CONTRIBUTION OF COAL-CLEANING PLANTS TO THE USSR COAL INDUSTRY

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-00809A000700120053-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 14, 2011
• Sequence Number: 53
• Publication Date: July 10, 1953
• Content Type: REPORT

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/09/14 :CIA-RDP80-00809A000700120053-8
CENT
SECURITY INFORMATION
RAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
INFORMATION FROM
REPOR
(FOREIGN DOCUMENTS OR RADIO BROADCASTS
CD NO.
USSR
DATE OF
INFORMATION
1953
Economic
- Coal
cleaning
DATE DIST. /~
Jul 1953
SUPPLEMENT TO
REPORT N0.
CONTRIBUTION OF COAL-CLEAi1ING PLANTS TO THE USSR COAL II~IDUSTRY
rThis report presents information on the development of coal-
cleaning plants in L?he USSR coal industry, from two Uaol' articles
by A. 3. Kuz'mich and I. A. U1'yanov, Deputy Ministers of the Coal
Industry.
Numbers in parentheses refer to appended sourcea_]
PUBLISHED Monthly periodical
WHERE
PUBLISHED Moscow
DATE
PUBLISHED Jan, Feb 1953
LANGUAGE Russian
COUNTRY
SUBJECT
HOW
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During the period of the five-year plena, a new branch?of the coal industry
was crr-ated in the USSR9 the mechanized ci'eaning, briquetting, and sorting of
coal.(1) In prere~'o~utionary Russia the Country actually did possess 12 coal-
cleaning installations made by foreign firms. However, the capacity of individ-
ual installations was not over 50-100 tons per hour, witb the exception of the
Kadiyevka plant, which had a capacity of over 100 tons per hour, and the equip-
ment of the plants and the technology of cleaning was comparatively simple since
stn-of-the-mine coal contained relatively little ash, particularly the small va-
rieties below 3-4 millimeters in size.(2)
'a
During the past 10 years, the productive capacity of cleaning plants in-
creaecci almost four times. Zn 1940, only 19.4 percent of coking coal ores sub-
Jected to mechanical cleaning, but in 1950 this figure had risen to 40 percent
~ource 2 says wore than 80 percent] and in 1952 to 50 percent.(1)
From 1930 to 1940, very large coal-cleaning plants were constructed accord-
ing to plans of Soviet specialists: the Kal'miueskaya TsOF (Tsentral'naya Obo-
gatitel'naya Fabrika, Central Coal-Cleaning Plant and the Chumakovskaya TsOF in
the Donbass, the Ka.sgandinskaye TsOF in Karaganda end a number of others with
coke by-products pl zts (Yenakiyevo, Gubakha, etc.). The capacity of one coal-
hriquetting and cleaning plant which was put in operation excee~?.ed the total ca-
pacity of all briquetting installations of prerevolutionary Russia. USSR-made '
equipment, distinguished for Sts high productivity and increased effectiveness,
is installed in all these plants. At present, all coking coal of such combines
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ae the Kuzbassugol' Combine, ~ourc~ 1 aaya the predominant part of Kuzbasaugol'
Combine coal] is eub~acted to mechanical cleaning, while before 1940 th:s com-
bine did not possess a single coal-cleaning ,:ombine.(2) In addition Yo the Kuz-
bass, inten^_ive work is being done in the Donbass and Karaganda with the aim of
reducing the ssh content of coal to be used for coking.(1)
In 1950 alone, about 2,500,000 tons of harmful admixtures were removed by
mechanical methods Prom coal shipped by enterprises of the?Miniatry of the Coal
Industry. Shipping this coal in its uncleaned state would have required about
2,000 additional railroad trains.
The ash content of coking coal shipped in the Fourth Five-Year Plan from
coal-cleaning plants of the Ministry of the Coal Industry xas decreased from
9.7 to 8.1 percent in the Donbass, from 8.5 to 8.0 percent in the Kuzbass, and
from 11.2 to 10.9 percent in Karaganda. The improved quality of this coal has
contributed to higher achievr~ents in metallurgy.
The ash content of fuel coal shipped to enterprises of the Ministry of
Electric Polder Stations decreased in the Fourth Five-Year Plan from 17.10 per-
cent (1945) to 15.9 percent (1950), while that of coal shipped to enterprises
of thF Minis~ry of Railways decreased correspondingly from 24.21 to 23.05 per-
cent. Th1a improved quality of fuel coal. resulted in a decreased consumption
of 5.6 percent by enterprises of +.he Ministry of Electric Pawer Stations and
of 19.6 percent by enterprises of the Ministry of Railways.
In prerevolutionary Russia, coking coal in sizes below 3-4 millimeters was
not cleaned; at present, all small sizes of coking ccals are cleane3 in Donbass
pleats.
Screening techniques have changed greatly in USSR coal-cleaning plants.
Law-performance shaker screens have been replaced by high-speed BKG shaker
screens and by VG and GUP vibration screens.
Flotation, a new process of cleaning small particles of coal, is being used
widely on an industrial scale in enterprises cf the coal and coke by-products
industries. In 1953, flotation installations of the Donbass are processing
several thousand. tons of coal par*icles per day. Flotation. has greatly decreased
losses of high-grade coking coals and is spreading not only in the Donbass but
in the Kuzbass and Karaganda.
During the Fifth Five-Year Plan, several of the largest flotation instal-
lations in the world will be put ~enepofacellsiofthi elsteroductivesflotation
TaOF in Karaganda alone, several gh Y P
machines will start operating.
The average capacity of a flo*ation installation in the Donbass is about
40 tons per hour.
F.lmest all flotation reagents u=ed in flotation installations of foreign
countries and, until recently also in the USSR, are products of the coke by-
products industry. These reagents con~ain a number of harmful substances; as a
result, used rater carried ofn from tflotationiinstallationsoof phe Ministrvuoaf7.
rater reservoirs. Et?arting 951,
the Coel Industry began to use reagents which did not contain harmful ingr_:i-
enta end in this way increased the efficiency of the flotation process and de-
creased i+s cost.
Soviet specialists are mastering a chemical-gravity method for removing ash
and sulfur from coking coal. ,With the introduction of thlieseofocokinincoalrwiil
the sulfur content of coal wiry decrease sharply and ~c~pF g
be increased.
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Another achievement in the development of USSR coal-cleaning techniques
has been the mastery of a mechanical method for cleaning lignite. An instal-
lation for this purpose has been operating more than 2 years in the Sverd-
lovskugol' Combine and is cleaning high-ash conl fror. the Volchansk deposit.
Good results have been obtained at a coal-cleaning plant at Mine No bk-45
and Mine No 46-47 of the Kopeyskugol' Trust of the Chelyabinskugol' Combine.
The conclusion may be drain that the wet process of cleaning will produce a
high-grade lignite concentrate. If the ash content of the originsl coal was
36-38 percent, that of the concentrate x111 be 18-20 percent.(2)
The directives of the 19th Party Congress provide for an increase of 2.7
times in coal-cleaning during the Fiftb Five-Year Plan. The amount of coal
processed in coal-cleaning plants ie to increase 2.9 times, including 2.3
times for coking coal, 4.7 times for fuel coal, and 16 times for lignite.(1, 2)
SOURCES
1. Moacox, Ugol', No 1, 1953
2. Ibid., No 2, 1953
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