Cost-efficient clean flotation of amorphous graphite using water-in-oil kerosene emulsion as a novel collector

•A water-in-oil kerosene emulsion was prepared using non-ionic surfactants Span-80 and Tween-80 as the emulsifiers.•The emulsified kerosene outperformed pristine kerosene as a collector in amorphous graphite flotation.•The emulsified kerosene increased the flotation recovery of amorphous graphite by 5.96%, with 52% lesser total kerosene consumption.•Cryo-SEM was employed to visualize the in-situ microstructure of the kerosene emulsion.