Optimization of the oil agglomeration for high-ash content coal slime based on design and analysis of response surface methodology (RSM). (15th October 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: He, Jingfeng; Zhu, Lingtao; Liu, Chengguo; Bai, Qiang
• Is Part Of: Fuel. Volume 254(2019)
• Publication Date: 2019-10-15
• Subjects: Oil agglomeration -- High-ash content coal slime -- Response surface methodology (RSM) -- Operational factor -- Combustible material recovery; Fuel -- Periodicals; Coal -- Periodicals; Coal; Fuel; Periodicals; 662.6
• DOI: 10.1016/j.fuel.2019.05.143
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0016-2361

Abstract

Graphical abstract: Highlights: Oil agglomeration was used to clean and upgrade high-ash content coal slimes. Effects of various factors on the efficiency of oil agglomeration were studied. Optimal operational factors were determined to ensure notable cleaning efficiency. Optimizations for effective oil agglomeration were performed using RSM. Abstract: Oil agglomeration is an alternative technique for the cleaning and upgrading of low-rank coal or high-ash content coal slimes. Therefore, this approach was used to beneficiate coal slime with high-ash content of 31.34% in this work. The single-factor tests of oil agglomeration were performed to determine the appropriate ranges for various operational factors, including pulp concentration, reagent concentration, and agitation speed. The separation results suggested that considering the yield and ash content of clean coal, and combustible material recovery, the optimal pulp concentration and reagent concentration should be adjusted as 12%–16%, and 20%–24%, respectively, and the optimal agitation speed should be controlled as 800–1200 r/min. The Response surface methodology (RSM) based on Box–Behnken design (BBD) was adopted to investigate the significance of various operational factors, and the interactions between various operational factors on the response of combustible material recovery. A mathematical model was established to predict the response, and the results indicated that the established model was proved to be highly accurate in the prediction of response. The optimization of the solutions suggested that the maximal combustible material recovery of 97.49% was obtained with the pulp concentration of 12%, reagent concentration of 20%, and agitation speed of 1200 r/min. This work provides an experimental foundation for the operation design and process optimization in the oil agglomeration of coal slimes.