Search Documents

By P. Somasundaran, Tarun Bhambhani, S. Murthy Khandrika, Partha Patra, D. Nagaraj

Fine and ultrafine mineral particles, particularly if, altered mineralogically, can have detrimental effects on selective separation of minerals. Behaviour of altered mineral fines has been investigated in this work by studying the effects of weathered silicate slimes on the selective separation of copper minerals, particularly with focues on effect of the pulp rheological behaviour, which plays a governing role in the process. Physicochemical properties of these altered silicates fines such as morphology and surface charge are proposed to be responsible for the adverse rheological effects and resultant selective separation. Here, the effect of a number of problematic aspects such as water chemistry, froth stability, physicochemical aspects of gangue mineral aggregates on flotation sub-processes has been studied. Processing problems owing to the physical aspects of the gangue minerals, shape and morphology, are primarily due to uncharacteristic increase in the pulp viscosity. While problematic aspects other than impact of pulp rheological behaviour can interfere with each other in their contributions to how they affect the sub-processes, effects owing to pulp rheological behaviour have a direct impact on the flotation performance. Subtle increase in pulp viscosity can interfere with sub-processes in flotation leading to decrease in recovery and grade, and it is difficult to assess the effects due to such subtle changes. Reagent based strategies to overcome the problematic aspects has been explored here.

Jan 1, 2014

By Stoyan Gaydardzhiev, Michel Shengo, Pierre Kalenga

Lab-scale flotation of copper and cobalt oxidized ore from the Luiswishi deposit in the Katanga province (DRC) has been done focusing on the influence of the degree of process water recycling on metals recovery. Results have shown that at 20 % recycling rate, the recovery of copper and cobalt in the cleaner stage have been respectively reduced to 23 % and 45 % in comparison to 53 % Cu and 63 % Co if process water has not been recycled. At 10 % recycling rate however, the system could still tolerate the effect from recycling, since Cu and Co recovery has remained respectively at acceptable levels of 52 % and 60 %. In order to explain the reasons for the observed worsening of flotation results if process water was recycled at rate higher than 20 %, electrochemical investigation of the pulp has been performed. It has been established that the chemical compounds formed in the pulp when process water was recycled, do influence the sulphidization of malachite and heterogenite and impact further collector adsorption. To confirm these assumptions, the effect from thiosulphate ions presence during the sulphidization of high purity malachite has been studied. It has been found, that thiosulphate ions depending on their concentration in water induce variations in pulp properties such as DO content, pH, Es and contribute to formation of undesirable chemical compounds on mineral surface as identified by DRIFT spectroscopy.

Jan 1, 2014

By Y. B. Zhang

China is rich in iron ore resources, but most of these ores are low-grade, polymetallic and refrac-tory ones. Furthermore, with the rapid development of chinese iron & steel industry, the comprehen-sive recovery of these ores is becoming more and more important. The tin, zinc-containing complex iron ores are typical polymetallic and intractable ones, and great reserves of them are found in China. At present, they have not been efficiently utilized. In this paper, based on the investigation of basic physicochemical properties of the tin, zinc-bearing iron concentrates, taken from a mineral processing plant, the mineralogy reason that these concentrates are so intractable and refractory is found out, using advanced microscopic testing methods, such as optical microscope (OM), Scanning Electronic Microscope (SEM), X-ray diffrac-tion (XRD), etc. It is found that the symbiotic relationship of iron, tin and zinc metallic minerals are very complicated, and magnetite in the concentrate is closely symbiotic or enwrapped by fine cassi-terite and sphalerite. So it is difficult to separate tin and zinc completely from the iron concentrates by simple regrinding and physical separation method. This investigation provides theoretical guid-ance for developing new approaches for utilizing these concentrates.

