Study of Enhanced Fine Coal De-sulphurization and De-ashing by Ultrasonic Flotation

The feasibility of using ultrasound to enhance the performance of de-sulphurization and de-ashing during slime flotation was investigated. The Setaram C80 calorimeter, the contact angle gauge DCAT21 and an electrophoresis apparatus were used to study the surface nature of coal, pyrite and refuse before and after ultrasonic conditioning. The yield, ash and sulfur contents of equally sized coal slimes were also measured before and after ultrasonic conditioning. The results show that ultrasonic conditioning can drive the separation of pyrite and refuse from coal. After ultrasonic conditioning the hydrophobicity of coal and hydrophilicity of pyrite and refuse increase. The perfect index of flotation, the perfect index of de-sulphurization and the percentage of de-sulphurization increase by 22.51%, 25.36% and 2.49%, respectively. This study shows that ultrasonic conditioning can enhance the performance of de-sulphurization and de-ashing of coal flotation methods.