The hydration layer has a significant effect on the adsorption behavior of reagents during the flotation process of low-rank coal. Understanding the effect of hydration layer on the adsorption of common collectors on low-rank coal is a prerequisite for proposing a new enhanced coal floatation method. In this study, a smooth low-rank coal surface model with a density of 1.2 g/cm3 was constructed and compared with the XPS results. Three different systems, coal-water, coal-collector, and coal-water-collector, were constructed. Molecular dynamics method was applied to study the adsorption behaviors of water and dodecane molecules. Simulation results revealed that a stable hydration layer with a thickness of about 5 Å was formed due to the strong attraction of coal surface. The negative value of interaction energy (IE) indicated that dodecane molecules could spontaneously adsorb on the coal surface. Dodecane molecules were successfully adsorbed on the coal surface when it was located inside the hydration layer. While the dodecane molecule was outside the hydration layer, it could not pass through the hydration layer on the surface of low-rank coal.
Effect of Hydration Layer on the Adsorption of Dodecane Collector on Low-Rank Coal: A Molecular Dynamics Simulation Study