The mechanism of high-intensity conditioning (HIC) has not been thoroughly revealed, and therefore this work investigates the effect of HIC on the surface hydrophobicity of coal with different particle sizes and the possible formation of particle–bubble clusters. The results show that different HIC conditions are required for coarse and fine particles. Coarse particles (+75 μm) require a higher turbulence intensity to increase collector dispersion, thereby increasing the adsorption of the collector. Fine particles (−75 μm) require a lower turbulence intensity to reduce the desorption of the collector. In this study, the optimum HIC conditions for coarse and fine particles are “2200 rpm + 1 min” and “1300 rpm + 1 min”, respectively. Interestingly, it seems that the adsorption capacity between fine particles and the collector is weaker than that for coarse particles. A non-enclosed HIC system produces up to 1.78 × 104/g bubbles in coarse particle–bubble clusters, and the mean bubble diameter is approximately 87 μm. The cluster achieves pre-mineralization and increases the apparent particle size, which is expected to improve flotation.

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