Jan 1, 2014

By Boris Albijanic, Hongjuan Chen, Bogale Tadesse

"During mechanical flotation of fine liberation sized complex rare earth ores, a large fraction of ultrafine valuable mineral particles are lost to tailings. Fine gangue mineral particles can be entrapped within the froth phase and be floated together with target mineral particles. Another common challenge in ultrafine rare earth mineral flotation is the formation of a sticky froth (excessively stable froth). Thus, the improvement of the flotation of fine and ultrafine rare earth bearing minerals through appropriate cell design and reagent selection is highly desirable. The aim of this study is to investigate the performance of a pico-bubble cavitation flotation column in improving selective recovery of ultrafine rare-earth elements (REEs) bearing minerals from complex and low-grade ores. In pico-bubble cavitation column, very small bubbles are generated which are capable of attaching to ultrafine particles and consequently modifying their surface properties. The overall effect of these processes should lead to improved flotation selectivity and recovery of ultrafine RE mineral particles. In this paper, the effects of a number of flotation operating variables on recovery and grade of REE minerals was investigated using a continuous pilot scale pico-bubble column flotation. At the flotation conditions used in this study, subtle monazite upgrade was observed while gangue Fe oxide was preferentially floated even in the presence of depressants. INTRODUCTION Rare earth elements (REEs) have unique properties such as superconductivity and catalytic activity, and are in high demand for a large number of cutting-edge technologies in the modern world including the production of mobile phones, fuel cells, displays, permanent magnets for wind power generation, high-capacity batteries, green energy devices, etc (Naumov, 2008). REEs tend to be intimately associated within many minerals, and are rarely found in high concentrations in deposits for economic extraction. Up to now, among over 250 minerals containing REEs, bastnasite (Ce), monazite (Ce, Th and La) and xenotime (Y) are the three main minerals that contain sufficient grade of REEs for commercial exploitation (Zhang and Edwards, 2012). The deposits that contain bastnäsite, monazite and xenotime usually have complicated mineral compositions, with various valuable minerals of fine embedded grain sizes in association with complex gangue minerals. In order to ensure liberation of the REEs minerals, fine grinding to less than 30 µm is necessary. This fine grinding leads to difficulty in recovering a large proportion of fine and ultrafine particles in separation processes such as flotation (Trahar and Warren, 1976). Consequently, highly liberated and ultrafine fine valuable REEs particles are lost into tailings during traditional mechanical flotation. Besides, the formation of extremely sticky and stable froth inhibits the drainage of hydrophobic particles. Thus, improving flotation of rare earth bearing minerals, particularly the ultrafine size range, is highly desirable."

Jan 1, 2018

By Olgac Kangal, Ali Guney, Gulay Bulut, Guven Onal, Ayhan A. Sirkeci

This paper presents the results of pilot scale column flotation applications in the two different copper concentrators in Turkey. The Kure Copper Plant is located in the Black Sea Region of Turkey. In Kure, a very fine grinding requirement for an adequate level of liberation makes a successful flotation difficult and consequently the final concentrate can hardly assay above 16% Cu Column flotation tests were conducted at the plant site using two different column types The experiments proved that the grade of the concentrate could be increased from about 14% Cu to 25-26% Cu. Murgul Cakmakkaya Copper Concentrator is the largest copper concentrator in Turkey. Although concentrate production capacity is around 170,000 tons annually with 22-23% Cu content, this figure tends to be much lower than that. In Murgul a Turbo Column of Multotec Company of South Africa was employed. As a result of systematic column flotation tests, the grade of the concentrate was increased from 20.3% Cu to 28.7% Cu.

