Hydrocarbon-oil encapsulated bubble flotation of fine coal using 3-in. ID flotation column. Technical progress report for the eleventh quarter, April 1--June 30, 1993

There are four modes of the collector dispersion techniques. They are (1) direct liquid additions and stirring, (2) ultrasonic energy collector dispersion, (3) atomized collector dispersion, and (4) gasified collector transported in air stream. Among those collector dispersion techniques, the technique using the gasified collector transported in air phase can be used to enhance the flotation performance with substantial reduction in collector usage and selectivity, compared to the flotation using direct liquid addition (and mechanical agitation) technique. In this phase of study, two modes of collector addition techniques including gasified collector transported in gas phase and direct collector addition techniques were applied in the column flotation to demonstrate the selectivity of utilizing the hydrocarbon-oil encapsulated air bubbles in the fine coal flotation process. The 1-in. ID flotation column was used to scale-up to 3-in. ID flotation column. The initial starting point to operate the 3-in ID flotation column were determined using both 1-in. and 3-in. flotation columns based on the three phases of work plans and experiment design. A 3-in. flotation column was used to evaluate two modes of collector dispersion and addition techniques on the recovery and grade of fine coals using various ranks of coal