Coal/Gangue Volume Estimation with Convolutional Neural Network and Separation Based on Predicted Volume and Weight

In the coal mining industry,the gangue separation phase imposes a key challenge due to the high visual similaritybetween coal and gangue.Recently,separation methods have become more intelligent and efficient,using newtechnologies and applying different features for recognition.One such method exploits the difference in substancedensity,leading to excellent coal/gangue recognition.Therefore,this study uses density differences to distinguishcoal from gangue by performing volume prediction on the samples.Our training samples maintain a record of3-side images as input,volume,and weight as the ground truth for the classification.The prediction process relieson a Convolutional neural network(CGVP-CNN)model that receives an input of a 3-side image and then extractsthe needed features to estimate an approximation for the volume.The classification was comparatively performedvia ten different classifiers,namely,K-Nearest Neighbors(KNN),Linear Support Vector Machines(Linear SVM),Radial Basis Function(RBF)SVM,Gaussian Process,Decision Tree,Random Forest,Multi-Layer Perceptron(MLP),Adaptive Boosting(AdaBosst),Naive Bayes,and Quadratic Discriminant Analysis(QDA).After severalexperiments on testing and training data,results yield a classification accuracy of 100%,92%,95%,96%,100%,100%,100%,96%,81%,and 92%,respectively.The test reveals the best timing with KNN,which maintained anaccuracy level of 100%.Assessing themodel generalization capability to newdata is essential to ensure the efficiencyof the model,so by applying a cross-validation experiment,the model generalization was measured.The useddataset was isolated based on the volume values to ensure the model generalization not only on new images of thesame volume but with a volume outside the trained range.Then,the predicted volume values were passed to theclassifiers group,where classification reported accuracy was found to be(100%,100%,100%,98%,88%,87%,100%,87%,97%,100%),respectively.Although obtaining a classification with high accuracy is the main motive,this workhas a remarkable reduction in the data preprocessing time compared to related works.The CGVP-CNN modelmanaged to reduce the data preprocessing time of previous works to 0.017 s while maintaining high classificationaccuracy using the estimated volume value.

Fabrication of pollution-free coal gangue-based catalytic material utilizing ferrous chloride as activator for efficient peroxymonosulfate activation

Novel coal gangue-based persulfate catalyst(CG-FeCl_(2))was successfully synthesized by the means of calcinating under nitrogen atmosphere with the addition of ferrous chloride tetrahydrate(FeCl_(2)·_(4)H_(2)O).The phase transformation of the prepared materials and gas products during the heating process are thoroughly investigated.It is suggested that ferrous chloride participated in the phase transformation and formed Si-O-Fe bonds.And the main gaseous products are H_(2)O,H_(2),and HCl during the heating process.Besides,the ability of CG-FeCl_(2) to activate peroxymonosulfate(PMS)for catalytic degradation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons(PAHs)and phenol was deeply studied.More than 95%of naphthyl,phenanthrene and phenol were removed under optimizied conditions.In addition,1O_(2),·OH,and SO_(4)·−were involved in the CG-FeCl_(2)/PMS system from the free radical scavenging experiment,where 1O_(2) played a major role during the oxidation process.Furthermore,CG-FeCl_(2)/PMS system exhibited superior stability in a relatively wide pH range and the presence of common anion from related degradation experiments.Overall,the novel CG-FeCl_(2) is an efficient and environmentally friendly catalyst,displaying potential application prospect in the field of PAHs and phenol-contaminated wastewater treatment.

