Evaluation of Thrace Region fine coal tailings

79.9% of the lignites in our country have a calorific value of less than 2500 Kcal/kg. In order to reduce energy dependence of the country, it would be right to use these lignite reserves of 11.8 billion tons by use of effective coal preparation methods and with clean coal combustion systems together with developing technology. A typical coal preparation plant produces 20% of the feed coal, all below 0.5 mm. Generally, due to high cost, the product under this size is not used but thanks to the developing coal cleaning technology, this size group can be utilized with low ash content. Within the framework of this study, the discarded fine fraction coal sample which was below 0.5 mm was taken from Uysal Mining Company in Tekirdağ and subjected to enrichment and dewatering experiments to obtain a marketable product. In experimental studies, in order to produce a high quality product, the slime portion which contains mainly clay minerals was removed with 81.25% ash content using screen with aperture of 150 microns. Afterwards, the coal having 49.09% ash content was subjected to multistage Reichert Spiral tests and a clean coal product with 24.1% ash content was produced. In settling experiments, the product below 150 microns was used and at the end of these tests the slurry with 30% solid in pulp ratio was produced. It can be concluded that the clean coal which is produced after enrichment tests could be used in energy sector, power plants, briquetting plants, cement plants etc.