Recovery of unburned carbonaceous matter (UCM) from sugar mill bottom ash

Millions of tons of coal fly and bottom ash are produced each year in many countries including Turkey. Coal combustion which is the main source of energy in sugar mill and many other industries produce massive quantities of waste. The present study aims to separate the unburned carbonaceous matter (UCM) from the bottom ash of Bor, Nigde-Turkey sugar plant has been studied using the mechanical flotation technique. For this purpose, the performances of three classical oils were investigated and then chemical parameters such as sodium silicate (Na2SiO3), collector (fuel-oil) and frother (pine-oil) were systematically examined by using Yates’ statistical technique. A product with 41.58% combustible grade at 87.44% recovery was obtained at 0 g/t sodium silicate, 7464 g/t fuel-oil, 888 g/t pine-oil, 15% pulp density, 1200 rpm impeller speed and natural pH. The results obtained from the experiments indicated that it was possible to enrich the bottom ash by using conventional flotation.