Reviving Antiquated BATAC^® Jigs in India through Technological Upgrades

Abstract

Deteriorating quality of run off mine (ROM) coal, meeting environmental regulations and quality stipulation of end users, made coal washing in India to assume unprecedented importance. In order to increase its washing capacity, Coal India Limited (CIL) proposed setting up of many coal washeries, some of which are already under construction. Many private companies are also mulling to set up their own washeries. However, these new washeries shall take time to become fully operational. The existing washeries of CIL have aged significantly and therefore run below their installed capacity. Until the new coal washeries come up, these existing washeries may serve as the life line of washed coal, provided that they are upgraded suitably. Many existing washeries have BATAC^® jigs as the main washing equipment and this paper details the modifications carried out in them for reviving and improving their efficiency resulting in improvement of capacity utilization of such washeries which made CIL look into such renovations more seriously. These upgrades breathed fresh life into those antiquated machines making them capable to handle the changed feed coal more efficiently and produce clean coal of required quality.