Space mining? Yes! Laser-induced Plasma Spectroscopy Analyzer

Recommendation of new technic!

Space mining?

Enter the LIPS, Laser Induced Plasma.

Witness the stroke of Laser induced fast elemental analysis.

Online analysis system of coal integral composition

Online analysis system for other mineral is undergoing research and development.

In November 2011, the well-known mars probe, Curiosity, was launched by NASA. A ChemCam instrument developed by Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) was installed to the probe for the very first time and it’s used for rapid, real-time analysis of Martian rock composition. ChemCam consists of a laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy and a high-resolution imager. The Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy applicates LIPS, an important elemental anaysis technology.

Outline of the ChemCam.

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What is LIPS?

LIPS is Laser-induced plasma spectroscopy.

It is an elemental analysis technology developed based on the basic principle that the wavelength of atomic spectrum and ion spectrum has a one-to-one correspondence relationship with specific elements, and the spectral signal intensity has a certain quantitative relationship with the content of corresponding elements.

Schematic diagram of laser induced plasma spectral excitation

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The laser is focused on the sample surface through a lens. When the energy of the laser pulse is greater than the breakdown threshold energy of the sample, the plasma will be generated locally on the sample surface, which is the laser-induced plasma. As the plasma expands to the outside environment, it gradually cools and emits a spectrum to characterize the composition of the sample. Photodetectors and spectrometers are used to collect the emission spectrum of plasma. By analyzing the plasma spectrum and combining with the quantitative analysis model, the category and content information of the analyzed samples can be obtained.

LIPS element analysis of Martian soil.

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Principle, advantage and application of laser induced online elemental analysis technology based on LIPS

Based on LIPS principle, laser induced fast elemental analysis technology can be developed. It take high-energy laser as the excitation source, irradiate the surface of sample with high energy pulse laser (within a few nanoseconds) , convert the sample of irradiated area into plasma, combined with elemental spectrum analysis system it carries out a special analysis on characteristic spectrum produced by plasma, the sample can be rapidly analyzed on quality and quantity in a short period, thus obtain the information of each element content in the sample.

Principle of LIPS laser elemental analyzer

Compared with other traditional elemental analysis technologies, laser elemental analysis technology has the following advantages:

1. Qualitative and quantitative analysis of almost all elements;

2. It can conduct almost nondestructive analysis on various forms of substances (solid, liquid and gas);

3. Non-uniform samples can be analyzed without pretreatment;

4. Fast analysis speed, sample analysis can be completed in a few seconds, online analysis can be done;

5. Safe without radiation, without any physical damage to the operator;

6. Non-contact analysis, can deal with a variety of environments.

Comparison of laser-induced Extreme velocity element analysis based on LIPS with other techniques

Fast elemental analysis based on LIPS laser-induced plasma technology has a wild applicability. Therefore, it’s application can be developed based on this technology for different industries, such as:

1. Metallurgical engineering

2. Gem identification

3. Archaeological analysis

4. Biomedical science

5. Food industry

6. Military uses

7. Environmental detection

8. Material analysis

9. Space mining

Online analysis system of coal integral composition

Development Background:

Intelligent perception is the first problem in intelligent construction of coal preparation plant, and on-line analysis of ash content is the most urgent problem. LIPS for coal preparation plant, has emerged to provide real-time analysis online and control costs.

The existing coal ash analysis methods are divided into four kinds:

1. Traditional analysis method: there are many problems, such as manual sampling and testing, there are potential safety hazards; The time lag of output results makes it difficult to realize intellectualization

2. Active online ash analyzer: expensive and fast attenuation of radioactive source

3. Passive online ash analyzer: the application of the universality is not wide and the analysis accuracy and precision is not good

4. Other ash content analysis method: laser induced plasma spectroscopy, which achieves spectrum and ash content analysis.

Technical principle:

By irradiating the surface of coal with high-energy pulse laser (time width of several nanoseconds), the high temperature of more than 10,000 degrees is generated in the area within several microns, which causes the formation of plasma of the coal in this area, and various elements in the plasma will glow. By measuring the spectrum, the content information of each element can be obtained. It's called Laser Induced Plasma Spectroscopy (LIPS).

Typical spectrum of coal, Panpanta flotation feed slime, ash content :26.25%

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Application situation:

Industrial tests were carried out from November 2020 to July 2021 at the Panpanta coal preparation plant, which is currently in use for nearly a year. The test results show that the laser ash meter is simple to maintain and stable to function, which verifies its performance in the environment of high humidity, high dust content, intense vibration, frequent temperature variation and online conditions. For repeated testing of the same coal sample, the absolute error of this method is less than 0.2%, and the absolute error of manual test results is less than 0.3%, which suffices the requirements of national standard for testing error. The error of online test results in production is about 0.4%.

It's now in use in Yueliangtian coal dreesing plant of Panjiang Group and Longwanggou coal preparation plant of Datang Group, etc.

Notice

The content of each element in coal can be determined online by laser induced plasma spectroscopy (LIPS), which can accurately obtain the industrial analysis indexes of ash content, sulfur content, fixed carbon content, volatile matter content and calorific value of coal.

LIPS coal integral component analysis system is safe without radioactive source, and can realize high accuracy and high precision online analysis of coal total elements. It has the characteristics of small volume, simple installation and debugging, easy operation and maintenance, it can provide an effective perception methods for the intelligent construction of coal preparation plant.

Using artificial intelligence algorithm which is based on machine learning and data mining to process spectrum and ash content data, the output value and ash content value can be highly consistent. For repeated testing of the same coal sample, the absolute error of this method is less than 0.2%, and the absolute error of manual test results is less than 0.3%, which suffices the requirements of national standard for testing error. The error of online test results is about 0.4%. (ash content less than 15%).

Contact us: 

Mr.Tari

Tel:+86 15927439651

WeChat: wb15927439651

Mr.Kurt

Tel: +86 18160016286

WeChat: kurt553014