Intellection has opened up new markets for its technology with the sale of a Qemscan system to South African power utility, Eskom.
According to Intellection, this Eskom purchase represents the first commercial use of Qemscan for coal analysis.
Intellection CEO, Calvin Treacy, said the sale was a milestone for the innovative Australian-based company.
“This is a ground-breaking initiative on Eskom’s part, and we’re excited to be part of it,” he said. “There is real potential for our technology to produce tangible benefits for coal exploration, mining, handling and processing, power generation, and other coal users, so we’re delighted Eskom is showing the world how it’s done.”
Eskom is owned by the South African government and generates 95% of electricity used throughout the country.
As a large consumer of coal, Eskom is seeking to use the resource more efficiently, and will apply Qemscan data to predict coal performance in a pulverised fuel boiler and environmental impacts.
Eskom will locate the Qemscan within its Corporate Service Division, Research and Innovation Department. It will initially be used to establish a research program, and then operationally for decision-making within the Generation Division.
“Qemscan gives us a thorough understanding of the mineral/phase composition of our coal and ash,” said Eskom’s chief advisor, Chris van Alphen.
“From this knowledge, we have developed models to predict with some degree of certainty the performance of certain coal types in our boilers. This provides an opportunity to efficiently manage our coal supplies, reduce incidence of unplanned outages and to reduce the impact on the environment.
“The potential of using Qemscan in research to determine the elemental and maceral proportions is being actively investigated by Eskom. This combined with the proven mineral/phase identification capability of Qemscan, will provide a comprehensive and cost-effective analysis of coal.”
The purchase also represents the second Qemscan sale via Intellection’s Southern Africa distributor, Carl Zeiss South Africa. The distributorship builds upon the strategic agreement between Intellection and Carl Zeiss SMT for the development and supply of microscopy technologies for Qemscan.
Intellection’s Qemscan technology has a good track record in providing quality data to the minerals mining industry world-wide.
Qemscan’s capabilities in modal mineralogy, element deportment, discrimination of organic structures and textural analysis are recognised by coal industry groups. The company has built on this to develop a suite of coal applications for commercial release.
“Intellection is in a stage of growth and business diversification, based on the strength and flexibility of our Qemscan technology,” Calvin Treacy said. “From our original core market in mining, we have now established a presence in the oil and gas market. Expanding on our coal applications is a strategic priority for us in 2008.”