Jan 1, 2003

By Olgac Kangal, Ali Guney, Gulay Bulut, Guven Onal, Ayhan A. Sirkeci

"This paper presents the results of pilot scale column flotation applications in the two different copper concentrators in Turkey. The Kure Copper Plant is located in the Black Sea Region of Turkey. There are four types of copper ore formations in the Küre region. The so called disseminated ore contains 60-70% siliceous minerals of which Cu content is around 0.5%. The remaining three ore types in the region are generally named “massive ores”. The massive ores may assay up to 15% Cu and the major gangue mineral is pyrite associated with relatively little amount of silica. The main copper mineral in all formations is chalcopyrite that is generally finely disseminated in pyrite therefore satisfactory liberation requires ultrafine grinding especially in the case of the massive ores.A blend of these ores, containing 1.7% Cu on average, is fed to the Küre Copper Concentrator whose capacity is 1.2 million tons of ore annually. Unfortunately, today the plant operates below its designed capacity treating around 550,000 tons of ore per year. The design of Küre Copper Plant was undertaken by the Outokumpu Company of Finland. The operation of the plant is almost automatically controlled and the feed, the concentrate and the tailings are assayed for copper by on-line XRF analysers. The particle size analysers are also connected to the grinding circuit. The feed material is ground almost below 50 µm and the flotation is conducted around pH 11.2 using Hostaflot X-231 (a trade mark of Hoechst) as the collector. Apart from the rougher cells, there are four cleaning stages after which the final concentrate is produced. A very fine grinding requirement for an adequate level of liberation makes successful flotation difficult and consequently the final concentrate can hardly assay above 16% Cu leading to copper losses around 20% in the tailings that contains 0.3% copper."

Jan 1, 2003

By T. Moloane, C. Bergman, Heloise Thiele

"A pilot test campaign was undertaken to evaluate dense medium cyclone separation efficiencies on samples of iron ore fines (-1mm +300µm). Evaluations were done using both gas and water atomised FeSi types across a range of operating conditions in the presence of slimes build-up. A Mineral Liberation Analyser (MLA) was used to measure size, density, shape and liberation data of DMS feed and products. The results of the test work were used to obtain parameters for modelling of the partition size/density response. The findings indicated that accurate density characterisation of the feed ore is essential in understanding product quality and recovery, particularly due to the effect of porosity and micro-inclusions. A significant off-set between cyclone underflow density and separation cut-point (D50) was found indicating that relatively low feed media densities (about 3.4g/cm3) are required to achieve high density cutpoints of over 4.0g/cm3. In agreement with CFD modelling, the separation quality is dominated by viscous effects, hence FeSi type and slimes content will need to be carefully controlled to ensure efficient separation.INTRODUCTION In the South African context, future resources of hematite are expected to be both of lower head grade and will contain a higher content of banded iron formation (BIF) (1). These ores may require finer crushing in order to liberate the high-grade fractions and will thus increase the amount of -1mm material to be processed. In order to efficiently upgrade these materials, it becomes necessary to re-examine both traditional and novel processes to treat material finer than 1mm in size. These include spiral and up-current classifiers, wet high intensity magnetic separation processes, Reflux classification and potentially includes dense medium separation (DMS). This study presents a technical evaluation of fines DMS using a mineralogically-based particle tracking analysis method (PTA) to calculate efficiencies of separation."

Jan 1, 2018

By Ben Murphy, Alejandro Yanez, Tatu Miettinen

"Flotation using large volume cells has grown in importance during recent years, particularly given the increasing demand for minerals whilst ore grades are decreasing. Outotec introduced the TankCell® e300 in 2007 to enable concentrator plants to process these higher tonnages. From the beginning, TankCell® e300s with FloatForce® mixing mechanisms have demonstrated good metallurgical performance with decreased operating costs and high availability. This paper deals with specific engineering challenges that need to be considered when installing these units rather than giving examples of performance. Today there are over 100 TankCell® e300s operational worldwide. As more of these units are installed new technical challenges are encountered and solutions developed to maximize their productivity. Lessons have been learnt by operators, engineering companies and the cell manufacturers on how best to design and layout these cells in modern concentrators to ensure smooth transition from design to installation to operation. This paper presents information on important design considerations and learning that has been obtained through the design, installation and commissioning of the TankCell e300 around the world. Areas pertaining to cells layout such as feed and discharge arrangements along with items of metallurgical concern such as sampling, reagent addition and the potential benefits of installing a variable speed drive on the motor will be covered in depth."

