Froth flotation pretreatment for enhancing desulfurization of coal with sodium hydroxide

Abstract

Froth flotation (FF) pretreatment of coal from Hazro, Turkey, for enhancing desulfurization with sodium hydroxide was investigated. FF reduced following contents of coal: ash, 58.54; pyritic sulfur, 79.34; and volatile matter, 56.98%. The coal flotation was 69.59%. FF could not remove organic sulfur. Coal concentration obtained from flotation was leached using aqueous NaOH and its organic sulfur content was reduced by 59.27%. Hence using combination of two methods, total sulfur, ash and volatile matter contents was reduced by 88.06%, 63.13% and 77.32%, respectively.