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By P. T. Nguyen

The analysis of particle capture by an air bubble by two separate phenomena of collision and attachment has been difficult due to the uncertainty in determining when and where the two phenomena begin and terminate at the bubble surface, respectively. Therefore, a unified analysis was developed by solving the motion equation for the particle capture as one process. No distinction be-tween collision and attachment was made. Both the liquid film described by the micro-hydrodynamic resistance functions and the surface forces were included in the new model. The model predictions with the DLVO (Derjaguin-Landau-Verwey-Overbeek) surface forces did not agree with the experimental trajectories of latex and silica spheres. The model predictions with the inclusion of the non-DLVO attractive surface force agreed with the experimental data. The non-DLVO force reduced the repulsion between the non-attaching particle and the bubble, and significantly increased the attraction between the attaching particle and the bubble. The unified analysis is capable of predicting particle capture without the use of the induction time. The unified analysis also shows significant influence of the short-range hydrodynamic interactions on the collision which has been previously ignored.

Jan 1, 2014

By Yi-jun Cao, Jin-cai Ran, Guo-sheng Li, Jiong-tian Liu, Li-jun Deng, Shu-lei Li

A fly ash sample from a power station in Guangdong province has been characterized by size separation, X-ray diffraction, contact angle measurements and X-ray Fluorescence. The ash sample had a loss-on-ignition (LOI) (%) of 15.54% and a large proportion of the unburned carbon was distributed in the +74 µm and -20 µm fractions. Contact angle measurements suggested that the removal of unburned carbon from the fly ash using flotation would present some challenges. The effects of various operating variables on the removal rate of unburned carbon (RUC) (%) and (LOI) (%) were determined using a cyclonic-static micro bubble flotation column (FCSMC). Within the range studied, the optimum diesel oil dosage was 1200 g/t, abies oil (frother) dosage was 600 g/t, pulp density was 20%, superficial gas velocity was 1.4 cm/s and circulating pressure was 0.20Mpa. Column flotation tests indicated that the FCSMC method a viable and effective separation process for removing the unburned carbon from the fly ash. Under the optimized conditions, a clean ash with 2.13% LOI and 94.21% RUC was obtained.

Jan 1, 2014

By A. Kurkov

Flotation process is based on the formation of primary collector-based supramolecular associates at the mineral surface and within the pulp. Supra molecular chemistry allows studying within a common framework, all kinds of molecular associates, from dimers to large assemblies, resulting from spontaneous association of a large number of interacting components of the flotation system, where the collective action of non covalent bonds can have an important role. Self-organization of supra molecular assemblies in the flotation process can be controlled by modifying the chemical structure of the collector, the nature and arrangement of functional group in it, by introducing secondary agents (SA) into the process, to adjust the interaction between the collector and the surface and to control the hydrophobicity of the adsorption bed. This offers broad opportunities to build supramolecular assemblies to improve the efficiency of flotation. Besides, the more complex is the system, the weaker are the interactions, that determine its behavior. This powerful factor still is not employed deliberately to control the flotation process. Organophosphorus compounds (OPC) - dialkyl phosphoric acids whose radicals contain ethoxylated groups ? are considered as nanocompounds, that can be used in building supramolecular assemblies. The presence in an OPC molecule of functional groups (P=O, P (O) O-, P (O) OH), ethoxylated groups, and aromatic rings is the basis for the formation of stable supramolecular associates. Gross formula: C54H94KO16P. Molecular weight is 1069.39. Phosphoryl anion has a regular tetrahedral structure with the angle of 109.5°. Lengths of -P-O- bonds in a PN molecule are 1.7345Å; length of the hydrocarbonic radical C42-C72 = 33.942Å. In an alkaline environment, PN is in the form of the anion, in an acidic environment ? in the form of the polycation due to protonation of the oxygen in the EO group. Chem Office software suite was used to generate three-dimensional images of an OPC molecule in acidic and alkaline environments, to reveal the OPC geometry (bond lengths, valence angles, aliphatic radical length), to identify the collector's binding sites with the mineral surface, to find the most stable and energy-efficient molecular conformations of an OPC molecule and its complexes with minerals under various conditions. Mechanisms of interaction between OPCs and the mineral surfaces are different. In ores whose minerals are dominated by ionic bonds (fluorite), the interaction mainly involves the anionic form of the collector; in ores, whose minerals are dominated by covalent bonds - the oxygen of the phosphoryl group (donor-acceptor interaction) and the oxygen of the ethoxylated groups. This difference is responsible for the formation of spatial associates with different surface layer structures. Introduction of supramolecular chemistry concepts into the analysis of flotation phenomena and mechanisms can become an effective tool for better understanding the flotation process and offers new means of consistently improving its effectiveness.

