Reducing the environmental impact of coal-washing practice in Australia

All Australian coal for export is washed — that is, the low-grade high-ash material is separated out and disposed of at the washery site. The coarse rejects are generally placed in embankments and the tailings are pumped into settling ponds. These methods of waste disposal can create environmental problems. In addition, they represent a significant energy loss, because about one-third of the waste material is combustible and is thus a potentially valuable source of energy. Laboratory studies at the CSIRO Division of Fossil Fuels at North Ryde, New South Wales, have shown that energy can be successfully recovered from washery wastes by the process of fluidized-bed combustion. A pilot fluidized-bed combustor, with a capacity of 2 tonnes/hour, is undergoing prolonged trial at the Clutha washery near Camden, New South Wales, in a joint project between the Joint Coal Board and CSIRO. The results from the pilot plant tests have provided the basis for a conceptual design and feasibility study for a full-scale tailings treatment plant. This study has indicated that fluidized-bed combustion:

1. offers an environmentally attractive and economically competitive alternative to the disposal of tailings in settling ponds, and
2. can be used to generate large quantities of energy from the wastes, reducing the energy lost in coal washing from around 16% to 6% of the coal mined.

     

Primary vegetative growth on an old tailings dam,Zawar mines

Tailings containing toxic qualities of heavy metals are a potential source of pollution. Stabilisation by vegetative methods have been found the most effective. In an attempt to vegetate tailings dams it has been noted that while certain milky latex containing plants can be grown without any preconditioning of the soil, almost any plant can be grown after proper conditioning. However, the plants grown there cannot be consumed by humans or cattle due to their high metal content.