Failure mechanisms and destruction characteristics of cemented coal gangue backfill under compression effect of non-uniform load

Backfill mining is one of the most important technical means for controlling strata movement and reducing surface subsidence and environmental damage during exploitation of underground coal resources. Ensuring the stability of the backfill bodies is the primary prerequisite for maintaining the safety of the backfilling working face, and the loading characteristics of backfill are closely related to the deformation and subsidence of the roof. Elastic thin plate model was used to explore the non-uniform subsidence law of the roof, and then the non-uniform distribution characteristics of backfill bodies’ load were revealed. Through a self-developed non-uniform loading device combined with acoustic emission (AE) and digital image correlation (DIC) monitoring technology, the synergistic dynamic evolution law of the bearing capacity, apparent crack, and internal fracture of cemented coal gangue backfills (CCGBs) under loads with different degrees of non-uniformity was deeply explored. The results showed that: 1) The uniaxial compressive strength (UCS) of CCGB increased and then decreased with an increase in the degree of non-uniformity of load (DNL). About 40% of DNL was the inflection point of DNL-UCS curve and when DNL exceeded 40%, the strength decreased in a cliff-like manner;2) A positive correlation was observed between the AE ringing count and UCS during the loading process of the specimen, which was manifested by a higher AE ringing count of the high-strength specimen. 3) Shear cracks gradually increased and failure mode of specimens gradually changed from “X” type dominated by tension cracks to inverted “Y” type dominated by shear cracks with an increase in DNL, and the crack opening displacement at the peak stress decreased and then increased. The crack opening displacement at 40% of the DNL was the smallest. This was consistent with the judgment of crack size based on the AE b-value, i. e., it showed the typical characteristics of “small b-value-large crack and large b-value-small crack”. The research results are of significance for preventing the instability and failure of backfill.

Prediction of compressive strength of cement mortars with fly ash and activated coal gangue

The pozzolanic activity of coal gangue, which is calcining at 500 to 1 000 ℃, differs distinctly. The simplex-centroid design with upper and lower bounds of component proportion is adopted to study the compressive strength of mortars made with ternary blends of cement, activated coal gangue and fly ash. Based on the results of a minimum of seven design points, three special cubic polynomial models are used to establish the strength predicating equations at different ages for mortars. Five experimental checkpoints were also designed to verify the precision of the equations. The most frequent errors of the predicted values are within 3%. A simple and practical way is provided for determining the optimal proportion of two admixtures when they are used in concrete.

Pozzolanic Activity of Burned Coal Gangue and Its Effects on Structure of Cement Mortar

The pozzolanic activity of coal gangue burned at different burning temperatures was investigated. The burned coal gangue was mixed with portland cement in different proportions （ 20% - 60% ）. The pozzolanic activity of coal gangue burned and the hydration products were examined, the compressive strengths of the pastes of the mixtures were tested, and the mechanism of the reaction was discussed. The experimental results slum, that the coal gangue burned at 750 ℃ has the optimum pozzolanic activity, and the burned coal ganguc with SiO2 and Al2 O3 is in an active form. When the coal gangue burned at 750℃ is mixed into portland cement, the content of calcium hydroxide in paste is significantly reduced, while the contents of hydrated calcium silk.ate and hydrated calcium aluminate are increased accordingly, hence resulting in the improvement of the microstructure of mortar. The compressive strength of cement paste decreases with increasing the content of burncd coal gangue. The decease in strength is small in the range of 20% - 30% coal gangue substitution and significant in 30%- 60% substitution.

Utilization of Coal Gangue and Copper Tailings as Clay for Cement Clinker Calcinations

In order to avoid environmental pollution from Coal gangue （CG） and copper tailings （CT）, the utilization as cement clinker calcinations was experimentally investigated. Low-calcium limestone was also selected as another raw material. The clinker component and microstructure were analyzed by XRD and SEM. The experimental results showed that qualified cement clinker could be generated by substituting CG and CT compound for clay. While mixed with high-calcium limestone and low-calcium limestone, the calcinations temperature were 50 ℃ or 100 ℃ lower than that of clay. CT and CG contain oxygen-rich minerals and potential of geological rock energy. The energy of CG performs functions and drops down sintering temperature. The calcination time was shortened and the clinker sintering coal consumption reduced while substituting CG and CT for clay, and also served the reutilization of low-calcium limestone, CG and CT.

