Assessment of collecting activity of physically sorbed reagents on the example of easily floatable coking coal sludge

The article presents one of the new approaches to theoretical assessment of collecting ability of reagents. The efficiency of reagents-collectors with different chemical composition used for flotation of coking coals was studied. A comparative assessment of the flotation activity of kerosene, mineral oil, thermal gas oil, KETGOL and FLOTEK is given. The criteria of collecting activity of the above reagents-collectors for coal sludge flotation were specified. A correlation was established between the indicators of coal sludge flotation by the above reagents and their physical parameters. It is shown that the rate of spreading over water surface can characterize the flotation activity of reagents. Based on dependence of the collecting activity of a reagent on its rate of spreading along the “gas – liquid” interface and surface pressure, the main approaches to determining the structure and composition of molecules of an effective flotation collector can be determined. A new concept of the function performed by a physically sorbed collector in the elementary act of flotation and a criterion for the flotation activity of reagents used in coal sludge beneficiation are proposed. It is shown that the collector used in coal flotation, in addition to hydrophobizing the surface of the extracted particles, should reduce the induction time and remove the kinetic constraint on formation of a flotation aggregate.