THE PREPARATION CHARACTERISTICS OF THE BITUMINOUS COAL RESERVES IN PENNSYLVANIA WITH SPECIAL EMPHASIS ON SULFUR REDUCTION

Special Research Report SR-35 Much of the thick easy to mine high quality bituminous coal in Pennsylvania has been depleted by over 100 years of concentrated mining. Although large reserves of coal are still present} many of these reserves are thin-seamed} high in ash and/or sulfur content} or in locations that are difficult to mine. Preparation of a uniform product is difficult because of the variation in the ash and sulfur content from one area to another. In some areas the sulfur content of the run-of-mine coal may be less than 1.0 per cent. A suitable metallurgical coal can be produced from many of the higher per cent sulfur run-of-mine coals by crushing to 1-1/2 11 or smaller for the liberation of pyritic sulfur. The crushing of some coals decreases the sulfur content by as much as 3 per cent; however} this increases the difficulties encountered in fine coal cleaning} and increases the cost of preparation. During the past two years a survey was conducted of the 103 bituminous coal preparation plants in Pennsylvania by the Mineral Preparation Department} The Pennsylvania State University. The report of this survey indicates not only the methods (and their effectiveness) used for the removal of sulfur and ash at each plant} but also the problems encountered in their plant operations. The theoretical possibilities of obtaining low ash and low sulfur coals during preparation is reported as determined from the U. S. Bureau of Mines' county reports on the preparation characteristics of each county's coal reserves. The reserve estimates cited in this report must be used with considerable caution since the sources of information did not consider mineability or economic conditions affecting the mining of these resources. The major reserves of coal which meetJ or may be upgraded to meetJ metallurgical standards are located in the two Freeport seams and the three Kittanning seams in Districts 1 and 2J and the Pittsburgh seam in Greene and Washington Counties in District No. 2.