Cleaning of high pyritic sulfur fine coal via flotation

摘要

Large quantities of fine coal have been produced during mining and processing activities of coals. Use of these fine coals after cleaning is important in terms of recovering of economically valuable energy source and prevention of environmental pollution. In the present study, amenability of a high ash-sulfur coal sample to flotation process was investigated. Coal particle size and collector dosage were selected as variables. Increasing coal particle size affected sulfur and ash rejections adversely. On the other hand, more combustible matter was recovered at coarser particle sizes. Maximum combustible recovery, ash rejection, pyritic sulfur rejection and sulfate sulfur rejection were achieved to be 82.56%, 82.84%, 90.04% and 81.45%, respectively. Polished section examinations and scanning electron microscopy-energy dispersive spectroscopy (SEM-EDS) analysis confirmed the rejection of significant level of ash and sulfur from the coal. (C) 2018 The Society of Powder Technology Japan. Published by Elsevier B.V. and The Society of Powder Technology Japan. All rights reserved.