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By Heiko Schiemann, Christoph Beyer, Thomas Pretz

"Due to multiple experiences in the field of planning and engineering of processing plants for secondary materials the Chair for Processing and Recycling of Solid Waste Materials decided to develop a software tool that supports the engineering and the planning of the basic layout of processing plants for secondary material flows. The detailed description of the material flow and its characteristic parameters is one of the main tasks to be worked out and should be considered as the basis for representative simulation results.The description of the material flow and its characteristic parameters is based on a fraction vector containing 12 material fractions. This is a compromise between a detailed material flow description and a compact and therefore time-extensive calculation model. Each material fraction is characterized by 15 parameters, which can be edited with the help of an easily accessible user-interface. In addition to basic parameters like ignition loss, water content and calorific value more parameters like the material fraction-specific particle-size distribution are contained. Using the model library SimuRec, the processing success and the recovery of complex processing plants for secondary materials can be predicted."

Jan 1, 2003

By Jochen Petersen, Steven Bradshaw, Guven Akdogan, Ngoie Mpinga, James Mwase, Jacques Eksteen, Cornelius Snyders

"The platinum group metals (PGMs) and associated minerals are particularly refractory to most traditional direct leach processes. However, the remoteness of many new ore deposits, socio-political risks, the scarcity of skilled labor and constraints on the availability of water and electrical power makes it increasingly more difficult to implement the conventional mill-float-smelt-refine process routes to extract and refine PGMs in remote areas. This paper discusses a process to extract PGM’s from low grade ore and concentrate using a sequential stage heap leach process entailing heap bioleaching and high temperature cyanide leaching, and evaluates the feasibility of implementing a carbon-in-pulp process to recover the PGMs from the pregnant leach solution. The heap bioleaching extracts the base metals in an acidic sulfate medium using a mixed culture of thermophiles. After heap bioleaching the heap is reclaimed, rinsed, agglomerated and restacked for high temperature cyanide leaching where the cyanide liquor is directly heated via solar energy in panels. Palladium, gold and platinum are recovered during the cyanide leaching stage. The pregnant leach solution was evaluated for potential carbon-in-pulp adsorption and subsequent elution similar to gold processing. The kinetics of adsorption and elution compared well with gold adsorption and elution."

Jan 1, 2014

By B. P. von der Heyden, P. Neethling, M. Tadieb, L. Babedi

The effects of trace element substitutions in sphalerite mineral structure on optimised floatation response have, as yet, not been fully constrained or fully understood. To further this important field of study, this contribution focusses specifically on mineral and surface chemistry, and electro-chemistry of Cd- and Co- substituted synthetic sphalerites using Raman spectroscopy and Zeta potential experimentation. Raman spectroscopy illustrates that the presence of these impurities results in the introduction of a new mode, the relative intensity of which can be correlated (Cd r2=0.95 and Co r2= 0.99) to the dopant concentration. Comparison to X-ray Diffraction results measuring the unit cell parameter further shows that this relative intensity (Cd r2=0.81 and Co r2= 0.99) may provide insights into the degree of lattice strain within the mineral structure. The zeta potential distribution of an un-activated Cd-sphalerite show no detrimental effect as function of Cd content. Although the iso-electric point shifted from 2.45 at 1 wt.% Cd to 2.69 at 3.68 wt.% Cd, the zeta potential remained negative at alkaline media. Conversely, cobalt at low concentration of 0.36 wt.% had a detrimental effect on the surface charge, resulting to a close to neutral zeta potential at different pH. The adsorption of Cu ions on the surface of Co-bearing sphalerite conditioned in an alkaline media slightly increases the zeta potential of Co-sphalerite. While the Cd-bearing sphalerite decrease in negative zeta potential at >1 wt.% Cd indicating a complete exchange between Cu and Zn. The results presented herein illustrate that, based on the chemical nature of the substituting metal; sphalerite will exhibit multiple response to flotation reagents. Maximum recovery of zinc can thus only be achieved through multidisciplinary study and fundamental understanding of the effects of cation substitution on mineral structure and surface chemistry, the latter necessarily affecting the floatation response.

Jan 1, 2018

By B. Friedrich, A. Weyhe, H. Heegn

"Nickel-metal hydride batteries (Ni-MH) are storers of electrochemical energy, which have a higher specific storage capacity than lead or nickel-cadmium batteries. The demand for Nickel-metal hydride batteries is increasing rapidly since their market launch in the early 1990’s. Today there is no suitable and sustainable recycling process to recover nickel, cobalt and rare-earth metals. The discarded batteries are used today in the steel industry as alloy material because they contain nickel. Cobalt and rare-earth metals (RE) are lost; they are non-recycleable.In a German governmental funded research project, IME Aachen, ACCUREC Mühlheim and UVR-FIA Freiberg are cooperating in processing as well as in creating a feasibility study. The target of this project is the development of a new recycling process for metal recovery from Ni-MH-batteries. The proposed process described in this paper consists of a combination of mechanical, pyrometallurgical and hydrometallurgical processing steps. This process is capable of treating all types of Ni-MH-batteries. After comminution steel and organics are separated. The separated Ni-MH is smelted in an electric arc furnace. The products are a nickel-cobalt alloy and a slag phase enriched with rare-earth oxides for further treatment to ‘mischmetal’. Both the Nickel-Cobalt alloy and the ‘mischmetal’ will be directly used in battery production."

