Beneficiation of coking coal fines lying in washery lagoons by froth flotation

Abstract

The coking coal washeries generate substantial amount of coal fines about 15–20% and these are not being upgraded in most of the coal washeries due to various reasons and thereby dumped in the nearby lagoons and utilized for non-metallurgical purposes. Utilization of these dumped coal fines for metallurgical purposes is of paramount importance for national interest and economy. Judicious beneficiation of these fines and blending with washery cleans may enhance the coking propensities of the coal. The availability of clean coking coal may slightly be increased and the pollution in the washery site may also be decreased. In the present investigations, attempts have been made to beneficiate the coal fines collected from one of dumps of the coking coal washeries by froth flotation in laboratory scale by varying the process parameters. The investigations indicate that acceptable quality of clean coal may be recovered for gainfully utilization in the metallurgical industries.