The application of fatty acids emulsions in thermal coal reverse flotation

Reverse flotation of Pingsuo thermal coal was investigated and it turned out that a large amount of DDA-HCL (dodecylamine hydrochloride) was needed in this process. Two fatty acids (dodecanoic acid and oleic acid) of different carbon chain lengths emulsified by DDA-HCL were used to compare with DDA-HCL in the experiments. Experimental results showed that the two emulsions had stronger collectivity than DDA-HCL. Dodecanoic emulsions had higher selectivity than OA (oleic acid) emulsions. The application of dodecanoic emulsions can obtain a lower ash content of the concentrate than DDA-HCL at the same collector dosage. And it can reduce DDA-HCL consumption greatly under the same concentrate ash content. Reverse flotation results of the two emulsions were also compared. The results indicated that the selectivity of dodecanoic emulsions dropped sharply when the amount of substance ratio of DDA-HCL and dodecanoic acid was less than 1:1.