Elemental management system (ElMan) based on TNC + NIS technology for online coal analysis and process control

Abstract

The key tasks of each industry are to reduce costs and improve quality of the product, which can be obtained through the increased use of automation systems. On-line quality measurement is the front tool to optimize process efficiencies, to maximize the use of resources and to provide the improvement of the quality. Relating to coal, the major quality parameters are the content of moisture, flight substances, ash content, carbon content, sulfur content and others. Neutron activation analyzing (NAA) technologies are the basis of many on-line analysis systems that are now widely used in different industries [1,6,10] and are included in different process automation systems. The root principle is using neutrons interacting with atoms of the target material and producing gamma-rays with energies characteristic of the emitting nuclei which are specific for each element. In this article the most precise and accurate method of NAA online elemental analysis - TNC+NIS is described and compared with precede technology of PGNAA (TNC) and results of online measurement of coal quality by TNC+NIS analyzer are presented. Calculations of calorific capacity, based on data from TNC+NIS analysis is compared with real values from burnt coal.