In this study, unburned carbon recovery from lime calcination plant tailings was investigated using diesel oil, kerosene, MIBC and pine oil. A series of laboratory experiments using 2 3 full factorial designs was conducted to determine the types and dosages of collector and frother. For these tests, data were analyzed by the paired t-test. The main and interaction effects on combustible recovery were evaluated using Yates' analysis. By optimizing the flotation parameters at slurry concentration of 34% solids, flotation time of 2.5 min, pH of 7.5, collector diesel oil dosage of 2780 g/t, and frother pine oil dosage of 2620 g/t, unburned carbon (UC) has been successfully recovered with 93.07% combustible recovery (CR) and 6030 kcal/kg calorifical value. (C) 2006 Elsevier B.V.All rights reserved.