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Application of Image Processing for Modelling Pyrite Oxidation in a Coal Washing Waste Pile

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Abstract

In this paper, an image processing method was applied to model the pyrite oxidation in the wastes of the Alborz Sharghi coal washing plant waste pile, northeast Iran. Pictures of polished sections created from the powdered samples of coal wastes were used to determine the amount of pyrite that remained at different depths of the waste pile. The amount of pyrite in the same samples also measured applying a method presented by ASTM, and the results were in very good agreement with the values calculated by the image processing method.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the Alborz Sharghi Coal Company for supporting this research. The authors are grateful to the Faculty of Mining and metallurgy Engineering, Amirkabir University of Technology (Tehran Polytechnic) for the financial and technical support provided for the M.Sc. thesis of the first author.

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Correspondence to Mohammadhossein Sadeghiamirshahidi.

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Sadeghiamirshahidi, M., Eslam Kish, T. & Doulati Ardejani, F. Application of Image Processing for Modelling Pyrite Oxidation in a Coal Washing Waste Pile. Environ Model Assess 18, 365–376 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10666-012-9350-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10666-012-9350-2

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