdev, 1998). The relationship between abrasion index (mg of metal/kg of coal, in short mg/kg) and quartz in the coal is depicted in Fig. 3. Although there is a considerable scatter of data and a relatively poor correlation (R2 = 0.61), Fig. 3 still clearly shows a broad positive trend. This may indicate that the concentration of quartz is not the only factor contributing to abrasion. Such scattering of data has also been reported in other studies (Spero, 1990; Sliger, 1996). For abrading particles the contributions of particle size and shape are also important. The effect of abrasive particle size on the wear rate has been studied by many workers. For small particles the wear rate increases with increasing size until some critical size is reached, above which the wear rate becomes almost independent of any further size increase (Hamblin and Stachowiak, 1995a, b). The critical size is often about 100 m. Sligar (1986) has observed that, while mill wear shows

Fig. 1. Abundance of quartz in coal ash; the table in the inset displays frequency of occurrence.

Fig. 2. Relation between quartz in coal and coal ash yield.

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A.K. Bandopadhyay / International Journal of Coal Geology 84 (2010) 6369

Fig. 4. Plot of abrasion index and ash yield of thermal coals. Fig. 3. Plot of abrasion index versus quartz in thermal coals.

a dependence on quartz, combination of quartz and particle size distribution gives a better correlation. The contribution of particle shape to wear is yet another unresolved issue. It is generally thought that angular particles are more abrading than rounded particles, partly because rounded particles plastically deform a metal surface whereas angular particles are more likely to cut into and remove metal from the surface. However, the inclusion of shape factor in any mathematical equation relating to wear is an exercise not yet attempted. Recently Stachowiak and Stachowiak (2001) have developed a method known as the Spike Parameter Quadratic Fit (SPQ) for characterization of particles angularity. Particle angularity, quantied by the SPQ parameter, is reported to be an important factor affecting particle abrasivity; usually the higher the SPQ the higher the abrasivity. Therefore, although the present study suggests useful correlation, a more complete assessment of abrasiveness due to quartz in coal may require more study to integrate data on abundance with particle size and particle shape into a predictive abrasion model. 3.3. Correlation between abrasion index and ash Correlation between AI and ash yield has been reported earlier (Livingston and Dugdale, 1998; Foster et al., 2004), based on work in the Fuels Laboratory at the Mitsui Babcock Technology Centre in Renfrew, Scotland over a period of 10 years. The data were accumulated in connection with mill design for bituminous steaming coals from Britain, South Africa, India and a number of other worldtraded coals. A linear relationship was found between the two variables, with R2 = 0.801. A good deal of scatter in the data was observed, which was ascribed inter alia to variations in quartz and pyrite contents of the coals. In the present study, however, the variations may be attributed to the proportion of quartz and its morphology in the coal, as pyrite occurs to only a very small extent in Indian coals. The ash yield essentially reects the non-combustible residues of the different minerals associated with the coal. Although it would be more realistic to plot abrasion index against the total mineral matter percentages, high temperature ash is more quickly and easily determined in a routine laboratory studies. Fig. 4 shows the variation of abrasion index with % ash. This shows a similar scatter of data (R2 = 0.79) to that observed by other researchers (Douglas and Ditchburn, 1980; Livingston and Dugdale, 1998; Spero, 1990). 3.4. Proposition of abrasion models Many factors contribute to abrasiveness of coal. Spero (1990) interpreted abrasion of coal in terms of the minerological and physical properties of the coal. For a limited range of coals and their associated relative density fractions he related AI to the percentage, composition

and physical properties of the coal mineral matter, and to the grindability and bulk density of the coal through the following empirical equation: AI = j = 1 WjHj PCB
n

where Wj and Hj are the concentration and hardness, respectively of mineral j in the coal, respectively and PC and B are respectively the grindability factor and bulk density of the coal. The equation requires many inputs for prediction and suffers from the drawback that particle size and shape are not included. However, this equation is the only one which has integrated many variables for abrasiveness prediction. In Indian coals the major abradent is quartz and other hard minerals occuring in small proportions in coal (rutile, pyrite/ mercasite, cristobalite,etc.) the abundance of which is reected in the ash. Both have been correlated earlier to AI of coal and positive correlations have been found (Sliger, 1996; Spero, 1990). The abrasiveness of coal has been described earlier by the following empirical equation formulated by Raask (1985): AI = Q c + 0:5Pc + 0:2Ac 7

