Use of aggloflotation for fine coal recovery from washery tailings

ABSTRACT

In coal washeries, a considerable amount of fine coal is sent to tailings ponds in Turkey as well as in the World. Fine coal in the tailings should be recovered due to its economic value and potentially harmful environmental effects. In the present study, aggloflotation was tested to recover fine coal from tailings of Tunçbilek coal washery in Turkey. The effects of conditioning time, flotation time, agitation rate, frother dosage, and particle size were investigated. A clean coal with 30.5% ash and 5198.9 kcal/kg calorific value was recovered at a 92.2% combustible recovery from washery tailings with 54.6% ash and 2720.7 kcal/kg calorific value. The results of the study were compared with a previous study undertaken by the same authors in which oil agglomeration was used. It was determined that aggloflotation was superior to oil agglomeration in this application.

KEYWORDS:

• Coal
• fine coal
• coal cleaning
• aggloflotation
• desulphurization
• deashing

Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to Karadeniz Technical University since the research project (BAP-01-9661) that was undertaken in Mining Engineering Department supported this study financially.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Karadeniz Technical University [BAP-01-9661].