Sep 1, 2012

By Y. G. Zhu, G. B. Zheng, Z. B. Qian, X. R. Zhang, A. J. Ren

"Based on PMA polymer, two kinds of novel macromolecular depressants, PMTA and PMA-PDTC, were designed and synthesized. PMTA was used for desilication in hematite reverse flotation. PMA-PDTC was used in the separation of Cu-Pb concentrate as galena depressant. The micro-flotation results showed that PMTA exhibited a good depression performance compared to starch. We found that 98.29% of hematite was depressed with a grade of 65.24% at pH 11 with 12 mg/L dosage. The flotation separation results of Cu-Pb concentrate demonstrated that PMA-PDTC was an effective depressant for galena in separating galena from chalcopyrite. When IPETC was used as collector, at pH 8.5, the flotation separation tests demonstrated that Cu concentrate was obtained with a grade of 28.89% containing 12.12% Pb.INTRODUCTIONThe role of depressants is crucial in the separation of oxide or sulfide minerals, for example, the desilication in hematite concentrate and the separation of Cu-Pb concentrate.It is well known that, in current reverse flotation processing of hematite, starch is a traditional depressant for hematite. Most research focus on the modification of starch [1-3]. Although its depressing ability is enhanced in some extent, its own shortcomings is still existed. So, it is important to develop a new hematite depressant instead of starch.In the separation of chalcopyrite and galena, because of their extremely similar floatability, it is difficult to realize the separation of these two minerals. Traditionally, there are two methods widely used in the separation of Cu-Pb concentrate by depressing chalcopyrite with cyanide [4] or depressing galena with dichromate [5] in most cases. However, these two inorganic depressants are toxic and hazardous. Their use could cause heavy pollution problems and a large loss of precious metals. In order to adapt to the requirements of sustainable economic development and environmental protection, the research and development of green and environmental depressant has gained more and more significance."

Jan 1, 2018

By M. M. Bugarin, P. J. van Staden, V. T. Conic, S. S. Dragulovic, R. M. Kovacevic, D. B. Milanovic

"The mineralogical and physico-chemical characteristics of a polymetallic sample from a mine of West Serbia suggest that it can be classified as a SEDEX type of ore. Those ores contain multiple value components, being inter-dispersed as fine grained aggregates. This prevents concentration by gravity or flotation concentration processes. Mineralogically, the valuable metals (Cu;Zn;Pb;Au and Ag) occur as pyrite, sphalerite, galena, tetrahedrite, chalcopyrite, covellite, arsenopyrite, and non-metallic minerals (barite, and waste minerals). Novel technologies are under development within this project for the recovery of all valuable metals from this very complex material. The work comprises the further treatment of solid residue obtained after Cu and Zn extraction by bioleaching, for the subsequent recovery of Pb and the precious metals Ag and Au. The residue is first treated with a saturated sodium chloride solution, whereupon a chloride solution of lead (NaPbCl3) is obtained. From the chloride solution, lead was deposited in the form of lead carbonate, followed by reductive melting, whereupon lead anode was obtained. Electrolytic refining of the lead anode, using a solution of PbCO3 in methane sulphonic acid (MSA-Methanesulfonic acid, min 99.5% CH4O3S, density 1.48 kg/dm3, Manufacturer: Carl Roth) as an electrolyte, yielded refined lead cathode. It should be noted that, after precipitation and separation of lead carbonate, the sodium chloride solution is restored to its original composition by the addition of make-up reagents and returned for another lead-sulfate leaching cycle. The solid residue obtained after leaching lead-sulphate, is leached in thiosulphate solution, with the addition of an activator, a catalyst and lixiviant for gold, to yield a thiosulphate solution of gold and silver. Since the content of gold and silver in solution is low (below 1 mg/dm3), they are first electrolytically concentrated on steel cathode and then refined to pure metals using well-known chemical methods. Note that, after the electrolytic separation of gold and silver, thiosulphate solution is recycled to the leaching step."

