Ultrasonically assisted rapid solid-liquid separation of fine clean coal particles

An investigation on the effects of sonic waves to improve the efficiency of fine coal dewatering in vacuum filtration has been carried out. The object ive was to study the synergistic effect of vacuum filtration and sonication in the presence of surface active agents and to understand the importance of the various process parameters to devise scale up criteria for industria l application. Under optimal conditions, the residual cake moisture was sub stantially decreased and filtration rate improved respectively, from 21 to 10% and 4.3 X 10(3) to 10.5 X 10(3) l/m(2)/h. It has been estimated that th e oil cost saving could be as high as Rs 98 per tonne of dry solid. The cos t benefit analysis has also been described and discussed. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.