Mitigation of microplastic pollution by blending with products of metallurgical coal processing
department or school: Applied Science, Faculty of
department or school: Mining Engineering, Keevil Institute of
data provider: DSpace
degree campus: UBCV
creator: Zafar, Geety
issued: 2025-06-05T14:53:31Z
issued: 2025
related degree: Master of Applied Science - MASc
degree grantor: University of British Columbia
description: Microplastic pollution is a serious environmental concern, which requires innovative solutions. This study investigates the incorporation of high-density polyethylene (HDPE) and polycarbonate (PC) microplastics into the products of coal processing, specifically clean coal concentrates from flotation, to evaluate their effect on coal coking properties. After flotation, microplastics were blended with the flotation concentrates at varying concentrations and tested for caking properties by Free Swelling Index (FSI) and fluidity by Gieseler Fluidity (GF). The results show that while FSI remained largely unaffected, fluidity was significantly reduced, indicating that coal concentrates mixed with plastic will not be suitable for metallurgical coke production. However, blending the microplastics with coal middlings reduced ash content while maintaining high calorific value. This suggests a promising alternative for use in thermal coal applications such as power generation, gasification, or even hydrogen production.
aggregated CHO: https://circle.library.ubc.ca/rest/handle/2429/91279
note: Mitigation of Microplastic Pollution by Blending with Products of Metallurgical Coal Processing by Geety Zafar BA, Balkh University, Mazar-i-Sharif, Afghanistan, 2018 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF APPLIED SCIENCE in The Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies (Mining Engineering) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Vancouver) June 2025 © Geety Zafar, 2025 ii The following individuals certify that they have read, and recommend to the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies for acceptance, the thesis entitled: Mitigation of Microplastic Pollution by Blending with Products of Metallurgical Coal Processing submitted by Geety Zafar in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Applied Science in Mining Engineering Examining Committee: Dr. Maria Holuszko, Mining Engineering, UBC Supervisor Dr. Scott Dunbar, Mining Engineering, UBC Supervisory Committee Member Dr. Marek Pawlik, Mining Engineering, UBC Supervisory Committee Member iii Abstract Microplastic pollution is a serious environmental concern, which requires innovative solutions. This study investigates the incorporation of high-density polyethylene (HDPE) and polycarbonate (PC) microplastics into the products of coal processing, specifically clean coal concentrates from flotation, to evaluate their effect on coal coking properties. After flotation, microplastics were blended with the flotation concentrates at varying concentrations and tested for caking properties by Free Swelling Index (FSI) and fluidity by Gieseler Fluidity (GF). The results show that while FSI remained largely unaffected, fluidity was significantly reduced, indicating that coal concentrates mixed with plastic will not be suitable for metallurgical coke production. However, blending the microplastics with coal middlings reduced ash content while maintaining high calorific value. This suggests a promising alternative for use in thermal coal applications …
has type: Thesis/Dissertation
date issued: 2025-11
is shown at: 10.14288/1.0449045
language: eng
degree discipline: Mining Engineering
provider: Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
publisher: University of British Columbia
rights: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
rights URI: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
scholar level: Graduate
contributor: Holuszko, M. E.
type: Text
identifier URI: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/91279