SBIR-STTR Award

The conventional means of measuring the elemental composition of coal involve obtaining a representative sample for analysis in a laboratory. Disadvantages include both sampling error and time delay associated with sampling, lab analysis, and data retrieval. Commercial on-line analyzers are available, but they are very expensive and typically do not report on the presence of mercury, arsenic, cadmium, or lead. This project will develop a real-time, on-line coal analyzer that measures ash, sulphur, and trace contaminants, including mercury, arsenic, cadmium, and lead. In addition, the analyzer will be provided in a commercially-available form with a price less than $200,000. In Phase I, an analyzer mock-up will be assembled with neutron sources, shielding/moderating materials, detector, and electronics. The minimum concentration levels required for the constituent elements in ash and for trace-level contaminants will be determined. An appropriate analyzer configuration will be determined so that an analyzer built in Phase II can be installed at a coal facility for use in conjunction with contaminant removal in coal gasifiers.

Commercial Applications and Other Benefits as described by the awardee:
The analyzer should have applicability at all commercial gasifiers in order to enable the efficient removal of contaminants. In addition, an affordable (<$200,000) coal analyzer would provide economic benefits for the real-time monitoring of ash, sulfur, and BTU at most coal-fired power stations

Real-time knowledge of coal feedstock properties is needed to improve the performance of coal-fueled gasifiers.  However, conventional measurements provide only average information for an entire trainload of coal, whose quality can vary dramatically from car to car.  Commercially available on-line coal analyzers are very expensive and typically cannot quantify mercury, arsenic, cadmium, or lead.  This project will produce a real-time, on-line coal analyzer that measures ash, sulfur, and trace contaminants, including mercury, arsenic, cadmium, and lead.  Furthermore, the analyzer will sell for an affordable price of less than $200,000.  In Phase I, a coal analyzer prototype was designed, built, mounted on a conveyor belt, and dynamically calibrated in a coalmine for measuring ash in run-of-mine coal.  Test results demonstrated the analyzer’s uniformity of measurement across the conveyor belt with varying bed depth.  Phase II will improve detection sensitivity for mercury and arsenic in order to determine levels typically encountered in coal to be measured.  An enhanced prototype will be built, tested, and calibrated for the constituent elements in ash, including Si, Al, Ca, Fe, Ti, K, S, P, Na, Hg, As, Cd, and Pb.  Project efforts will culminate in the design of an analyzer that can be installed at a coal facility for use in conjunction with contaminant removal and process control in coal gasification.

Commercial Applications and Other Benefits as described by the awardee:
  The coal analyzer should enable coal gasification facilities to remove contaminants before combustion, thereby eliminating hazardous plant emissions.  In addition, this affordable (<$200,000) coal analyzer should provide economic benefit by allowing dynamic, closed-loop control of the combustion process with minimal undesirable stack emissions and improved plant efficiency.