Jan 1, 2018

By Q. X. Li

The state discharge standard for arsenic-containing wastewater which is the first kind of pollution is less than 0.5 mg/L. In fact, in a certain company, the acidic arsenic-containing wastewater in non-ferrous smelting was as high as 860 mg/L, which is far beyond the state discharge standard. Obviously, the direct release of this wastewater without further treatment would result in great hazards to the ecological environment. To aim directly at the characteristics of acidic arsenic-containing wastewater, in this study, two steps of treatment including oxidation-flocculation and removal fluoride by mixing alkaline neutralization were suggested. Through analyzing various influencing factors in treatment effects, the optimum technical conditions were obtained. The sediments after treating were recyclable and the secondary pollutions can be avoided. Moreover, the results also show that, all indexes of the effluent after treating are lower than the First Grade Standard of Integrated Wastewater Discharge (GB 8978-1996). This novel method has advantages of short flow sheet, easy operation and low cost.

Jan 1, 2014

By Yimin Zhu

This paper introduces the sixteen mappings and rules of mineral flotation and the subgroup, period etc in periodic table of chemical element to provide mineral flotation workers to refer in theory and practice research. the nine mappings and rules of mineral flotation and the subgroup, period are Saline minerals including the first main groups and collectors of aliphatic acid and aliphatic amines, Minerals including the second main group elements and collector of aliphatic acid, Hydrated ion of the second main group elements and quartz flotation, The floatability of oxidized minerals including the four main group elements, Organic acid including the fifth main group elements and wolframe, tin flotation collectors, The floatability of sulfide minerals including the fifth main group elements, Inorganic compounds including the seventh main group elements and mineral flotation regulator, Oxidized minerals including the forth Subgroup elements and organic flotation agents with phosphorus and arsenic, Oxidized minerals including the fifth subgroup elements and organic floating agents including the fifth main group elements, Minerals including the first subgroup elements and CN-, Sulfide minerals including the second subgroup elements and CN-, The effect of the highest N-valency inorganic acids or salts including p area elements of the third period in mineral flotation, Oxidized minerals including transition elements of the forth period and 3# flocculating agent, The floatability of minerals including elements of the sixth period, Element area of generating compositions and the collecting theory of mineral flotation and so and. Keywords: mineral flotation, periodic table of chemical element, subgroup, period, regulator, coordination chemistry

Sep 1, 2012

By Sami Makni, Ahmed Bouajila

"To remain competitive in an open market, mining companies are more and more requested to optimise their complex and highly multivariate processes. The increasing amount of process data, brought about by intensive use of instrumentation and the progress in computer data acquisition, enhances the need for more and more powerful and robust tools for the analysis and modelling of the process data. Now, with the emergence of multivariate data analysis (MDA) techniques, on-line clustering of mineral process behaviour is possible and could help in the extraction of valuable process operation indicators. MDA can be used in different mineral processes such as flotation, grinding, smelting etc.In this paper, we focus on grinding process considered as the most costly and power consuming node of the mineral processing scheme. Different objective-oriented levels of data clustering will be addressed.First, the evaluation of grinding operation taking into account data and constraints from all processes before (e.g. blasting, crushing) and after (e.g. flotation, leaching, etc.) the grinding node. The second level deals with process diagnosis by differentiating operation level and identifying behaviour drifts. Control and optimisation are two other levels concerned here with the selection of optimum trajectories in the drift correct.Industrial plant data are processed in order to illustrate the feasibility and the potentiality of MDA applications in addressing the clustering and interpretation of grinding mill behaviour."

Jan 1, 2003

By D. W. Feng

Thiosulfate as an alternative lixiviant for gold has received much attention in recent years due to the growing environmental concerns over the use of cyanide. Cu(II) is used to catalyze the oxidation of gold and ammonia is to stabilize Cu(II) in alkaline solution. However, the presence of Cu(II) enhances the oxidative degradation of thiosulfate. The high consumption of reagents has made thiosulfate leaching uneconomical to date, in comparison with cyanide leaching. Therefore, further investigations are required to leaching under low reagent concentrations over extended periods where reagent consumption is low and gold leaching rate is low as well. It is thus necessary to find additives to enhance gold dissolution in the thiosulfate leaching system. Electrochemical studies using rotating gold disc showed that the oxidation of gold in ammoniacal thiosulfate solution increased significantly in the presence of a small amount of thiourea and the beneficial effect increased with an increase in the thiourea concentration up to 7.2 mM. Thiourea improved gold extraction in the thiosulfate leaching of gold from a sulfide ore under low reagent concentrations. Excessive addition of thiourea inhibited the leaching of the gold ore. The decomposition of thiosulfate was reduced with the presence of thiourea. X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) results indicated that thiou-rea likely decomposed to sulfide and formed gold sulfide species at the gold surface.

