Coal Preparation » Dewatering
To date, there has been n o Australian Standard test for conducting vacuum filtration tests of mineral and coal fines' slurries.
A previous project developed a versatile prototype leaf test apparatus for conducting vacuum filtration tests with fine coal slurries. This novel technology was named the "Single Leaf Filter Test" or "SLFT" apparatus. The device was initially designed as a benchmark test rig for laboratory scale testwork relevant to disc and drum filters. Therefore, it was only able to carry out bottom-fed filtration tests in its original form. At a later stage, the SLFT was modified further and given the ability to be used for both top-fed and bottom-fed vacuum filtration testing. Subsequent work confirmed that the SLFT is very well adapted to testing and predicting the effect of almost any operating/feed variables on the filtration performance of horizontal vacuum belt filters.
Because the SLFT has been used extensively by the Australian Coal Industry via commercial projects with the University of Queensland, it rapidly became a defacto-standard test on the Australian coal preparation scene. The aim of this project was to revisit the original design of the SLFT apparatus and modify it so as to improve its features to meet Australian Standard quality.
In this project, the SLFT underwent several modifications to improve its robustness and user-friendliness. The entire layout and mechanical components of the machine were redesigned to facilitate operation and maintenance. The computer interface was completely rebuilt as well to ease the SLFT operation, data recording and processing. The new apparatus is fully documented, including complete blue prints that adhere to current mechanical standard, a simple operating manual and a Windows-based computer software for data recording and analysis.