Effect of Coal Gangue with Different Kaolin Contents on Compressive Strength and Pore Size of Blended Cement Paste

The effects of activated coal gangue on compressive strength, porosity and pore size distribution of hardened cement pastes were investigated. Activated coal gangue with two different kaolin contents, one higher and one lower, were used to partially replace Portland cement at 0%, 10%, and 30% by weight. The water to binder ratio（w/b） of 0.5 was used for all the blended cement paste mixes. Experimental results indicate that the blended cement of activated coal gangue mortar with higher kaolin mineral content has a higher compressive strength than that with lower kaolin mineral content. The porosity and pore size of blended cement mortar were significantly affected by the replacement of activated coal gangue.

Effects of Surface-activated Coal Gangue Aggregates on Properties of Cement-based Materials

Effects of calcined coal gangue （CG） aggregates treated by the surface thermal activation on the flowability and strength, and paste-CG aggregate interfaces of the cement-based material were investigated. The experimental results show that the compressive and flexural strength of the cement-based material with the calcined CG aggregates is much higher than that of the material with the natural CG aggregates, but the flowability of the material with calcined CG is significantly reduced with the calcined time. The strength of the material with the calcined CG aggregates only increases little with the calcined time at the same w/c ratio, but is reduced with the calcined time at the same flowability. The CG aggregates calcined by the surface thermal activation obviously overcomes the disadvantages of fully calcined CG.

Research on Potential Fertilization of Coal Gangue in the Weibei Coalfield,China

Based on the systematic analysis of the coal gangue in Weibei Coalfield, such as petrologic characteristics, chemical composition, nutrient elements, deleterious elements, and the transformation, and compared with the soil element content background values of Loess Plateau and national harmful materials controlling standards, we conclude that the coal gangue in the Weibei Coalfield has huge potential to be used as clay fertilizer.

Direct-impact of sieving coal and gangue

Gangue from underground separation of coal can directly be used for filling mined out areas, saving transport capacity and reducing the amount of waste polluting the environment above the ground. We introduced a structure and operating principle of an underground direct-impact sieving device by which a separation experiment was carried out. By means of high speed conveyer belts, coal and gangue impacted the breaking board at high speeds ranging from 6 to 14 m/s. Given the differences of hardness between coal and gangue, after selective crushing, the gangue with the higher hardness was crushed less and coal with lower hardness crushed more, which could be separated by a 50 mm sieving plate. The material above the sieving plate was disposed of as gangue and the material below as coal. The results indicate that the crush ratio below the 50 mm sieving plate increases linearly with an increase in impact velocity and decays exponentially with an increase in hardness. Employing this equipment to separate coal and gangue, the hardness of coal f should be <2. This separation device provides relatively good effect in separating coal and gangue with a relatively wide difference of hardness.

Structure and Pozzolanic Activity of Calcined Coal Gangue during the Process of Mechanical Activation

On the basis of analyzing coal gangue＇s chemical and mineral compositions, the structure change of coal gangue during the mechanical activation was investigated by XRD, FTIR, NMR, and the mechanical strength of the cement doped coal gangue with various specific surface area was tested. The experimental results indicate that, the lattice structure of metakaolin in coal gangue samples calcined at 700 ℃ disorganizes gradually and becomes disordered, and the lattice structure of α-quartz is distorted slightly. The pozzolanic activity of the coal gangue increases obviously with its structural disorganization.

Paste-like self-flowing transportation backfilling technology based on coal gangue

A paste-like self-flowing pipeline transportation backfilling technology with coal gangue as aggregate is proposed to remove the potential damage caused by coal gangue piles. As well, the difficult problems of recovering high quality safety coal pillars and deep mining of the Suncun Coal Mine （SCM）, Xinwen Coal Group, Shandong are resolved. The physical-chemical properties of coal gangue, optimized proportion of materials, backfilling system and craft in the SCM were studied in the laboratory and then an industrial test was carried out on high quality coal pillars under a town. The results show that finely crushed kaolinized and fresh gangue with granularity less than 5 mm can be used as aggregate with fly ash to replace part of the cement and a composite water reducer as an additive, accounting for 1.0%-1.5% of the total amount of cement and fly ash. The recommended proportion is l（cement）：4（fly ash）： 15（coal gangue）, with a mass fraction of 72%-75%, rheoiogical paste-like properties and a strength of more than 0.7 MPa at 7 d. The sequence of adding cement, fly ash, water reducer and then coal gangue ensures that the suspended state of the slurry, reducing the wear and jam of pipelines. The working face is advancing continuously by the alternating craft of building block walls with coal gangue and backfilling mined-out gobs with paste-like slurry. The recovery rate is as high as 90% with a backfilling cost of 36.9 YuarffL good utilization of coal gangue and no subsidence on the surface. This technology provides a good theoretical basis and application experience for coal mines, cement backfilling with paste-like slurry.

