Coal recovery from bituminous coal by aggloflotation with petroleum oils

The objective of this work is to obtain high calorific value/low ash content products from fine bituminous coals by aggloflotation with petroleum oils such as hexane, heptane, toluene and pentane. The two methods used were agglomeration and aggloflotation for cleaning fine bituminous coal. Oil agglomeration experiments first were carried out followed by aggloflotation at the optimum conditions obtained from agglomeration. The effects of fundamental parameters such as oil type and dosage, pulp density, conditioning time; pH and Na2SiO3 amount were studied. The combustible recoveries and ash content of concentrates for optimal aggloflotation test conditions were with hexane: 92.17% combustible recovery (dry basis), 10.87% ash (dry basis) and lower calorific value (LHV) 5864 kcal/kg.