Title: Studies on coal flotation in flotation column using statistical technique

Authors: M.S. Jena, S.K. Biswal, K.K. Rao, P.S.R. Reddy

Addresses: Institute of Minerals & Materials Technology [IMMT], [Formerly known as Regional Research Laboratory], (Council of Scientific & Industrial Research, Govt. of India), Bhubaneswar, Orissa 751013, India. ' Institute of Minerals & Materials Technology [IMMT], [Formerly known as Regional Research Laboratory], (Council of Scientific & Industrial Research, Govt. of India), Bhubaneswar, Orissa 751013, India. ' Institute of Minerals & Materials Technology [IMMT], [Formerly known as Regional Research Laboratory], (Council of Scientific & Industrial Research, Govt. of India), Bhubaneswar, Orissa 751013, India. ' Institute of Minerals & Materials Technology [IMMT], [Formerly known as Regional Research Laboratory], (Council of Scientific & Industrial Research, Govt. of India), Bhubaneswar, Orissa 751013, India

Abstract: Flotation of Indian high ash coking coal fines to obtain clean coal has been reported earlier by many authors. Here an attempt has been made to systematically analyse factors influencing the flotation process using statistical design of experiments technique. Studies carried out in a 100 mm diameter column using factorial design to establish weightage of factors such as feed rate, air rate and collector dosage indicated that all three parameters have equal influence on the flotation process. Subsequently RSM-CCD design was used to obtain best result and it is observed that 94% combustibles can be recovered with 82.5% weight recovery at 21.4% ash from a feed containing 31.3% ash content. [Received: July 15, 2008; Accepted: November 11, 2008]

Keywords: coking coal; flotation column; statistical design; coal flotation; India; clean coal; design of experiments; DOE; feed rate; air rate; collector dosage.

DOI: 10.1504/IJOGCT.2009.023630

International Journal of Oil, Gas and Coal Technology, 2009 Vol.2 No.1, pp.58 - 69

Published online: 03 Mar 2009 *

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