Character of the Si and Al Phases in Coal Gangue and Its Ash

Analysis of the Si and AI phases in coal gangue fuel and its ash is important for use of coal gangue ashes. A comprehensive study by theoretical and experimental analyses with differential thermal analysis, X-ray diffraction and Infrared Spectroscopy has been made in the present article to explore the diagram of the Si and Al phases in coal gangue fuel and its ashes. It is found that kaolinite and quartz are the main phases in coal gangue fuel. The ratio of moles A1203 to SiO2 （i.e., Al2O3 （mole） / SiO2 （mole）） is usually no more than 0.5 in most coal gangue fuel and its ashes. The kaolinit at about 984℃ releases a large quantity of SiO2, which makes calcine coal gangue more active than coal gangue itself. The relationship between the ratio A1203 （mole）]SiO2（mole）and the components of coal gangue ash is analyzed, resulting in a formula to calculate the quantity of each phase. Applying the formula to the testing samples from an electric plant in north China supports the above conclusions.

Performance of cemented coal gangue backfill

Possibility of cemented gangue backfill was studied with gangue of Suncun Coal Mine, Xinwen Coal Group, Shandong, and fly ash of nearby thermal power plant, in order to treat enormous coal gangue on a large scale and to recovery safety coal pillars. The results indicate that coal gangue is not an ideal aggregate for pipeline gravity flow backfill, but such disadvantages of gangue as bad fluidity and serious pipe wear can be overcome by addition of fly ash. It is approved that quality indexes such as strength and dewatering ratio and piping feature of slurry can satisfy requirement of cemented backfill if mass ratio of cement to fly ash to gangue is 1:4:15 and mass fraction of solid materials reaches 72%-75%. Harden mechanism suggests that the cemented gangue fill has a higher middle and long term comprehensive strength.

Particle size distribution of coal and gangue after impact-crush separation

Based on the separation and backfilling system of coal and gangue, the mineral material impact experiments were conducted utilizing the hardness difference between coal and gangue according to the uniaxial compression experiments. The broken coal and gangue particles were collected and screened by different size meshes. The particle size distributions of coal and gangue under different impact velocities were researched according to the Rosin-Rammler distribution. The relationships between separation indicators and impact velocities were discussed. It is found from experiments that there is a fully broken boundary of coal material. The experimental results indicate that the Rosin-Rammler distribution could accurately describe the particle size distribution of broken coal and gangue under different impact velocities, and there is a minimum overlap region when the impact velocity is 12.10 m/s which leads to the minimum mixed degree of coal and gangue, and consequently the benefit of coal and gangue separation.

Synthesis of β-Sialon from Coal Gangue

It is worth to study the synthesis of β-Sialon from coal gangue, because coal gangue is a waste of coal production andis a high quality kaolin contained carbon which is a perfect raw material of contained reducer itself for synthesis of β-Sialon. The study showed that a high conversion rate of 95% from coal gangue to β-Sialon could be obtained by usingprocess of carbothermal reduction nitridation when strictly controlled the thermodynamic conditions of synthesis. Forcontrolling the synthesis conditions easy, the details of the effects of pco, po2 and T on the conversion rate of β-Sialon were discussed detailedly and the phase diagrams of oxygen pressure vs composition for Si3N4-AlN-Al2O3-SiO2system at 1350, 1500, and 1600℃ were constructed in the paper.

