United States or Indonesia ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
THE "SCHLAMM," or mud, thrown down from the water of coal washing has hitherto been regarded as worthless, says The Engineering and Mining Journal, except that sometimes a portion of the coal particles it contained have been separated and made of value by a washing process; but Bergassessor Haarmann, of Friedrichsthal, has invented a new method for treating it dry and dividing it into two products, one of which, with low ash content, is distinguished by its granular nature, while the other contains a large proportion of ash and is of the fineness of flour.
The method is founded on the circumstances, hitherto lost sight of, that the incombustible constituents of the "schlamm" chiefly consist of clay which was formerly more or less dissolved in the wash water; and on the mud being dried and subjected to a suitable mechanical process, the clay falls into fine dust, while the coal particles, on the contrary, retain their granular nature.
The method is carried out by drying the mud and a subsequent fine sifting, which effects a breaking up of the lumps that occur in the dried "schlamm," and a separation into the two products above named. The dust that falls through the sieve has a high ash content, being in the nature of flour, while what remains behind is granular and has a low ash content.
Word Of The Day