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Coal flotation is a complex process involving several phases (particles, oil droplets and air bubbles). These phases simultaneously interact with each other and with other species such as the molecules of a promoting reagent and dissolved ions in water. The physical and chemical interactions determine the outcome of the flotation process. Physical and chemical interactions between fine coal particles could lead to aggregation, especially for high rank coals. Non-selective particle aggregation could be said to be the main reason for the selectivity problems in coal flotation. It should be addressed by physical (conditioning) or chemical (promoters) pretreatment before or during flotation. Although the interactions between the oil droplets and coal particles are actually favored, stabilization of the oil droplets by small amounts of fine hydrophobic particles may lead to a decrease in selectivity and an increase in oil consumption. These problems could be remedied by use of promoters that modify the coal surface for suitable particle -particle, droplet -particle and particle -bubble contact while emulsifying the oil droplets. The role of promoters may be different for different types of coals, however. They could be employed as modifiers to increase the hydrophobicity of low rank coals whereas their main role might be emulsification and aggregation control for high rank coals. In this paper, a detailed description of the various phases in coal flotation, their physical and chemical interactions with each other in the flotation pulp, the major parameters that affect these interactions and how these interactions, in turn, influence the flotation process are discussed. D

A raw lignitic coal from Soma, Turkey was investigated to determine its potential as an adsorbent for phenol removal from wastewaters. Kinetic batch tests demonstrated that phenol could be completely removed from solution given sufficient solids loading and reaction time. The adsorption capacity of 10 mg/g obtained with the lignite is low compared to those achievable with activated carbons (around 300 mg/g). However, when normalized for the surface area, the adsorption capacity was much larger for the lignite (1.3 mg/m 2 ) than that generally observed with activated carbons (0.05-0.3 mg/m 2 ). Hydrogen-bonding of the phenolic -OH with the oxygen sites on the lignite surface is the most likely mechanism for adsorption. Though water molecules also have affinity for the same oxygen sites, lateral benzene ring interactions make phenol adsorption energetically more favorable. Since phenol molecules adsorbed in this fashion would project their benzene rings into solution, formation of a second layer through the action of the dispersive π-π interactions between the benzene rings is very likely. Residual water quality with respect to major elements and heavy metals was within acceptable limits defined by the ASTM standards. Dissolution of organic matter from the lignite was also observed to be negligible.

High levels of boron concentrations in water present a serious problem for domestic and agriculture utilizationsThe recent EU drinking water directive defines an upper limit of 1 mgB/l. In addition, most crops are sensitive to boron levels >0.75 mg/l in irrigation water. The boron problem is magnified by the partial (-60%) removal of boron in reverse osmosis (RO) desalination due to the poor ionization of boric acid and the accumulation of boron in domestic sewage effluents. Moreover, high levels of boron are found in regional groundwater in some Mediterranean countries, which requires special treatment in order to meet the EU drinking water regulations. Previous attempts to remove boron employed boron-specitic ion-exchange resin and several cycles of RO desalination under high pH conditions. Hem, we present an alternative methodology for boron removal by using coal and fly ash as adsorbents. We conducted various column and batch experiments that explored the efficiency of boron removal from seawater and desalinated seawater using several types of coal and fly ash materials under controlled conditions (pH, liquid/solid ratio, time of reaction, pre-treatment, regeneration). We examined the effect of these factors on the boron removal capacity and the overall chemical composition of the residual seawater. The results show that the selected coal and fly ash materials are very effective in removing boron such that the rejection mtio of boron can reach 95% of the initial boron content under certain optimal conditions (e.g., pH = 9, L/S = l/10, reaction time > 6 h). Our experiments demonstrated that use of glycerin enables regeneration of boron uptake into coal, but the boron uptake capacity of fly ash reduces after several cycles of treatment-reaction. The boron removal is associated with Mg depletion and Ca enrichment in the residual seawater and conversely with relative Mg enrichment and Ca depletion in the residual fly ash We propose that the reaction of Ca-rich fly ash with Mg-rich seawater causes co-precipitation of magnesium hydroxide in which boron is co-precipitated. The new methodology might provide an alternative technique for boron removal in areas where coal and fly ash are abundant.

Keywords:Coal fly ash Coal-fired power plants Trace element leaching Short-term leaching test results of alkaline fly ash from Yenikoy coal-fired power plant were reported in this paper. ASTM D-3987-85 and TCLP-1311 test methods were applied to determine leaching behavior of selected elements namely, Fe, Ca, Cu, Co, Cd, Mn, Ni, Pb Zn, and Cr (VI) at different particle size fractions and test conditions. Chemical, mineralogical and morphological characterizations of ash samples were also performed using chemical, XRD and SEM-EDS analysis methods. The results showed that CaO dominates in the Yenikoy fly ash sample which directly affects the mobility of trace elements by determining the pH of the leaching medium. Higher mobility values of Cd, Co Cu, Pb, Ni and Zn elements were observed for TCLP-1311 procedure. The concentration of these elements in leachates showed a tendency to increase by decreasing particle size. Overall results suggested that the amount of the selected elements in the final leachates of both tests was lower than the limit values of landfill regulations except Cr (VI).