| Issue |
MATEC Web Conf.
Volume 416, 2025
XXIst International Coal Preparation Congress: “Advancing Sustainable Coal Preparation” (ICPC XXI 2025)
|
|
|---|---|---|
| Article Number | 05003 | |
| Number of page(s) | 10 | |
| Section | Material Handling, Crushing and Screening / Coal Characterization | |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1051/matecconf/202541605003 | |
| Published online | 10 November 2025 | |
The evolution of spirals in the coal fine circuit: A review
1 Multotec Process Equipment, 28 Forge Road, Spartan ; Kempton Park, 1620, South Africa
2 North West University, School of Chemical and Minerals Engineering, Potchefstroom, South Africa
* Corresponding author: Christinar@multotec.com
Spiral concentrators are extensively employed in coal beneficiation for the processing of fine coal particles within the size range of 2000 to 100 microns. Spirals separate valuable minerals from gangue based on their density. Among the gravity separators, the spiral concentrator is one of the most efficient and simple unit operations. The main operating variables for a spiral concentrator are the feed rate, the solid concentration, and the position of the cutters or splitters used to separate the tailings, middling and concentrate streams. Traditional spirals are classified as highcut technologies with typical cut point between 1.7 and 1.8 specific gravity. Recent developments in spirals have seen the introduction of low-cut spirals to the markets, these spirals have been shown to produce specific gravity cut points in the range of 1.4 to 1.55. This paper aims to review the status of spiral development, understand current challenges associated with fines processing in the industry and to establish gaps that require addressing to make the spiral relevant in the fines circuit while solving challenges faced in the coal processing industry.
© The Authors, published by EDP Sciences, 2025
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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