Jan 1, 2014

By P. Somasundaran, Tarun Bhambhani, D. R. Nagaraj, P. Patra

"Certain non-sulfide gangue minerals are known to have a detrimental impact on flotation performance. When present in large amounts, they can negatively affect recoveries, grades and throughput at current operations, and dictate the viability and economics of a greenfield project. While the problem has been investigated for a long period of time, a scientific understanding of the mechanisms by which these minerals affect performance has not been obtained, and no acceptable solutions have been developed. This study focused on the role of physical aspects (e.g. shape, size and morphology) of these minerals as the underlying factors for poor performance. Flotation tests were conducted using model mineral systems to understand the impact of one phyllosilicate mineral (muscovite) on flotation kinetics, recoveries and grades. The study reveals that there is minimal impact on flotation kinetics, no impact on recoveries, but a very strong detrimental impact on concentrate grade. The traditional mechanisms of transport such as true flotation and entrainment are not sufficient in describing the extent of transport. The transport is attributed to the unique platy morphology of muscovite, which allows for action of buoyancy forces. Data also shows that the muscovite transport to the froth phase depends on particle size; coarser sized muscovite (100-150@) report to the froth phase in much larger amounts than medium sized muscovite (50-100@). At finer size fractions (<50@) the transport is also increased, and this is likely due to entrainment."

Jan 1, 2014

In the present work, the influence of coagulant, polymeric flocculant structure type and mode of addition on flocculation performance and dewatering behaviour of plant mineral waste tailings of diverse mineralogy (kaolin, quartz, goethite/hematite feldspar, gibbsite, rutile, and Illite) is investigated. High molecular weight, non-ionic polyacrylamide homopolymer and anionic (acrylate) and cationic (quaternary acrylate) copolymers were used in orthokinetic flocculation of colloidal-ly-stable, aqueous dispersion of negatively charged particles. It is demonstrated that, through prudent selection and mode of addition of polymer structure types, synergistic effect between certain cationic and anionic flocculants can be readily achieved, leading to significantly improved dewaterability of the heterogeneous mineral waste tailings.

Jan 1, 2014

By Mohammad Kor, David Beattie, Agnieszka Mierczynksa-Vasilev

The selectivity of polymer adsorption in mixed mineral systems is the basis for polymer depression of gangue minerals in flotation. Effective polymer depressants not only reduce gangue mineral recovery, they also have minimal effect on the recovery of the value phase, presumably through targeted adsorption on the gangue phase, and minimal uptake on the value phase. Traditionally, polymer depressant design has been guided by single mineral phase adsorption tests, with affinity and maximum adsorbed amount determined for gangue and value phases separately. However, there is a need to determine the actual extent of adsorption on the gangue phase while in the presence of the value phase. In this work, we report on the development of in situ atomic force microscopy (AFM) imaging for determination of polymer depressant coverage and morphology on mixed mineral surfaces. Our group has previously used AFM imaging on single minerals to connect adsorbed layer characteristics with bubble-particle attachment and flotation outcomes. Two sample types were used to test the methodology: (i) a mixture of two crushed/ground minerals encased in resin; and (ii) a composite mineral sample containing macroscopic regions of three different mineral phases. The samples have been used to probe the selective uptake of two modified dextrin polymers (octenyl succinate anhydride dextrin). AFM images acquired in situ (while all surfaces are immersed in the same polymer solution) of each mineral phase have revealed the natural selectivity of the polymer for the mineral surfaces. In all cases, the polymers adsorb on the all mineral surfaces present, but to a varying extent.

