Multi-parameter data visualization by means of principal component analysis (PCA) in qualitative evaluation of various coal types

Multi-parameter data visualization methods are a modern tool allowing to classify some analyzed objects. When it comes to grained materials, e.g. coal, many characteristics have an influence on the material quality. Besides the most obvious features like particle size, particle density or ash contents, coal has many other qualities which show significant differences between the studied types of material. The paper presents the possibility of applying visualization techniques for coal type identification and determination of significant differences between various types of coal. The Principal Component Analysis was applied to achieve this purpose. Three types of coal 31, 34.2 and 35 (according to Polish classification of coal types) were investigated, which were initially screened on sieves and subsequently divided into density fractions. Next, each size-density fraction was analyzed chemically to obtain other characteristics. It was pointed out that the applied methodology allowed to identify certain coal types efficiently, which makes it useful as a qualitative criterion for grained materials. However, it was impossible to provide such identification based on contrastive comparisons of all three types of coal. The presented methodology is a new way of analyzing data concerning widely understood mineral processing.