In order to improve the utilization rate of coal resources, it is necessary to classify coal and gangue, but the classification of coal is particularly important. Nevertheless, the current coal and gangue sorting technology mainly focus on the identification of coal and gangue, and no in-depth research has been carried out on the identification of coal species. Accordingly, in order to preliminary screen coal types, this paper proposed a method to predict the coal metamorphic degree while identifying coal and gangue based on Energy Dispersive X-Ray Diffraction (EDXRD) principle with 1/3 coking coal, gas coal, and gangue from Huainan mine, China as the research object. Differences in the phase composition of 1/3 coking coal, gas coal, and gangue were analyzed by combining the EDXRD patterns with the Angle Dispersive X-Ray Diffraction (ADXRD) patterns. The calculation method for characterizing the metamorphism degree of coal by EDXRD patterns was investigated, and then a PSO-SVM model for the classification of coal and gangue and the prediction of coal metamorphism degree was developed. Based on the results, it is shown that by embedding the calculation method of coal metamorphism degree into the coal and gangue identification model, the PSO-SVM model can identify coal and gangue and also output the metamorphism degree of coal, which in turn achieves the purpose of preliminary screening of coal types. As such, the method provides a new way of thinking and theoretical reference for coal and gangue identification.

Sorting coal and gangue is important in raw coal production; accurately identifying coal and gangue is a prerequisite for effectively separating coal and gangue. The method of extracting coal and gangue using image grayscale information can effectively identify coal and gangue, but the recognition rate of the sorting process based on image grayscale information needs to substantially higher than that which is needed to meet production requirements. A sorting method of coal and gangue using object surface grayscale-gloss characteristics is proposed to improve the recognition rate of coal and gangue. Using different comparative experiments, bituminous coal from the Huainan area was used as the experimental object. It was found that the number of pixel points corresponding to the highest level grey value of the grayscale moment and illumination component of the coal and gangue images were combined into a total discriminant value and used as input for the best classification of coal and gangue using the GWO-SVM classification model. The recognition rate could reach up to 98.14%. This method sorts coal and gangue by combining surface greyness and glossiness features, optimizes the traditional greyness-based recognition method, improves the recognition rate, makes the model generalizable, enriches the research on coal and gangue recognition, and has theoretical and practical significance in enterprise production operations.