Synthesis and Thermal Insulation Performance of Silica Aerogel from Recycled Coal Gangue by Means of Ambient Pressure Drying

Silica aerogel materials are well recognized for their superinsulation performance and are regarded as one of the hot candidates to revolutionize building insulation. To date, high production cost related to exorbitant precursors as well as cumbrous multi-step hydrophobization process has often narrowed the field of applications. In this work, granular silica aerogel materials were synthesized by extracting Si O2 from recycled rich silicon coal gangue, followed by one-step hydrophobization and ambient pressure drying. Lightweight(about 0.16 g/cm3) and nanostructural aerogels were obtained through this route. They exhibit a 3D open porous microstructure with around 600 cm2/g surface area and 20 nm of the average pore diameter, thermal conductivity of 4-5 mm packed granules is 20-25 m W/(m·K), which was proved by both guarded hot plate and hot-wire transient methods. This study offers a new facile route for the synthesis of silica aerogel from recycled solid waste coal gangue and suggests a method, which may lead to a cost reduction in terms of industrial production.

Characteristics of leaching of heavy metals from low-sulfur coal gangue under different conditions

Coal gangue is the main pollution source of mining areas.When coal gangue is stacked and recycled,the heavy metal elements contained in it are released by natural weathering and leaching,which causes damage to the surrounding ecological environment.In this study,the leaching and precipitation characteristics of heavy metals in low-sulfur coal gangue under different environmental conditions were simulated by indoor dynamic leaching experiments,which provided a theoretical basis for environmental restoration of the mining area.The conclusions are as follows:higher heavy metal content in low-sulfur coal gangue is associated with greater,leaching of heavy metals;acidic conditions promote the release of heavy metals in low-sulfur coal gangue;and more precipitation is associated with better release of heavy metals from the low-sulfur coal gangue.

Conversion of coal gangue into alumina, tobermorite and TiO_2-rich material

A large amount of coal gangue from coal mining and processing is regarded as waste and usually stockpiled directly. In order to recycle the valuable elements from the coal gangue, an integrated process is proposed. The process consists of three steps: 1concentrating alumina from the coal gangue via activation roasting followed by alkali leaching of Si O2 which produces alumina concentrate for alumina extraction by the Bayer process; 2) synthesizing tobermorite whiskers from the filtrated alkali liquo containing silicate via a hydrothermal method and reusing excess caustic liquor; and 3) enriching titanium component from the Baye process residue by sulfuric acid leaching. Alumina concentrate with 69.5% Al_2O_3 and mass ratio of alumina to silica(A/S) of 5.9pure 1.1 nm tobermorite whisker and TiO_2-rich material containing 33% TiO_2 are produced, respectively, with the optimal parameters Besides, the actual alumina digestion ratio of alumina concentrate reaches 80.4% at 270 oC for 40 min in the Bayer process.

Source apportionment of heavy metals in soils around a coal gangue heap with the APCS-MLR and PMF receptor models in Chongqing,southwest China

This study studied the characteristics and source apportionment of heavy metal pollution in the agricultural soil surrounding a gangue coal heap in Chongqing,China by using absolute principal component scores-multiple linear regression(APCSMLR)model and positive matrix factorization(PMF)model.The applicability of the models was compared in the assessment of source apportionment.The results showed that the average contents of Cd,Hg,As,Pb,Cr,Cu,Ni,and Zn in the surface soil were 0.46,0.14,9.66,31.2,127,95.6,76.0,and 158 mg/kg,respectively.Combined with the spatial distribution and correlation analyses,the results of source apportionment were consistent for both the APCSMLR and PMF models.Cd,Hg,As,and Pb were mainly affected by the gangue heap accumulation,with respective contributions of 74.6%,79.4%,69.1%,and 67.2%based on the APCS-MLR model and respective contributions of 69.7%,60.7%,57.4%,and 41.9%based on the PMF model.Ni and Zn were mainly affected by industrial and agricultural activities,while Cr and Cu were mainly affected by natural factors.The results of the source apportionment were approximately consistent between the APCS-MLR and PMF models.The combined application of the two receptor models can make the results of source apportionment more comprehensive,accurate,and reliable.