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Abstract
Coal sorting with an x-ray-transmission (XRT) sensor has experienced a lot of development since first described by Jenkinson et al. in 1974 Powerful computers and increasingly sensitive X-ray scintillation counters enabled the development of high-performance sensor-based sorting machines. The first industrial installation of a belt-type XRT sorting for coal has been in operation since 2004. It is upgrading high-quality coal from 1% ash to 0.7% ash for cathode production. Since 2010 chute-type sorters are in the South African market and, next to production, have been used for extensive test work. Improvements on both separation efficiency and availability of containerized semi-mobile systems have been achieved. The article will introduce the principle of the technology and will summarize the latest experiences in both separation efficiency and operational stability.
Acknowledgements
Many thanks go to the industrial partners for their efforts and willingness to introduce the technology of XRT-based sorting and for their permission to publish the data. Also many thanks to all who have enabled the development of the technology and have continuously improved it over the recent years.
Notes
Color versions of one or more of the figures in the article can be found online at www.tandfonline.com/gcop.