The effect of three most important reagents for coal flotation namely sodium meta silicate, collector (kerosene) and frother (MIBC) was studied using 23 full factorial design. The regression models were developed using factorial experiment data to quantify the effect of sodium meta silicate, collector and frother and to predict grade and recovery of combustible material for different reagent conditions. The addition of sodium meta silicate increased the recovery without affecting the grade significantly. The MIBC addition reduce the surface tension at the liquid-vapor interface, which results in the production of finer bubble size distribution and thus improves flotation rates and recovery values. However, a finer bubble size distribution also increases water recovery, which results in a greater recovery of entrainable ash bearing particles and thus degradation of the product grade. The interaction between OH group of MIBC and hydrated mineral matter improves flotability of high ash coal particles and degrades the product grade further. The negative effect of kerosene and MIBC interaction on both grade and recovery could be due to the recovery of high ash coal particles in preference to low ash coal particles. The highest possible grade of product is 94.19% combustibles with 25.33% recovery. A product with 91.11% combustibles grade at 95.58% recovery was obtained at 0.1 g/kg sodium silicate, 0.4 g/kg collector and 0.075 g/kg frother from the coal fines tested. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.