The interactions of bubbles and coal particles in 600 kHz ultrasonic standing waves (USW) field has been investigated. A high-speed camera was employed to record the phenomena occurred under the USW treatment. The formation and behaviors of cavitation bubbles were analyzed. Under the driving of these cavitation bubbles, whose size is from several microns to dozens of microns, coal particles were aggregated and then attracted by large bubbles due to the acoustic radiation forces. The results of USW-assisted flotation show a significant improvement in recoveries at 600 kHz, which indicates that the interactions of bubbles and particles in the USW field are more efficient than that in the conventional gravitational field. Furthermore, the sound pressure distribution of the USW was measured and predicted by a hydrophone. The analysis of gravity and buoyancy, primary and secondary Bjerknes forces shows that bubble-laden particles can be attracted by the rising bubbles under large acoustic forces. This study highlights the potential for USW technology to achieve efficient bubble-particle interactions in flotation.

Aluminum electrolysis is a typical industry with high energy consumption, and the energy saving of aluminum electrolysis cells is conducive to the sustainable development of the ecological environment. The current density distribution on the steel claws of conventional aluminum electrolysis cells is uneven, resulting in a large amount of power loss. Therefore, a new type of current-equalized steel claw (CESC) is designed in this paper. The ANSYS simulation study shows that the CESC can achieve a more uniform current density distribution and reduce the voltage drop by about 36 mV compared with the traditional steel claw (TSC). In addition, the use of CESC optimizes the temperature distribution of the steel claws and reduces the risk of cracking and deformation. The results of the industrial application tests are highly consistent with the simulation results, confirming the accuracy of the simulation results. The economic benefit analysis shows that using CESC saves 114.1 kWh of electricity per ton of aluminum produced. If this technology can be promoted throughout China, it is expected to save up to 4.75 billion kWh of electricity annually. The development of CESC is promising and of great significance for improving the overall technical level of the aluminum electrolysis industry.

Fluorine appears in coal and is released into the atmosphere upon combustion, resulting in harmful impacts on the environment and life, which needs to be removed from coal before utilization. Coal can be processed by flotation and gravity separation to reduce its fluorine content. In this study, a lignite sample from a mine in Shaanxi Province, China, was characterized using the float–sink test, sieving test, X-ray diffraction (XRD), and polarized light microscopy. Mineralogical analysis indicated that the fluorine in coal is mainly contained in Muscovite and polylithionite, and partly in pyrite. The washability and floatability analyses were employed to evaluate the extent of fluorine removal from >0.5 and <0.5 mm size fractions of lignite, respectively. Compared to the raw sample that contained 347.74 μg/g fluorine content, the proposed combination of gravity-flotation separation process decreased the fluorine content to 90.14 μg/g, which meets the requisites of coal standards.

The availability of casting Ni–Fe alloy as inert anode for direct electro-reduction of V ₂ O ₃ in molten Na ₃ AlF ₆ -K ₃ AlF ₆ -AlF ₃ was investigated. The electrochemical oxidation behavior of anode as well as microstructural evolutions of formed oxide scale were systematically studied. The electrochemical characterization and reaction mechanism of the cathode oxide were also investigated to evaluate the influence of alloy anode on cathodic reduction process. The in situ formed three-layered oxide scale is compact and coherent, which is composed of an outermost Fe ₂ O ₃ + FeAl ₂ O ₄ skin layer, a Fe ₂ O ₃ middle layer and a FeAl ₂ O ₄ inner layer. The skin layer has a continuous, smooth structure and shows electrochemical activity. The Fe ₂ O ₃ layer with a compact structure prevents inward diffusion of electrolyte and outward migration of metal cations. The innermost FeAl ₂ O ₄ layer shows a loose structure and functions as a buffer layer to improve the peeling resistance of oxide scale. With the continuous extension of polarization time, the inner FeAl ₂ O ₄ layer is slowly oxidized and becomes thinner, simultaneously, the dense Fe ₂ O ₃ layer becomes thicker. Ultimately, metal vanadium product with fine rod-like particles can be obtained and the oxygen content in the metal vanadium is below 0.3 mass% within electrolyzing time of 2 h. The corresponding current efficiency is around 63%.

The recovery of difficult-to-float coal using traditional nonpolar hydrocarbon oil collectors can be challenging, particularly for low-rank or oxidized coal. Thus, there is a need for more efficient flotation agents. Nanoparticle flotation collector technology has become increasingly popular in the field of mineral processing, and the presence of various ions in the slurry can significantly affect the interaction between collectors and mineral surfaces. In this study, cationic polystyrene (PS) nanoparticles were prepared using an emulsion polymerization method, and the effects of Na⁺ ion concentration on the in situ adsorption and desorption processes, adsorption layer configuration, and adsorption kinetics of PS particles on amorphous carbon (coal model) and SiO₂ sensors (quartz mineral model) were analyzed using the quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation (QCM-D) technique. Our results showed that the hydrophobic PS nanoparticles irreversibly adsorbed onto both amorphous carbon and SiO₂ sensors under different environmental conditions, and their adsorption capacity decreased gradually with increasing Na⁺ ion concentration. Increasing Na⁺ ion concentration from 0 M to 1.0 M resulted in a 24.4% and 30.9% decrease in equilibrium adsorption capacities of PS nanoparticles onto amorphous carbon and SiO₂ surfaces, respectively. The adsorption rate of PS nanoparticles onto the SiO₂ surface was much greater than that on the amorphous carbon surface. The adsorption rate constant of PS nanoparticles onto SiO₂ surfaces was 0.782 at 0.1 M Na⁺ ion concentration, while its adsorption rate constant onto amorphous carbon surfaces was only 0.060. Moreover, the adsorption process was found to be more in line with the quasi-primary kinetic model. These findings suggest that PS nanoparticles may serve as promising flotation collectors for the recovery of difficult-to-float coal, and highlight the importance of considering the effect of dissolved ions on the adsorption properties of flotation collectors.