Analysis of settling performance of coal fines tailing polymer using central composite rotatable design optimization

Abstract

ABSTRACT In the present investigation, the settling performance of coal fine tailings was optimized with central composite rotatable design and response surface methodology. Pulp density, pH, and flocculant dosage were considered as theoperating parameters in the study. The maximum settling rate was observed as 230 mm/min while minimum turbidity was observed as 26.7 NTU. Coefficient of correlation (R 2) between the experimental and the predicted values of the settling rate and the turbidity wereobserved to be 0.99 and 0.99, respectively. The optimum conditions of pH 7.6, flocculant dosage 16.43 gpt, and pulp density 5.4% solid, w/w, were obtained from the desirability function at the desirability of 89%.