ArcelorMittal (AMT) has a large steel plant in Temirtau, Karaganda, Kazkahstan. It produces 6 million tonnes of finished product per annum. It uses coking and steam coal from 8 captive mines in a Karaganda basin.
The coal is cleaned in 3 coal preparation plants, 2 located in Temirtau and the third at Vostochnaya. The coal is difficult to clean and AMT were suffering from historic losses of coking coal concentrate and middlings. These problems needed to be addressed to increase the productivity and rationalise the coal preparation facilities.
Following a rigorous test regime it was determined that the main problems at Temirtau and Vostochnaya plants was the loss of 2mm – 0.5 mm coal and the MEP TBS Hydrosizer was recommended to capture the ‘lost’ coal prior to the froth flotation feed and reduce the feed to smaller size fractions to the jigs.
Suppy and Results
The equipment provided by MEP for the Fines Treatment Sections for both Temiratu and Vostochnaya included:
- Primary and Secondary stage Cyclones
- TBS 3650 Hydrosizers
- Centrifugal slurry pumps, all fitted with variable speed inverter drives so that the inlet pressure of the Cyclones could be optimised
- Concentrate and reject Dewatering Screens
- EBW-48 Centrifuges
- Electric Motor Control Gear
The target was to increase yield by 4%. Test results following commissioning showed that they yield was in excess of 50% compared to 40% prior to the installation of MEP equipment. The TBS Hydrosizer produced between 6% to 11% ash with a discard quality of 60 – 70% compared to the previous average of 50 – 60%. Product moisture was < 7%. The MEP plant replaced 6,000 kW of froth flotation cells which provided the customer with a considerable saving in energy usage.
