Following an extensive program of model system experiments, a laboratory-scale teetered bed separator (TBS), with jigging facility, was operated continually to process a feed containing coal and mineral matter, with a particle size range less than 2.0 mm and greater than 0.25 mm. The first two experiments were conducted as jig runs using a pulsed water supply, controlled at a frequency of 1 Hz. This frequency was considered to provide the best performance in the preliminary work. A third run was conducted as a TBS, with no water pulse. One of the jig runs was conducted using an average fluidisation velocity equivalent to the base level used in the TBS run. In the second jig run the average fluidisation velocity was 60% of that used in the first run. Samples from the three runs were analysed to produce partition curves. These data indicated a very similar separation performance, demonstrating little additional benefit when a cyclic pulse is used to supply the fluidisation water to a TBS. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.