Amir Sohail, Javed Akhtar, Khurram Shahzad,

The fundamental motivation behind this investigation was to remove sulfur content from local coal. There are number of physical methods for sulfur removal, which are already being applied commercially, however limited data is available for application of gravity concentration like concentrating tables to local coal. In this study Diester concentration table was used not only to remove sulfur content from coal but also to produce a fraction of coal which having lesser inorganic matter and high heating value. Two (2) different coal samples were investigated, which originated from Makarwal and Dukki fields. Proximate analysis of Makarwal and Dukki coals showed high sulphur and ash contents, which indicated the requirement of cleaning of the Makarwal and Dukki coal before any use. The cleaning was performed by varying two parameters i.e., Solid-liquid ratio (5/95, 10/90), and particle size (60 mesh and 72 mesh). The ash was reduced to 7.72 % from 26.1 % (total 19 % ash reduction) whereas the sulfur reduction was reduced to 2.10 % from 6.80 % (total 4.7 % ash reduction). It was concluded that high sulfur Makarwal and Dukki coal could be upgraded by using Diester table before using as a fuel.