Enrichment Characteristics of Macerals during Triboelectrostatic Separation in the View of Surface Microstructure, Pore distribution, and Typical Electrical Parameters.

Abstract

Vitrinite and inertinite, respectively, are the reactive and inert macerals for coal liquefaction, which could be effectively enriched in triboelectrostatic separation specialized in particle processing. Inertinite has a higher specific surface area and more pores than vitrinite and a more balanced mesopores distribution, while the mesopores in vitrinite are mainly focused in the 4 nm × 7 nm range. As for electrical properties, inertinite has a higher relative dielectric constant than vitrinite in all granularities, while its resistivity is only higher than vitrinite in the <74 μm fraction, which means inertinite and vitrinite tend to have negative and positive charges, respectively, in their mutual friction, but inertinite (<74 μm) has a stronger ability to maintain surface charge. During triboelectrostatic separation, the 105 μm × 150 μm fraction of clean coal has the highest vitrinite content, whereas inertinite tends to concentrate at tailings <74 μm under the co-effect of separation granularity limit and electrical characteristics of macerals; this conclusion has a certain guiding significance to maceral separation.