Experimental study of flotation separation of coal and Kaolinite

In order to explore the law governing the separation of coal and kaolinite in coal slurry water in flotation process, test on flotation of coal and kaolinite in a separate and artificially mixed manner and the test on contact angle of coal and kaolinite is conducted so as to analyze the effect of concentration of collector n-dodecane on flotation characteristics of coal and kaolinite as well as the separation characteristics of the two minerals at different mixing ratios. Test result shows that: in the case of making separate flotation of coal and kaolinite using n-dodecane at a dosage of 800 g/t, a widest difference in recovery rate can be observed between the two, with the former being 92.12% and the latter 42.34%; for flotation of coal and kaolinite in a mixed manner at varying mixing ratios, a fairly good separation result can be expected with a separation efficiency all greater than 75% which can go up to 80.23% at a mixing ratio of 1∶1; and it is noted from the variation of contact angles, in comparison with kaolinite, coal exhibits a higher n-dodecane adsorptivity.