Jan 1, 2014

By Vishal Shukla, Ashok Kumar, C. Raghu Kumar, D. P. Chakraborty

"Traditional iron ore beneficiation plants using washing, screening, and jigging processes require large volumes of process water. Generated slime during processing, its disposal and impact on water usage, is an important concern for any mining company. The challenge today, during extracting iron ore, is how to dispose of slime such that it is contained and stable, while maximizing water reuse and minimizing surface footprint. The slime disposal methods are sensitive to the environment. Two major technologies presently being practiced for disposing the slime across the world are pressure filtration and paste thickening. In this perspective an attempt has been made to do comparative study between paste thickening and pressure filtration for selection of suitable slime disposable technology for Noamundi processing plant, Tata Steel. From the studies, it is evident that by adopting pressure filtration technique it was possible to produce filtered slime, whereas filtration, rate reduces significantly with the presence of finer fraction. Further , the greatest advantage of paste thickening is volume reduction of slime. By considering the technology limitation and comparative lab test work result, it is opined that combination of filtration and paste thickening technology is favorable in terms of capital and operating cost and slime >45 µ should be filtered and < 45 µ slime should go for paste thickening. The study and the results are presented in details.INTRODUCTION The beneficiation processes always end up with an enriched portion of desired mineral - “Concentrate” and an enriched portion of undesired minerals - “Tailing”. The proportion and nature of tailings generated in every beneficiation process differ from ore to ore and reflects the characteristics of the feed processed. The traditional method of tailing disposal in many mineral processing industries has been to dispose them as thickener underflow at around 35% solids. Though, it had certain advantages of transportation with ease but contribute to a greater volume occupied in the tailing dam. This sustained practice and failure to utilize the space available in the tailing dam judiciously endangered the mining industry. The tailing management has become the toughest task to the mining industry and most of the mines are running out of space for disposing the fresh tailings as many of these are at the verge of getting filled."

Jan 1, 2018

By Baidyanath Mandal

Technology in the solid-liquid separation industry has evolved rapidly during the last fifty years and from the beginning, DIEMME Filtration has played a very important role in this evolutionary process by developing innovative solutions, which are used for a diverse range of industrial applications. Since the last decade, we find more and more examples of filter presses employed in the mining & mineral processing field, where high performances in terms of productivity, dewatering capacity and mechanical strength even in extreme working conditions are required. Mainly the requirement of such high quality equipment comes from the Process, however in few cases the reason could be linked with the environment. For stringent process applications like Mineral Concentrates dewatering & leached Slurry Filtration, it requires a high quality & extremely reliable equipment. In these applications, since many years industries are achieving the desired result by using Diemme Filter Presses. Also, recently, due to stringent environment practices are been applied globally, industries needs equipments which could dewater a high amount of residues / tailings with minimal moisture content in the filtered cake. In comparison to all the conventional dewatering equipments, Diemme Filter Presses are most efficient for these kind of product & applications. Diemme Filtration is a highly professional & technological company with several decades of experience in designing equipment for mineral processing. We take up each project as separate & design and manufacture equipment based on individual process or project requirement. This presentation will be focused on the Solid-Liquid separation technologies & equipment Diemme Filtration offers to the mineral processing Industries. It consists of Diemme?s History, Global Network, Technologies & Expertise, R & D Capabilities, Manufacturing Range, Some Applications & results on different mineral processing. Keywords: solid-liquid separation, filtration, dewatering, filter press

