Performance Evaluation of Synthetic Collector on Coal Flotation

Abstract

Froth flotation is a physico - chemical separation process, in which clean coal fines are separated by air bubbles from gangue due to difference in their hydrophobicity. Coal is naturally hydrophobic and to enhance its hydrophobicity further, collector is added in the conditioning tank prior to flotation. Generally, hydro carbon oils (kerosene oil, diesel oil and fuel oils) are being used as collector in coal washeries in India. Indian coal is sedimentary origin in nature hence mineral matter is finely disseminated throughout the coal. High speed diesel oil selectively adsorbs on carbon sites of the coal surface only. To overcome this limitation and increase adsorption of collector, synthetic collector has been attempted. In this study the effect of synthetic collector on coal flotation performance was investigated by considering three parameters: air flow rate, collector dosage and frother dosage. Box - Behnken Design of experiments were carried out to consider the interaction effects. The results were analysed by using STATISTICA software and main effects and interactions were established through ANOVA.