Coal mines must meet a variety of customer specifications for different coal qualities.The Thermo Scientific™ ECA-3 Elemental Crossbelt Analyzer provides real-time quality analysis of critical process streams to facilitate sorting, blending and out-of-seam dilution control. Productivity is improved in pit management, preparation plants and inventory management.The ECA-3 Analyzer is ideal for raw coal, plant feed, clean coal and blended coal applications. Coal fired power plants benefit by reducing the use of higher, more expensive quality coals while increasing boiler efficiency.
The ECA-3 Elemental Crossbelt Analyzer is the first on-the-belt, full-stream analyzer to use Prompt Gamma Neutron Activation Analysis (PGNAA) technology, a technique pioneered and commercialized by Thermo Fisher Scientific™ in 1984 that has been widely employed for online elemental coal analysis of sample streams. The utility of this analyzer can be enhanced by applying either Thermo Scientific™ COBOS Blending Software or Thermo Scientific™ Silo Tracking Software to track coal composition in downstream bunkers, stockpiles or silos.
PGNAA technology is a significant improvement over dual-gamma and other less sophisticated analytical approaches for through-belt ash measurement. It measures major ash constituents independently as well as sulfur, and then sums them to determine total ash. Because of this, it is not coal-specific and is highly reliable in applications where ash mineralogy varies or where there are multiple seams or coal types. The ECA-3 Elemental Crossbelt Analyzer also provides minute-by-minute analyses of sulfur; and, with an integrated moisture meter, can present moisture and BTU/lb values as well.