Sep 1, 2012

By Janne Kauppi, Kaj Jansson, Piia Suvio, Saara Hagnäs

"Historically the focus at the mineral processing sites has been to improve the production operations, while little focus has been set on how factors, such as the quality of water used in the process affects the metal recovery. Simultaneously increasing public pressure and water scarcity is driving the mining industry to recycle more water back to the process, which in turn leads to accumulation of impurities within the recycled water. This paper presents a concept for a systematic approach on targeting the impurities that have a negative effect on the metal recovery at the flotation circuit by using a novel solution called Process Water Recycling Plant (PWRP). These plants are designed with specific ore type in mind. PWRP produces cost-effectively process water to different target qualities, especially for flotation purposes enabling higher and more stable flotation recovery. It consists of pre-designed and standard water treatment units for a wide range of volumes. The application-specific configuration of units is governed by the water quality requirements, and can be designed according to specific customer needs. Testing has been carried out in order to investigate, which recycling water impurities affect the different ore types and how the metal recovery in flotation is affected as a consequence of the poor-quality water. The results indicate that every ore type is impacted differently and without a good understanding on how the water quality impacts the process performance, adverse effects on the flotation recovery can occur.INTRODUCTION With a focus on where water is used within the mineral processing, it has become evident that even though water is used in several different processes, majority of the water losses within the site occur at the tailings processing and the tailings storage facility. New tailings management technologies that can increase the recovery of water are actively being developed, but the key to improving the efficiency of water use and reducing the operational risks lies in closing the water loops and increasing the slurry density in the tailings processing. With this shift from conventional tailings technologies towards paste and dry stacking, water efficiency is vastly improved, but it might in turn lead to process water challenges with impurities, reagents and fines being recycled and accumulated within the production processes."

Jan 1, 2018

By B. Z. Wu

The ore dressing of tin-polymetallic lean ores is a difficult problem and the research emphasis in domestic nonferrous metals mining field. Through research and tackle key problem,and in order to supply reference in dealing with the same types ores, this paper expatiates the exploiture and appli-cation of six item new technology and technics in ore dressing of tin-polymetallic lean ores. It include the technics of multi-step compounding disposing tailings, grinding step by step, grinding and processing circularly technology, high thickness without circle flotation technology, dispersedly flotation tin step by step technology, exceed fine lean plumbum stibium zinc flocculation flotation technology, the synthetically recovery of waste water after ore dressing technology.

Jan 1, 2014

By I. I. Beloglazov, G. A. Iusupov, A. Ju. Feoktistov

"The aim of this paper is to study the numerical modeling of the crushing process in a jaw crusher with complex motion jaws using Discrete Element Method (DEM). The main goals are to ensure the conformity of numerical simulation results to the experimental data, optimize the operating modes and the crusher design and develop automated verification and calibration methodology. It is offered to use automated selection of mathematical model parameters using large- or laboratory-scale experiments instead of deriving parameters from conventional intensive material tests (e.g. drop-weight test). Experimental data were obtained from a large-scale crusher designed and manufactured by the company “Mekhanobr-Tekhnika”. Both jaws have their drive shafts located asymmetrically; one jaw is driven in the upper part, the second at the base. The crushing process involves fragmentation of single smoothed rectangular granite particles of the same weight. During the experiment, the required parameters such as particle size distribution were obtained for further computer simulations. Based on the obtained experimental data, the Rocky DEM model was built. Simulation breakage parameters were calibrated using automated parameter selection methodology based on multiple set of parameter-controlled simulations. A good correlation of the experimental data and numerical simulation data was obtained. The methodology in combination with well-known capabilities of simulation modeling will help reduce the research time in the development of new mineral processing equipment.INTRODUCTION Preparation of rock mass for enrichment includes the power-consuming processes of crushing and grinding. Initial rock mass crushing is performed by means of drilling and blasting operations. To reduce the average size of a rock piece, primary crushers, mostly jaw crushers, are further applied. The advantages of the jaw crusher are simple design, easy maintenance and repair. One of the drawbacks is large oscillating masses and, thus, high power consumption during operation (55 - 200 kW). Jaw crushing simulation will help optimize the crushing process and improve further rock transportation and processing performance."

Jan 1, 2018

By J. J. Lui

Surfactant plays a critical role in many industrial processes such as petroleum, mining, environment and food processing, and daily life. For ionic surfactant systems, adsorption of surfactant at oil-water interface imposes a net charge to the interface. The nature and magnitude of the charges at the oil-water interface depend on charge characteristics of surfactant molecules, concentration of surfactant and solution pH. In our previous study, zeta potential measurement of hexadecane drop-lets in industrial process water was shown to be a simple, yet powerful method for identifying various types of ionic surfactants present in the aqueous system. In this paper, the site-binding model was applied to prediction of zeta potential of oil droplets in aqueous solutions containing a mixture of cationic and anionic surfactant molecules. The total number of interfacial sites for various types of surfactant involved was determined by applying the Gibbs adsorption equation to the measured interfacial tension-surfactant concentration profiles. The distribution of various types of surfactant molecules at the interfaces was evaluated by Langmuir isotherm constants. With the ionization constant of surfactant taken from the literature, the predicted zeta potentials of oil droplets in surfactant solutions from site binding model were shown in a reasonable agreement with the measured zeta potential values.

