ARTICLE TITLE: Recovery of cenospheres from coal fly ash using a dry separation process: Separation

estimation and potential application

AUTHORS: T. Hirajima, H.T.B.M. Petrus, Y. Oosako, M. Nonaka, K. Sasaki, and T. Ando
JOURNAL NAME: International Journal of Mineral Processing
VOLUME: 95
YEAR: 2010
PAGES: 18-24

Cenospheres are materials with many properties. These properties make cenospheres suitable
for many different applications. Cenospheres can be taken from coal fly ash, which is considered to be a
residue of coal combustion. They have similar compositions with fly ash, but cenospheres are larger in
particle size. There have been many ways to separate cenospheres from fly ash and one of which is air
classification. In air classification, bigger particles are separated from air due to a larger terminal velocity,
while smaller particles with smaller terminal velocities goes with the flow of air. Air classification can be
done using two methods, wet separation and dry separation. Wet separation, whose medium include
water, is mostly used in industries today; however, in this study, the objective is to compare the efficiency
of an air classifier, specifically a micron separator, using dry separation method versus wet separation
method.

Industrial cenospheres were used in the experiment as the material to be separated from fly ash.
These materials were first analyzed to determine their physical properties, such as density, weight and
size. After analysis, the micron separator set-up was prepared. The feed to the micron separator was
fixed with only 20% cenospheres. The rotor speed of the separator, as well as the feed rate, were varied.
These variations influence the underflow and overflow product collection. These were done in both dry
and wet conditions. In the dry condition air was used as the medium, therefore it is considered a solid gas
separation process. In the wet condition, water was used as the medium, therefore it is considered a solid
liquid separation. The essence of the study is to compare the effectivity of solid gas separation from solid
liquid separation of cenospheres. The underflow and overflow products from both conditions were
collected and analyzed. The efficiency of the two conditions were based on the percent recovery of
cenospheres given that only 20% cenospheres were present in the feed. They observed that more
cenospheres were collected in the underflow using air as medium due to its weight being heavier than
air. They also observed that more cenospheres were collected in the overflow using water as medium
because cenospheres are less dense than water. From these data, they calculated that the efficiency for
the dry condition is 70% and 71% for the wet condition.

The study concludes that wet separation process is a more effective way for separating
cenospheres; however, the dry separation process is much more recommended because it is better for
the environment. This is because the wet separation process leads to a toxic effluent which will harm the
environment. From this study, since both conditions have more or less the same efficiency, dry separation
process is preferred. The study was well presented because a comparison was made and it was clearly
defined, but the study could have been better if the proponents made the diameters of the cenospheres
uniformed. They used cenospheres with a particles size ranging from 100-420 microns. What if larger
particle sizes does not necessarily mean larger weights nor densities. Sizes may not be correlated with
density or weight, since other cenospheres have bigger diameters but are actually hollow inside.