Nuclear physical express analysis of solid fuel sulphur content

Full text: Sulphur content is an important qualitative coal parameter. The problem of coal sulphur content determining remains one of the most important both in Kazakhstan and in other coal-mining countries. The traditional method of sampling, the final stage of which is chemical analysis of coal for sulphur, is characterized by high labour intensity and low productivity. That's why it is ineffective for mass express analytical quality control and technological schemes of coal processing control. In this connection it is very urgent to develop a method of coal sulphur content on the base of a series nuclear-geophysical equipment with an isotope source of primary radiation, allowing to increase analysis representativity and maximally take into account coal real composition inconstancy. To solve the problem set it is necessary to study the main laws of X-ray-radiometric method applied to the coal quality analysis for working out instrumental methods of speed determining of coal sulphur content with satisfactory accuracy for technological tasks, to determine laws of changing the flows of characteristic X-ray and scattered radiation from coal sulphur content of various real composition and to optimize methodical and hardware parameters, providing minimal error of sulphur content control. On the base of studying laws of real composition coal components and their interconnections with sulphur content there has been substantiated the expediency of using hardware functions of calcium and iron to control coal sulphur contents; there has been suggested a model to estimate the methodical error of coal sulphur content determining on the base of the data about sensitivity to sulphur and effecting factors using ultimate methods of coal components substitution methods allowing to optimize sulphur control parameters; there has been worked out an algorithm of X-ray-radiometric control of sulphur content based on the sequential radiating the analyzed coal with gamma-radiation of various energy and measuring the intensity of characteristic X-ray radiation of calcium and iron, respectively, and values of gamma-radiation albedo permitting to remove the matrix effect by means of spectral relations modification realization. The results of the studies proved the validity of the methodical and engineering decisions suggested, permitting to decrease substantially the matrix effect influence and to obtain satisfactory accuracy