Jan 1, 2014

By Alex Joseph

A tertiary amine containing polyamine in its back bone was grafted to exfoliated graphite oxide by means of a series of chemical reactions.The synthesized amine functionalized polyaniline grafted to exfoliated graphite oxide (EGAMPANI) was characterized using various techniques such as, FTIR, TGA, Raman, and X-Ray diffraction.The synthesized EGAMPANI was blended with carbon paste electrode, and used to study the response of Hg2+ in acetate buffer solution.Preliminary analysis showed that the anodic current intensity using the EGAMPANI modified electrode was higher during a potential sweep and 10-4 M concentration of mercury could be detected which could be improved to 10-6 M using anodic stripping voltammetric technique. Keywords: metal sensor, exfoliated graphite oxide, functionalization, polyaniline

Sep 1, 2012

By P. Braga, A. Chaves, S. França, A. Luz

"In Brazil, there are no official reserves of molybdenum, and the unofficial reserves are modest. Therefore, the molybdenum ore (molybdenite) produced as a co-product or by-product of emerald mining in the region of Campo Formoso, BA, has arisen as the only economic option. The flotation process is commonly used in Brazil for the recovery of molybdenite from emerald mining tailings, but it produces low-content molybdenite concentrates, thereby resulting in a product with low economic value. The molybdenite concentrate produced in Campo Formoso contains 83.5% MoS2 (50% Mo), which is less than the international standard product that contains > 90% MoS2 (54% Mo).This low value is due to the presence of talc, which is a naturally hydrophobic mineral that is also floated with the molybdenite during the flotation process. Separability studies were done in a Partridge-Smith cell using dextrin and quebracho as a molybdenite depressor in solution at different concentrations and pH values to produce a technical-grade concentrate (i.e., 90% MoS2). These basic studies were accompanied by measurements of the zeta potential and contact angle, which was determined by the capillary rise method. The results of these floatability studies were used in bench flotation tests, which were performed in a Denver laboratory flotation cell. A molybdenite concentrate of 93.4% MoS2 was obtained when dextrin was used at a concentration of 100 g/t."

Jan 1, 2014

By A. P. Wang

Porous carbon adsorbents derived from inorganic materials templates such as zeolite and mesoporous silicate attracted considerable attention in the last decade and got great progress in re-cent years. However, so far almost all of templates used in the process were artificial porous materials; the porous carbons prepared by this method are very costly, which restricts the synthesis and application of templated porous carbons. In order to reduce the cost of templated porous carbons, natural inorganic porous minerals have been taken into consideration, which maybe possible and promising templates to prepare carbon adsorbents. In this work, we describe template process using tubular halloysite, rich mesoporous zeolite and low bulk density diatomite, as exemplars of the categories of inorganic porous templates which we have studied and discussed the effects of different templating structure on the resultant carbons. Two main carbon precursors, sucrose and furfuryl alcohol, were used respectively. The morphology of minerals and corresponding templated carbons were characterized using electron microscopy. The pore structures of minerals and templated carbons were characterised with nitrogen adsorption. The results showed that the morphology and pore structure of porous carbons are in good pertinence to those of corresponding templates. The morphology and pore structure of templated carbons could reflect those of corresponding templates at nanometer level. The templated carbons with high specific surface areas and rich mesopores can be prepared by using these three kinds of natural porous minerals as templates. The higher the surface area and pore volume of the minerals, the higher those of the corresponding carbons. The template carbons from halloysite possessed higher pore volume and mesoporosities. Based on the large mounts of experiment results, a model for the mechanism of resultant nanopores formation has been proposed. The nanopores of templated carbons are mainly composed of three kinds of pores: templated pores formed by removing mineral, hereditary pores formed by inheriting the pores of templates and nanopores formed during carbonization. These three kinds of pores have a close relationship with corresponding template.

Jan 1, 2014

By W. P. Roux

With depletion of higher grade iron ore reserves, and the need to process finer, lower grade material; there is a need to better understand the recovery efficiency of jigging process. The use of Positron Emission Particle Tracking (PEPT) was examined as a technique, to study the motion of particles inside a laboratory batch jig. PEPT is a noninvasive method that can provide three dimensional kinetic data of a particle during jigging. Particles with different densities and sizes were traced under the same jigging parameters, to obtain a data set that can be used for the development and verification of jigging models. From the results, detailed information on the stratification rate of a particle was obtained, with adequate resolution to see particle movement through an individual pulse. Detailed data of this nature is critical for the validation of CFD and DEM models. Keywords: positron emission particle tracking, jigging, jig models

