Searching for Effective Coal-Flotation Agents by Quantum-Chemical Modeling

Abstract

The potential of oil-processing byproducts and various aliphatic and cyclic oxygen-bearing compounds as coal-flotation agents is investigated. In the search for highly effective coal-flotation agents of specific structure and elemental composition, one useful criterion is the energy of the hydrogen bond in the intermolecular complex formed by the coal-flotation agent and the coal’s organic mass. The hydrogen-bond energy in such complexes is found to be higher than that in the intermolecular complex formed by the water and the coal’s organic mass. Accordingly, the reagents considered are effectively adsorbed on the coal surface and are highly active in flotation. The use of oil-processing byproducts that contain cyclic organosilicon compounds in their group chemical composition considerably improves flotation; the reagent consumption is lower than in flotation based on coal-enrichment byproducts. We recommend oil-processing byproducts that contain cyclic organosilicon compounds in their group chemical composition for industrial tests in flotation at Russian coal-enrichment plants.