Jan 1, 2014

By R. D. Alorro

Melting has become a popular pre-treatment method for municipal solid waste (MSW) incineration residues in Japan. Although the method is effective in stabilizing the hazardous organic sub-stances such as dioxin, it concentrates the heavy metals such as Zn, Pb, Cu, and Cd in a newly formed fly ash (melting fly ash). Melting fly ash is classified as a hazardous waste because of the leaching potential of these heavy metals in landfill environment. Extraction and recovery of these metals seem to be more environmentally and economically attractive than disposing the material to landfill after immobilization process. This study proposes a Carrier-in-Pulp (CIP) method as a new hydrometallurgical route to reject and recover heavy metals from fly ash. In this method, a carrier material which recovers the extracted metals is added simultaneously with fly ash to leaching solutions and is harvested from the pulp by physical separation method like magnetic separation or sieving. To demonstrate the effect of CIP method, shaking flask experiments were conducted under various conditions using NaCl solution as lixiviant and iron powder or granular activated carbon as carrier materials. In the CIP method using iron powder, more than 97 wt% of Pb and Zn were extracted from the ash to the solution phase. However, the iron powder which was harvested from the pulp by magnetic separation, recovered only Pb (more than 94%) through cementation, leaving behind Zn ions in the solution phase. Due to this problem, granular activated carbon (GAC) was considered as an alternative carrier material. Single- and multi-metal adsorption experiments using granular activated carbon were conducted as a preliminary study. Around 85% Pb and 88% Zn were recovered by GAC in the single-metal adsorption experiment, while 60% Pb and 70% Zn in the multi-metal experiment. These results showed that activated carbon was superior to the iron powder since it was able to recover both Pb and Zn through adsorption. The leaching test conducted on the residue after the CIP-Fe treatment revealed that the solubilisation of Pb was successfully suppressed to meet landfilling guidelines.

Jan 1, 2014

By Xubo Chen, Zhiqiang Hu, Zhijian Sun, Gaoyun Zhou

"The research aimed at developing an efficient and environmental frother,which was applied in the flotation of sulfide ores. The flotation properties of an efficient frother and pine oil have been studied relatively by flotation tests of lead and zinc sulfide ores. At the same time, the biodegradability of two kinds of frother has been studied by the method of biological respiratory curve. The test results show that the flotation properties of new frother are superior to pine oil such as flotation rate, dosage etc. and its biodegradability is superior to pine oil. INTRODUCTION Frother is a kind of important agent in flotation reagents.In practice, the criterion of the foaming performance of the frother is what is high and low according to flotation indexes. The difference of different minerals and flotation technologies has great influence on the foaming performance of frother, and it is very important to choose the corresponding frother. The type, dosage and selectivity of frother in flotation process must be considered carefully. In today's society, environmental protection and ecological protection are becoming more and more important, and the environmental and ecological damage from mine development has aroused increasingly more attention. The use of mine agents has promoted the development of mineral resources, greatly improves the recovering utilization of mineral resources, at the same time, the production and use of mine reagents also inevitably bring about pollution, and result some influence or damage in the ecological environment.The frother is a common kind of reagent in the flotation process of the concentrator. In many cases, the waste water in the concentrator can not be let out in the natural water because the higher content of the frother in the waste water results in higher index of COD.This will inevitably increase the cost of waste water treatment in the mine.Therefore, the choice of frother should not only consider its influence on the flotation index, but also consider its influence on environmental protection. Waste water treatment is a way to solve the waste water pollution, but it needs to cost a lot of fund, manpower and material resources.And the development of high efficiency pollution-free reagent is a good way to reduce the production cost of mining enterprises and reduce the environmental pollution."

