PENNSYLVANIA ANTHRACITE REFUSE A SUMMARY OF A LITERATURE SURVEY ON UTILIZATION AND DISPOSAL

Special Research Report SR-79 The following advantages accrue to a monorail system compared to track haulage: 1. Derailment is impossible. 2. Track and road maintenance is eliminated. 3. Higher gradient can be overcome with less power demand. 4. Equipment maintenance is reduced drastically. 5. Haulage cost per ton-mile is reduced because less power is consumed. 6. It is not affected by a weak floor and back conditions. 7. Initial capital cost is much less than track haulage. 8. It is easily adopted to material and mantrip use. The basic conclusion to be derived from this study is that the monorail system is versatile. Besides its use in material handling and for mantrips in Europe and Great Britain, it can be used for ore haulage in small mines. The monorail requires a lower initial capital investment in addition to reduced operational and maintenance costs. Floor maintenance of haulage ways is completely eliminated. Haulage capacity of the system can be increased by eliminating waiting times, speeding up the monorail and adding more containers to the system. These facts establish the superiority of the monorail system over conventional equipment and should strongly be considered. For material handling very little clearance is required above the floor to move material either by hand or by rope hoist or even pushing it with a tractor. Therefore, a low seam is not a handicap to a monorail system in material handling. However, some modifications on the system may be necessary for different applications. The 484 square mile anthracite field in northeastern Pennsylvania is blighted with many unsightly refuse banks. A study has been made on the utilization and disposal potential of these nearly one billion tons of anthracite refuse. Chemical analysis of ashed anthracite refuse revealed small quantities of rare and trace elements. Larger quantities of silica, alumina and other elements were found in refuse that may be extracted. Enormous tonnages of refuse could be used as landfill and backfill not only within the anthracite area but in flat marshy coastal areas in the East--if economical and without interfering with the conservation of wet-lands. :Crushing refuse may be necessary for final disposal. The crushed refuse coi1ld be washed and would provide a low-grade salable fuel. The reject material from this operation can be used for underground stowing to provide surface stability within the region and possibly fill for some phase of highway construction. Heat treated or expanded anthracite refuse has been used successfully as lightweight aggregate in manufacturing building blocks and bricks. A very good grade of mineral wool has been made from anthracite refuse and ashes. Anthracite refuse may be used as a soilless media for container- grown crips and for other horticultural uses. Very little work has been done to date in this field. A research program was initiated on vegetating anthracite refuse banks in Pennsylvania. Primarily this was a reforestation project as a screen cover for the unsightly refuse banks.