where Q c, Pc and Ac are respectively the mass percentages of quartz, pyrite and ash in coal. The equation has been useful in the design of boilers for power stations (Tickner and Maier, 2005). When reviewing the information on the analysis of coals as presented in standard industry commercial practice, it is rare to nd reports covering quartz. On the other hand, pyrite is frequently identied, and specication sheets always indicate the quantity of ash. In order to compensate for the lack of data, estimates for quartz and pyrite content can be prepared with reasonable accuracy based upon formulas employing the reported chemical analysis for SiO2, Al2O3 and S. The quantity of quartz in coal (qc) can then be estimated from the equation: qc = 0:01AcSiO2 1:5Al2 O3 Pyrite in coal (pc) can be estimated by: pc = 1:3S0:3 9 8

Eqs. (8) and (9) can be used as reasonable substitutes for laboratory data in the abrasion index equation (Raask, 1985; Tickner and Maier, 2005). Eq. (7) is applicable to US and UK coals with low ash and a relatively high proportion of pyrite, but is not valid for Indian coals with high ash yields and high quartz contents, but low pyrite. Further, Eq. (8) needs modication for Indian coals. Recently Bandopadhyay (2010) has amended the equation and compared quartz obtained from the modied equation to that from FTIR determination.

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It appears from above that the proportions of ash and quartz are the main factors responsible for abrasion from Indian coals. Given the volume of data generated on ash (A), quartz (Q) and abrasion index (AI) for the 61 thermal coals studied, simple regression models relating AI with one or more of the independent variables, A and Q, can be proposed. Table 2 summarizes the results derived from regression and correlation analysis of the data using the Microsoft Excel software. The above table includes three models 1, 2 and 3, which are all statistically signicant and shows the degrees to which they satisfy the statistical criteria of goodness of t. Parameters like the R2 and the adjusted R2 (for multiple regression) are useful for assessing the aptness of the models in terms of the strength of the relation between the variables, while the standard error of the estimate SE measures the dispersion around the estimating line (in the case of two variables) or the multiple- regression plane (in the case of more than two variables). For models 1 and 2, the values of R2 are respectively 0.61 and 0.79, which signify that 61% of the variation in abrasion is explained by the variation in quartz content by model 1, while model 2 can account for 79% of the variation by the variation in ash percentage. The standard errors of the estimate (SE) for the two models are respectively 8.2 and 6.0. The overall signicance of the regression is indicated by the F-test criteria and its p-value, which are satised in the case of both the models 1 and 2. Also the role of the individual variables A and Q in predicting AI, as indicated by the t-test and p-values, listed in the Table 2, shows that both A and Q are good predictor variables for AI of the coals studied. It is worthwhile to add here that investigators (Livingston and Dugdale, 1998; Foster et al., 2004) have related AI with A, as the latter is quickly and routinely done in a laboratory for characterization. They have derived the following equation from the experimental data related to coals from Britain, South Africa and India and a number of world-traded coals:   2 AI = 3:9 + 1:21A R = 0:80

purpose. The investigations made so far has clearly identied that both Q and A are the key predictor variables for abrasion. This also emphasizes that, in order to have a model with better explanatory power to account for the variation in abrasion shown by different coals, both A and Q should be included and use of multiple linear regression has been made to develop a model, model 3 (AI = 1.00A + 1.35Q), which, as anticipated, has better explanatory power (vide Table 2). The adjusted R2 value for the model is 0.86, indicating that 86% of the variation in AI can be explained by the variations in A and Q. Further, the standard deviation of the regression model, i.e., the standard error of the estimate SE, is 4.9, which is less than those for the models 1 and 2. All these justify the superiority of the model and as the value of R2 is greater than 0.80, it is a good linear model. Nonetheless, for more accurate prediction, introducing other factors, namely, particle size and shape, physical properties of coal like grindability and bulk density, should also be explored to achieve higher R2 and lower SE than those which characterize the existing model. 3.5. Scope and application of the model It is worthwhile to check the applicability of model 3 using the data on foreign coals with different origins. But literature containing sufcient data on AI together with quartz and ash percentages of coals required for the work is not available. However, limited data that are reported on global coals (Foster et al., 2004) still provide an opportunity to examine the model. Table 3 gives the results of comparison of the predicted values of AI vis-a-vis the experimentally determined values. It can be seen that predictions agree with the actual values within the prediction range, except for the La Loma coal. The discrepancy in this case may be ascribed to such factors as grindability and bulk density of the coal (Spero, 1990), particle size, shape, etc., which are known to affect AI but have not been included in the model as a result accurate prediction could not be made. For coals showing abnormally high abrasion, especially the morphology of the abrading particles should be given due consideration. Barring this case, the model, it is found, is capable of estimating AI of foreign coals reasonably well and the results obtained are encouraging. The regression model 3 proposed is a simple one and valid for thermal coals containing low pyrite. It is easy for the industry to adopt as all the inputs needed for a reasonably good prediction, A and Q, are available or can be determined in the laboratory. In the absence of experimental data on quartz abundance, however, the empirical equation to estimate quartz content developed by Bandopadhyay (2010) from ash analysis may be utilized for Indian coals: Q = 0:01AcSiO2 1:3Al2 O3 11

