Experience in coal sampling parameters calculation

Abstract

This paper describes the selection of parameters neccessary for the calculation of minimal representative quantity of coal sample for various investigations in the field of mineral processing. The procedure is illustrated on the example case of the Drmno coal field, from where the coal is delivered to the thermal power plant Kostolac. Two primary samples of coal, crushed down to different sizes and prepared (homogenized and divided), are analyzed for the ash content and the results were statisticaly processed. The analytical results are statistically processed. Analytical and graphical solutions, at the lowest sampling error, give an optimum range of the representative minimal sample mass for the given coal size. The coefficient of proportionality, k, which characterizes the kind of mineralization in the given material, and α exponent for the Drmno coal type, are determined.

Keywords

• primary sampling
• coal
• representative secondary sample
• statistical errors