Gravity dewatering of metallurgical coal flotation tailings using flocculants

Experimental research was undertaken to determine effectiveness of gravity dewatering of coal flotation tailings using two combinations of anion-active (A) and cation-active (C) flocculants: high molecular mid-activity anion flocculant A1 + low molecular high-activity cation flocculant C1; high molecular high-activity anion flocculant A2 + average molecular high-activity cation flocculant C2. The aim of the research was to find possibility to reduce consumption of flocculants in dewatering of coal flotation tailings at an operating preparation plant without performance degradation of belt filter presses. The data on dewatering kinetics allow calculating resistivity α0 of residue. It is found that A2+C2 combination ensures the stated rational α0 of 6.0 · 1010 m-2 at the flocculant consumptions as follows: A1 475 g/t + C1 475 g/t and A2 375 g/t + C2 375 g/t, i.e. less than the current consumption by 25%. Using the experimental data, the operating mode of the belt filter press is calculated. At the solids content of 300–400 kg/m3 in suspension and using flocculants at the specified consumptions, the required solids production of 15 t/h of the filter is reached at the belt speed of 0.07–0.16 m/s, which complies with the filter specifications.

Lavrinenko A. A., Golberg G. Yu., Lusinyan O. G. Gravity dewatering of metallurgical coal flotation tailings using flocculants. MIAB. Mining Inf. Anal. Bull. 2020;(11):5-13. [In Russ]. DOI: 10.25018/0236-1493-2020-11-0-5-13.

A.A. Lavrinenko¹, Dr. Sci. (Eng.), Head of Laboratory, e-mail: lavrin_a@mail.ru,
G.Yu. Golberg¹, Cand. Sci. (Eng.), Senior Researcher, e-mail: gr_yu_g@mail.ru,
O.G. Lusinyan¹, Cand. Sci. (Eng.), Leading Engineer, e-mail: lusinyan.oganes@yandex.ru,
¹ Institute of Problems of Comprehensive Exploitation of Mineral Resources of Russian Academy of Sciences, 111020, Moscow, Russia.

G.Yu. Golberg, e-mail: gr_yu_g@mail.ru.

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