Changes in the flotation kinetic of bituminous coal before and after natural weathering processes

Natural weathering processes can make coal surface more hydrophilic due to the increase of content of hydrophilic functional groups (C-O, C=O, and COOH) and the decrease of content of hydrophobic functional groups (C-C and C-H) on coal surface, and hence the flotation recovery of fine coal is reduced. In this paper, a series of flotation tests were conducted in order to investigate the changes in the flotation kinetic of bituminous coal before and after natural weathering processes. Additionally, XPS was used to indicate the changes in surface properties of bituminous coal. In the investigations the flotation kinetic was changing. The classical first-order rate constant (k) of bituminous coal flotation was reduced after the natural weathering processes. A relationship between the classical first-order rate constant (k) and the hydrophilicity ability (HA) was given.