Assessment of performance of a fine coal processing plant through availability analysis and the Mann-Whitney U test for two samples

Abstract

In this study, the Mann-Whitney U test for two sample and availability analysis are applied on equipments belonging to a heavy dense cyclone circuit in a fine coal processing plant. Through the results from the Mann-Whitney U test for two samples, it is determined that the coal sieves fed by the upper flow of the cyclone (S-25, S-26 and S-27) and the coal sieves fed by the lower flow of the cyclone (S-28 and S-29) are identical. Using availability analysis, the performances of the cyclone pump engine (CPE), the cyclone pump (CP) and the coal sieves are calculated. As the result of this analysis, it is found that the performances of these equipment ranges from 96.60 - 98.99% and that they operate with a high performance. As a result, it is determined that the performances of the equipment can be calculated using availability analysis and that the Mann-Whitney U test for two samples supports this analysis. Additionally, it is believed that these methods may help the monitoring of equipment in complex facilities and help improve fine coal processing plants.