Effect of aggloflotation of coal slimes by use Flomin C9606 as a collector

In many coal preparation concentrators, coal slimes form the major challenge due to difficulties in its processing and upgrading. Several techniques are currently being devised in coal industries to aid in beneficiation of the coals in their finer sizes. Ultra-fine coal particles are exclusively processed by oil agglomeration, selective flocculation or hydrophobic flocculation flotation techniques. In this research, the focus is on hydrophobic flocculation flotation to clean ultrafine coal particles. Collector dosage, agitation stirring speed and grinding fineness batch tests were conducted, followed by flocculation and froth flotation. The results showed that optimum collector dosage (Flomin C9606) was 10 kgs/ton, the impeller speed 1,500 rpm and 30 minutes achieved the best grinding fineness. Two stage flow sheet produced froth recovery of 86.28% and ash content was 6.39%. It was therefore concluded that Flomin C9606, as a collector, was capable of obtaining clean coal product from these results.