A new algorithm for evaluation of kinetic parameters R_∞ and k, in coal flotation process

Floating models have been a topic of investigation for more than 90 years, which has allowed their introduction in many industrial processes. In this paper is presented, an algorithm to determine the kinetic parameters for the coal flotation process in a fast and practical way, using a spreadsheet. A 2² factorial design was run with three replicates. The selected factors were: concentration of methyl isobutyl carbinol as foaming agent, and diesel as a collector. For both foaming agent and collector, low and high levels were 25 g/ton, and 100 g/ton respectively. To verify the model’s curvature, an intermediate point was included. The statistical analysis of the fuel recovery and kinetic flotation is presented. Three kinetic models were used for the evaluation of the proposed algorithm, García-Zuñiga’s algorithm, and both of the algorithms proposed by Klimpel. With the analysis of variance, it is concluded that both factors influence significantly the efficiency of coal flotation. However, the factor that has the most significant effect is the foaming agent. It is also concluded that the proposed algorithm is functional, presenting correlation coefficients higher than 0.9948. The utilized kinetic models present similar average R² values, for the first order R2=0.9984, and for the second-order R²=0.9975.

Keywords: flotation, kinetics, kinetic models, coal.