The effect of operation parameters for coal flotation in modified flotation column and jameson cell on flotation kinetics

Flotation is a time-dependent kinetic process using the surface properties of particles. One of the most important parameters affecting flotation kinetics which are influenced by various parameters such as air flow rate, amount of surfactant, solid ratio is particle size. Compared to mechanical cells where flotation performance drops in coarse and fine particle sizes, the flotation column and Jameson flotation cell offer a wider range of sizes to enrich coal. For this purpose, the effect of particle size on flotation column and Jameson flotation cell kinetics was investigated in the present during which the raw coal with high ash content was used. Prior to kinetic flotation experiments, float-sink experiments were carried out in fractions of +18, -18 +10 and -10 + 0.5 mm to determine the washability properties of the material. In flotation experiments using 23 full factorial experiment design method, it was aimed to determine the effect of aggregate amount, bias rate and grain size on flotation column and Jameson flotation cell kinetics. For this aim, experiments were carried out at -500 + 300, 300+212 and -212+106 μm fractions. With the help of data from which flotation column and Jameson flotation cell experiments conducted separately was obtained, effects of those parameters on combustible efficiency, ash content and constant of flotation velocity were calculated through mathematical models by the use of Design Expert 10.0.6 software. Based on this software, it was determined that the most important parameter which affected dependent variables was particle size. According to the results, it was revealed that Jameson flotation cell is faster than flotation column. The rate of flotation has been found to be quite high due to micro events occuring quickly and retention time being low in Jameson flotation cell. The increase in flotation rate compared to the flotation column was exposed to be two times the size of -500 + 300 μm, while it was approximately six times the size of -212 + 106 μm.