Comparison of the performances of China′s jet flotation cell and U.S. flotation column in operation at Saunders Coal Preparation Plant

Following a description of the structure and working principle of China′s FJCA coal jet flotation cell and the flotation column of the U.S. as well as an analysis of the property of the flotation feed at Saunders plant, the paper elaborates on the industrial-scale comparative test conducted with the 2 types of coal flotation equipment. As evidenced by the flotation performance indicators of the 2 machines operating in parallel simultaneously with the same feed rate, the jet flotation cell is well adaptable to the separation of the fine coal of the U.S. with every index far superior to that of the flotation column. Under the prerequisite that the product is up to the requirement in quality, the yield of concentrate and ash of tailings of jet flotation cell are respectively 7.87 and 16.75 percentage points higher than those of the flotation column.