Jan 1, 2018

By H. Y. Ran

Magneto-flotation is a recently developing technology of mineral processing. This technology combines the traditional magnetic separation with flotation and provides a magnetic and buoyant force compound field to separate different minerals based on the differences of magnetism and floatability between useful minerals and gangue minerals. Magneto-flotation is applicable to separate ferromagnetic from nonmagnetic minerals, especially to separate magnetite from floatable gangue minerals. This magneto-flotation column is equipped with pulse electromagnetic field in the middle upper part, a bubble producer and upwell water inlet in the bottom. The pulse time of electromagnetic field in the column can be optionally adjusted and the maximum intensity of pulse magnetic field can reach 35mT. Pulse magnetic field can not only restrain magnetic minerals from entering into the froth layer, but also destroy the magnetic agglomeration to ensure a higher recovery and a higher concentrate grade. The results of experiments with magnetite show that pulse magnetic field has remarkable influence on flotation process. Compared with single flotation, magneto-flotation column can improve the recovery of magnetite by ten percent. After one time?s magneto-flotation processing, the grade of iron concentrate can increase from 65.4% to 69.5%, the content of silicon oxide in iron concentrate decreases from 7.4% to 2.8%, and the total recovery is above 96%.

Jan 1, 2014

By Jiongtian Liu, Guixia Fan, Caom Yijun

A cyclonic-static micro bubble flotation column (FCSMC) is an effective separation device for fine grain treatment. The separation of fine ilmenite by FCSMC was explored in this work. The influence of reagents dosage (regulator, collector and auxiliary collector), pulp density, circulation pressure and aeration quantity on TiO2grade and recovery wasinvestigated.The optimal conditions of a rougher are follows: pulp density 45%, pH 5.0, MOH collector dosage 2800 g/t, diesel oil dosage 700 g/t, circulationpressure 0.19 MPa, aeration quantity 0.8 m3/(m2•min). The optimal conditions of a cleaner are follows: pH 4.0, circulation pressures 0.16 MPa, and aeration quantity 0.5 m3/(m2•min).A pilot plant continuous test with a rougher-cleaner by FCSMC for 72 hours was proceeded under the optimum conditions. Compared with industrial flotation machines, the concentrate grade of FCSMC is 48.11% with an improvement of 1.08 percentagepoints, while the recovery is 82.36% with 13.64 percentagepoints increment. Moreover, the flowsheet is simplified from six parts (a rougher-two scavenger-three cleaner) in flotation machines to two parts (a rougher-cleaner) in FCSMC. Proofs were also provided by the analysis of the by-size grade and recovery of concentrate.Results show the FCSMC is an effective separation device to recover -74 µm size fraction.

Jan 1, 2014

By T. Wajima

We tried to convert paper sludge ash (PSA) into zeolitic product with high cation exchange capacity (CEC) through acid leaching. Typically, PSA from incineration of paper sludge contains a high percentage of calcium in the form of anorthite (CaAl2Si2O8) and gehlenite (Ca2Al2SiO7). It is difficult to convert the ash with a high Ca content into zeolites, or at least into more desirable zeolite phases. Acid leaching with HCl was applied to reduce the Ca content to synthesize zeolitic product with high CEC. The raw ash was treated with 1 M, 3 M, and 5 M HCl solution for 0.5~24 hours (the ratio of the ash to volume of HCl solution was 1/4), and then zeolitic product was synthesized from leached ash through the reaction with 2.5 M NaOH solution at 80 oC for 24 hours. During acid leaching, gehlenite is readily dissolved in a lower HCl concentration solution than anorthite. With increasing HCl concentration, the amounts of Ca, Mg, Si, Al, Fe and Ti extracted from the ash increased. Ca and Mg contents were easily extracted from ash than other elements. The contents of Ca and Mg extracted rapidly at initial stage, and then levelled off. The saturation times of Mg and Ca are almost 0.5 h using all concentrations of HCl solutions. After the synthesis from leached ashes, zeolite-A and -P were synthesized from ash leached in 1 M HCl solution, and 3 M and 5 M HCl solutions, respectively, regardless of leaching time. With in-creasing HCl concentration, the Ca content eluted from the product decreased, due to the removal of Ca via acid leaching before the synthesis, while the Na content eluted from the product increased to 3 M HCl and then decreased, which was almost similar to the CEC of the product, due to the ion exchange of Na-type zeolitic phase in the product. The change of zeolite phases in the product and the CEC of the product depend on the concentrations of Si and Al in the solution during the synthesis. The highest CEC of the product is about 220 cmol/ kg, which was synthesized from the ash leached in 3 M HCl solution.

Jan 1, 2014