Developing a mechanistic model for performance prediction of low grade and upgraded coals in various utilization technologies using advanced characreization techniques

预计至少在未来20年内，全球对煤炭的需求将大幅增加。这就推动了低品位煤的利用越来越多。这些低级煤具有一种或多种有问题的性质，例如高灰分含量或高水分或高硫或高碱或所有这些。有许多技术可以升级这些煤。这些可以包括蒸发干燥（利用废热）或非蒸发干燥（水热处理或热机械表达），使用常规的泡沫浮选或使用空气重介质流化床的干法清洗或使用复杂得多的化学清洗方法来去除矿物质（溶剂萃取）使用强酸完全除去灰分/碱洗溶解几乎所有的灰分或用有机溶剂溶解所有的有机物，

The demand for coal worldwide is expected to increase significantly over next two decades at least. This is pushing the utilization of low grade coals more and more. These low grade coals have one or more problematic properties such as high ash content or high moisture or high sulfur or high alkalis or all of these. There are a number of technologies to upgrade these coals. These can include evaporative drying (using waste heat) or non-evaporative drying (hydrothermal treatment or thermo-mechanical expression), removing minerals using conventional froth floatation or dry cleaning using air dense medium fluidized bed or using much more complex methods of chemical cleaning (solvent extraction) of complete ash removal using a strong acid/base wash dissolving almost all the ash or using organic solvent to dissolving all the organic matter and thus