Sep 1, 2012

By I. Govender, M. C. Richter, N. Mangadoddy

"We present an analysis of trajectory and time averaged data of near gravitational material (NGM) representative coal tracer particles within a magnetite medium passing through a 100mm diameter hydrocyclone imaged with PEPT (positron emission particle tracking) at iThemba labs, Cape Town. The tracking of neutrally buoyant tracers as well as the other NGM allows an empirical study of the approximate dynamical behaviours of both the dense medium as well as the range (size and density) of particles around the separator’s cut size within a partially imaged volume of the cyclone body lying within the field of view of the detector. The study was commissioned as part of a CFD validation study using empirical data from a real-world lab-appropriate system in order to shed light on the inner workings of hydrocyclones and their separation mechanisms. We employ various optimisation and noise reduction techniques within the analysis and follow a detailed investigation of the velocity fields derived from the raw spatial positions with an emphasis on the velocity profile within the forced and free vortex zones. Challenges encountered with this high velocity particle tracking experiment within a highly attenuating environment are also discussed. Various important velocity distributions are shown and compared to theoretical predictions. The power law decay profile of the free vortex and radial velocity scaling with regards to the Froude number are reproduced in line with the static particle approach. INTRODUCTION Cyclones have long been a vital industrial tool for the separation of different classes of particles. These cyclonic separators (with either gas or liquid medium) operate by forcing the solids-bearing fluid at high pressure into a cylindrical vessel causing high tangential velocity fluid rotation as well as, in the case of an “open” (with exit channels open to the atmosphere) cyclone, a central vortex air column spanning from underflow to overflow exit. The fluid is forced to exit the cyclone at two locations, the spigot and the vortex finder, generating the underflow and overflow respectively. The body of the cyclone usually terminates in a conical shape to focus the underflow stream. This geometry and large incident fluid velocity force high density materials toward the wall of the vessel where they are most likely to move along and down the inside wall away from the inlet to exit via the underflow while lower density materials traverse the cyclone body closer to the central vortex and are buffeted by the upward-moving column towards the overflow exit. This separation mechanism is selective of density and size in an interplay between the centrifugal force due to the rotation of the fluid and a drag force acting on the particles."

Jan 1, 2018

By Irena Grigorova

"Vermiculite is a naturally occurring mineral compound composed of shiny flakes, resembling mica. Worldwide, vermiculite has been used in various industries since 1920. When heated to a high temperature, flakes of vermiculite expand several times their original size. The expanded vermiculite is a lightweight, fire-resistant, absorbent, and odorless material. These properties allow vermiculite to be used to make numerous products, as an additive, for example to potting soil, in agricultural, construction, horticultural and industrial applications, including pesticides, insulation, potting mixes, brake pads, sound deadening materials, fire protection, paints, sealants, insulating concrete and etc. Over recent years researchers have been looking for effective economic and environmental methods and solutions for fine technological waste utilization. As a result of vermiculite ore processing large quantities of fine waste dust are formed. Until now there has been no application for this waste product. Currently this waste product is stockpiled using valuable land space, and is a potential contaminant. The paper presents the results of a study on the possibility to obtain briquettes from fine vermiculite by-product. The particle size distributions, chemical and mineralogical compositions of vermiculite were determined. It was established that consolidation of vermiculite dust by methods of briquetting and its consequent application in agriculture as meliorants for physico-chemical treatment, improves soils aeration structure and properties."

