Characteristics of an improved collector derived from a waste of coal-processing plant for the beneficiation of Indian coking coal fines by froth flotation

ABSTRACT

In the present study, a collector reagent in the form of three distillation fractions from coal tar suitable for froth flotation was developed for the flotation of Indian coking coal fines. The developed tar fractions were compared with known reagent such as diesel, N-dodecane and kerosene oil. Tar fractions were found to be more efficient than the other known collectors. A particular coal tar distillate fraction (B) was found the best, which, in combination with methyl isobutyl carbinol (MIBC) as frother, successfully produced a yield of about 83.4% with low-ash 16.9%. In this way, a higher yield of coal fines was successfully obtained compared with other collectors. To illustrate this point, compared with other known collectors, the yields with diesel, N-dodecane and kerosene as collectors were only 71.4%, 66.7% and 61.1, respectively. The effect of three important variables of coal flotation process, namely collector dosages, frother dosages and pulp density, was also studied. A comparative study was performed of the FTIR (Fourier transform infra red) spectra on a Perking Elmer GX FTIR spectrometer at 2 cm⁻¹ of tar fractions A, B, C and diesel oil to examine the role of various functional groups and structural aspects in their behavior and performance as a collector agent.

KEYWORDS:

• Coal fines
• coal tar distillate fractions
• froth flotation
• FTIR spectroscopy

Acknowledgments

The authors are thankful to the Director, Central Institute of Mining & Fuel Research, Dhanbad, for giving permission to publish the paper. The authors are thankful to all the staff members of Coal Preparation Division for their kind support.