Comparison of Flotation and Screening as Separation Method in Coal Recovery From Tailings by Agglomeration

Dependency of Turkey on foreign energy adversely affects the economy of the country and may cause energy shortage in the near future. As a primary domestic energy source, coal is used for energy production in addition to imported oil and gas. However, significantamount of fine coal is lost together with tailings in coal washeries. Recovering of fine coals from these tailings will make an economiccontribution to country. In the present study, fine coals were recovered from tailings of a coal washery in Turkey by using oil agglomeration method. Flotation was used in agglomerate separation stage of oil agglomeration. Results were compared with that of previousstudy in which agglomerates were recovered by screening. The performance of the process increased sharply when flotation was usedinstead of screening in agglomerate separation stage. A clean coal with 28% ash was recovered from the washery tailings containing55% ash by 85% combustible recovery.