10

The above equation and model 2 (AI = 1.35A; R2 = 0.79) derived for Indian coals are similar and values predicted by both are very close, suggesting both can be used for interpreting abrasion of thermal coals from ash percentages. The model can be examined using the data of ash yields and abrasion indices of coals reported by Spero (1998). He studied the properties of Walloon coals of Australia vis--vis their power station performance. For high quartz coals (indicated by high SiO2/ Al2O3 ratio) used in power stations, namely, Tarong, Stanwell and Swanbank, predicted values of AI matched with the experimental in the following manner: Tarong 43 (40), Stanwell 24(25) and 21(20) and Swanbank 33(25), the gures in the brackets representing the experimental values. Such comparisons have generated condence in the data generated for Indian coals and reliability of the model towards predicting AI of global coals used for power generation. The linear correlation shown by the equations (model 2 and Eq. (10)) between AI and ash yield is not, however, good enough for predictive purposes and a high R2 value is prerequisite for such
Table 2 Vital regression and correlation data of the models proposed. Regression AI vs. Q AI vs. A AI vs. (A and Q) Regression equation AI = 23.6 + 3.05Q (Model 1) AI = 1.35A (Model 2) AI = 1.00A + 1.35Q (Model 2) R2 0.610 0.792 0.860 Adjusted R2 0.603 0.789 0.855 Standard error 8.2 6.0 4.9

4. Conclusion The study described in this paper has shown that the quartz content of the coals fed to Indian power stations is high, typically representing about 25% of the ash yield. Correlations based on ash or

F ratio 92 225 178

p-value F-test variable 0.000 0.000 0.000

t-statistics 9.60(Q) 15.00(A) 10.20(A) 5.31(Q)

p-value for each variable 0.000(Q) 0.000(A) 0.000(A) 0.000(Q)

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Table 3 Comparison of experimental values of abrasion of foreign coals with the predicted values from model 3. Coal sample % dry ash 5.1 8.0 9.2 9.8 11.1 15.1 15.9 22.2 % quartz in coal (dry basis) 0.0 1.3 1.0 3.7 6.8 0.8 1.0 1.9 Abrasion index (mg/kg) 12 22 5 41 21 15 33 19 Predicted value of abrasion index (mg/kg) 5 10 10 10 11 10 15 10 20 10 16 10 17 10 25 10

1. Rossington (UK) 2. Powder River Basin (USA) 3. Bailey (USA) 4. La Loma (Colombia) 5. Hunter Valley (Australia) 6. Reitspruit (South Africa) 7. Oxcroft (UK) 8. Harworth (UK)

Prediction range of the model [=2(SE) = 2 4.9 = 9.8 ~ 10].

quartz alone do not yield high coefcient of determination (R2) when related with abrasion index., but R2 is improved considerably when abrasion index is correlated with ash and quartz. The multiple regression model AI = 1.00A + 1.35Q with R2 = 0.86 proposed in the paper may serve to predict and compare the abrasiveness of thermal coals used in Indian power stations within the range 10 mg/kg. However, for more reliable and improved prediction, further work is needed and factors such as the morphology of the abrading particles and the selected physical coal properties, namely, the grindability and the bulk density, should be incorporated into the model. Acknowledgement The author is grateful to Director, CIMFR, for encouragement and permission to publish the paper. The author is also thankful to Prof. Colin R. Ward, School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales, Australia for suggesting changes in the language and content of the Paper. References
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