BS ISO 12900:2018

What is ISO 12900—Abrasiveness of hard coal about? 

ISO 12900 is an international standard that covers the qualities of hard coal. 

ISO 12900 describes a method for determining the abrasiveness of hard coal. The abrasiveness is calculated from the mass of steel lost during the test. 

ISO 12900 specifies the technicalities for checking the abrasiveness of hard coal such as terms, definitions, the principle of the method, apparatus used, sample preparation, test procedure, calculations, reporting of results, the precision of the determination, and stating the test report. 

Who is ISO 12900 —Abrasiveness of hard coal for?  

ISO 12900 on Abrasiveness of hard coal is relevant to: 

• Chemical engineers 
• Mineral engineers 
• Laboratory and field-testing authorities 
• Geologists 
• Concrete and cement industries 
• Power plant technologies 

Why should you use ISO 12900—Abrasiveness of hard coal? 

The abrasiveness of coal is recognized as a factor in coal operations, from mining to utilization, requiring a standard method of measurement and evaluation, as some coals are more abrasive than others. 

ISO 12900 assists with the interaction between coal and conveying, storage, and crushing equipment result in component wear. In particular, higher contact pressures in some coal pulverizers result in significant wear.  

For the ranking or relative comparison of the abrasiveness of coals, a test was developed that standardized the following equipment variables: 

• Test equipment dimensions and tolerances 
• Speed of rotation of wearing components 
• Properties of the wearing components 
• Mass of the test portion 
• The top particle size of the test portion 
• Duration of the test 

Abrasiveness, as determined by ISO 12900, has been demonstrated to provide initial empirical estimates of specific wear rates in certain types of industrial tube-ball mills, vertical spindle mills, and high-speed hammer mills, with different coefficients for each mill type. The abrasiveness of coal is generally a function of two factors: the physical properties of the coal, in particular, moisture content, mineral content, and mineral characteristics; the mechanics of the operations to which the coal is subjected.  

Overall, ISO 12900 is helpful as it determines abrasiveness that might be of value in providing an initial estimate of the likely wear in other applications, giving the relative effect of different coals. 

What’s changed since the last update? 

BS ISO 12900:2018 supersedes BS ISO 12900:2015, which is withdrawn. BS ISO 12900:2018 constitutes a minor revision to provide clarification on how to operate the abrasion test machine in Clause 7, compared to the previous edition.