The determination of drying properties of high moistured lignites

The southeast part of Turkey region has considerably amount of coal reserves. Most of these reserves are located in Adiyaman-Gölbaşi Region which has about 60 million tons of reserves and also its geological reserve is estimated as 150 million tons. However, these reserves have highly amount of moisture (50%). The evaluation of these coals after dewatering and drying should be conducted to contribute these resources to Turkey's economy. In this study, the representative coal sample was obtained from Adiyaman-Gölbaşi Region. It contains 2183 kcal/kg lower calorific value, 37.8% of moisture, 24% of ash, 25.66% of flying matter, 12.54% of fixed carbon and 1.22% of total sulfur. Physical and chemical analyses, determination of minerals and particle liberation sizes of these minerals were determined. Also, some drying experiments in fixed beds and rotary driers were performed in dependence of drying period, various particle sizes and temperatures. These experiments showed that a dried coal with the moisture content of 8% and 3350 kcal/kg lower calorific value was obtained at 150 oC in 21 minutes drying period by using rotary drier while the same moisture content was obtained in 30 minutes using by fixed bed drying system.