Jan 1, 2014

By D. Krawczykowski, D. Saramak, T. Gawenda

"Annual world zinc consumption is as high as nearly 14 millions of tonnes. Approximately 50% share of zinc is used for corrosion protection in processes of continuous galvanization and the hot dip processes. In the latter, two zinc containing residues are produced: zinc ash and hard zinc, which constitute around 10% each. Paper concerns the method of possible separation of metallic zinc from the non-metallic zinc compounds from the zinc ashes – the waste product of hot dip galvanization process. The investigative programme covered the comminution tests of the feed (zinc ash) in selected crushers: jaw crusher, roller crusher and impactor. Results of investigations show that application of individual crushing device results in various breakage of the feed sample. Impact force caused the highest increase in finest particles size fractions of the product, while metallic and non-metallic fractions were comminuted differently. The compression force, in turn, caused the selective comminution, i.e. the breakage of metallic zinc was observed in a higher degree. The presented approach appears to be an economical supplementary method of initial recovery of metallic zinc from metallurgical zinc waste. For the high demands for the zinc in the world and the need of corrosion protection, the method presented in the paper helps in more effective zinc recovery and environmental protection.INTRODUCTION AND METHODOLOGY World production of metallic zinc during last decade shows a slight increase and in recent years its consumptions reach 14 millions of tonnes. Figure 1 shows world production of zinc in the time period 2009 – 2016. Main directions of zinc utilization include: - Galvanization - Production of zinc alloys - Brass and bronze production - Semi-manufactures of zinc - Chemicals The major share in global zinc consumption constitute galvanization process (Bright 2007). Two main types of zinc galvanization are: hot-dip galvanizing (HDG) and electro-galvanizing."

Jan 1, 2018

The major components of sylvinite ores, sylvite (KCl) and halite (NaCl), are separated by flotation. Since both these minerals are water-soluble, the process is carried out in a saturated brine, 6~7 mol/L aqueous solution of NaCl and KCl. C16~C22 primary amines, utilized as a collector, are practically insoluble in water. In commercial potash ore flotation operations these amines are melted by heating up to 70~90°C. They are then neutralized with hydrochloric or acetic acids, and such a hot emulsion/dispersion is introduced to the flotation pulp (which is at room temperature). This is immediately accompanied by the appearance of a white precipitate in the system. As our measurements indicate, the Krafft point of dodecylammonium chloride in concentrated electrolyte solutions is much higher than 80°C, and the Krafft point of C16~C22 amines is substantially higher than that. Introduction of a hot amine emulsion into a pulp, at temperature much lower than the Krafft point for the utilized amines, must cause precipitation of the amines. Some of these species are obviously flotation-active. It is interesting to observe that in summertime, when temperatures are high-er, longer chain amines perform better. It demonstrates that the colloidal amine species that precipitate serve as active species in the potash flotation. Therefore, at higher pulp temperatures, when the temperature difference between the pulp temperature and the Krafft temperature of the utilized amine is not sufficiently large, a longer chain amine, the amine with a higher Krafft point, is more efficient. The results reveal that premixing of an alcohol such as MIBC (common frother) with the amine significantly improves flotation performance of the amine. In the presence of such an alcohol the amine disperse system becomes less turbid, and the rheology of the system less non-Newtonian. All this indicates that MIBC, which does not operate as a frother in a potash flotation system, when used as a co-surfactant, enhances the dispersion of the amine colloidal system. The appearing colloidal species perform as an active form of the collector.

Jan 1, 2014

By M. Panayotova

Most of the quantity of the water soluble xanthates, used in mineral flotation, is consumed in the process. However, the residue amounts are water contaminants downstream the mineral processing operations and can be toxic to aquatic biota at concentrations of 1 mg/L. In order to be able to discharge water from tailing ponds to natural water bodies the concentration of xanthates has to be decreased. The present paper studies the uptake of potassium ethyl xanthate by directly modified with copper and lead ions natural zeolitic rock, without passing through zeolite transformation into homoionic form. Modified zeolite exhibits high, comparable with powdered activated carbon of chemical purity grade, capacity to remove potassium ethyl xanthate from model wastewater, with pH in the range of 7?9 and pollutant concentration in the range of 10-150 mg/L. The pollutant immobilization is fast. Both Cu and Pb modified zeolite behave as selective with respect to xanthate in the model wastewater, and Cu-modified zeolite possesses higher selectivity. The equilibrium is best described by the Freundlich equation. Keywords: xanthate, wastewater, modified zeolite

Sep 1, 2012