Study on concerted action of emulsified agent and microbubble for enhancement of fine coal flotation effect

With an aim to improve flotation performance and reduce consumption of agents, the flotation seed of Malan Mine Coal Preparation Plant is taken as the object of study, two devices are additionally fitted—an agent emulsifier ahead of the pulp preprocessor and a microbubble generator in flotation cell, and industrial test is conducted to explore the influence on flotation effects produced by emusified agent-microbubble synergistic action.Results of industrial test made at the coal preparation plant of Malan Mine show that when the same amount of agent is used in an emulsified form, there can be seen a sharp rise of yield of flotation concentrate and an effective prevention of loss of coarser coal particles in tailings; with the use of collector and frother respectively at a dosage of 315 mL/min and 125 mL/min, and a total aeration quantity of 400 L/min for microbubble generation, an optimal flotation result can be expected under the combined effect of emulsified agent and microbubbles, and in this case compared with conventional flotation process, the yield of concentrate is noticeably increased by 4.14 percentage points while the overall consumption of agents is drastically reduced by around 15%. The use of the flotation process can lead to improvement of flotation efficiency and improvement of both social and economic benefits for the coal preparation plant.