Assessment of coal slurry deposits energetic potential and possible utilization paths

Coal-slurries and post-flotation mud have the highest carbon content among other mine waste produced during coal mining and preparation. Therefore, coal slurries deposited in impoundments can be regarded as potential fuel. In the article methods of energetic potential assessments of raw and beneficiated coal slurry deposits were discussed. Results of such assessment for 21 impoundments were presented and the loss of energetic potential due to the imperfection of beneficiation method was discussed. The lowest losses were observed for beneficiation by froth flotation where the loss of energetic potential was on average 15%. The highest loss was observed for beneficiation in centrifugal separators where on average it was 68%. Possible paths of utilization of such slurries in Polish national fuel balance were studied using the SWOT analysis. The results of the SWOT analysis indicate that the internal factors, i.e. the ones related to the coal slurry processing technology have much lower impact on the possibility of using coal slurry deposits in the national fuel balance. Instead, according to the experts, external factors have much greater impact.