FINE COAL FILTRATION - CHARACTERISATION OF FLOCS PRODUCED BYIN-PLANT CONDITIONING

摘要

The addition of polymer flocculants to enhance the vacuum filtration of fine coal is wellknown. At the bench scale,polymer dose and the degree of mixing have been shown tosignificantly influence flocculation,and hence filtration behaviour. However,it can bedifficult to translate these results into plant situations where flocculant selection andconditioning procedures (typically in flotation cell launders or feed distribution boxes) areusually determined empirically. The problem is that there is no way of determining the natureof the flocs being fed to a filter,and thus of knowing whether the flocculant is being added inthe most effective manner. The issue is important given the inevitable day-to-day changes(different seams,raw coal stockpiling conditions,feed rate etc) that occur in commercialplants.