Jan 1, 2003

By Kauko T. Ingerttilä, Jouko O. Kallioinen, Jaakko O. Leppinen, Alexander V. Lashkul, Vladimir E. Nenno

The Separation in Froth (SIF) technique is based on the idea that the pulp is fed directly onto the froth layer prepared on the surface of liquid medium providing an effective method for separation of coarse particles up to a few millimeters size. Thus the SIF process can result in substantial savings in grinding energy and flotation chemicals. In this work flotation of apatite, calcite and silicate minerals from various industrial sources was investigated using laboratory and pilot plant-scale SIF machines. Flotation of diamonds was also investigated on laboratory scale. It was observed that all the minerals mentioned above can be successfully floated up to about 3 mm particle size. Beneficiation tests with the coarse fractions of classification circuits indicated that final grade calcite concentrate can be obtained with over 90% recovery in one SIF step in this grain size (typically 0,1 to 1,5 mm). Similarly, substantial upgrading of coarse apatite was achieved without grinding it to the fineness required by conventional flotation. SIF could also be applied to the recovery of coarse apatite from the tailings of a conventional flotation process. The capacity measured in the pilot plant test runs for a 1 m2 cell was typically 30 t/m2h. Presently, a full-scale process using the SIF technology is being installed for coarse apatite recovery.

Jan 1, 2003

By Jan J. Cilliers, Nicolas Barbian, Esther Ventura-Medina

"Froth structure and stability are known to play an important role in determining flotation recovery and selectivity. An industrial sampling campaign was performed to develop a clearer understanding of the effect of flotation variables on froth stability and the role played by the resulting stability on flotation performance.Froth stability was estimated as the fraction of bubbles bursting on the surface of the froth through image analysis and the solids loading on the bubbles at the top surface. It was generally found that high air flowrates resulted in a drop of froth stability showed by a drop in the fraction of air overflowing and a decrease in the solids loading and simultaneously produced low copper recoveries and low concentrate grades. Deep froths only allowed a small fraction of air to overflow and consequently produced low recoveries. An increase from a standard to high frother dosage did not result in a larger fraction of air overflowing, hence producing low recoveries. Likewise, low frother addition only allows low recoveries because the resulting unstable froth cannot support itself. Low aeration was found to be preferential as it allowed high particle loading, therefore high bubble stabilisation, and low gangue entrainment, resulting in the highest flotation performance.Additional laboratory tests were performed to introduce a new stability parameter and to give a clearer understanding of the effect of flotation variables on froth stability. The results confirmed some of the observations made on the plant."

Jan 1, 2003

By E. A. Bekchurina, Yu. P. Morozov

"This paper presents the results of a study of the concentration of flotation froths in tapered chutes. The tests were conducted on lab and full-scale plants, and the results obtained were mathematically processed. The kinetics of monophase recovery from a stationary flotation froth, hydrodynamics of froth flows traveling in a tapered chute were investigated. The effect was studied of the mass fraction of the valuable component in the chute feed, yield of the chute’s overflow, and chute design on the concentration performance. Processing of the collected data revealed the general laws of the process and allowed to develop a technique for modeling concentration of the flotation froths of sulphide copper ore in a tapered chute to predict the performance without testing. It was found that concentration in tapered chutes allows to obtain products that are comparable in quality with froths after one or several cleaner flotation stages.INTRODUCTIONThe present production expansion rates require continuous improvement in the grade of flotation concentrates, while the grade of the mineral feed is constantly deteriorating. This leads to a significant complication of flotation flowcharts. Flowcharts become multi-staged with multiple cleaner flotations, negatively affecting the production costs.In recent years, researchers are paying close attention to the processes occurring in the froth layer in the flotation cells. Improving the concentrate grade is facilitated by secondary concentration of minerals in the froth layer, which consists in fixing the hydrophobic particles released as a result of the coalescence of the bubbles of the upper layer when moving downward at the liquid-gas interface of the froth layer. In this case, the released hydrophilic particles, trapped in the froth layer as a result of mechanical removal, migrate from the froth together with the liquid phase."

Jan 1, 2018

By Rob Morrison, Andrew Scott

"Long before a modern mine commences operations it has already become a wealth of information. After start up, it can generate enormous quantities of data - especially with semi-automated data acquisition by instrumented mine equipment.However, much of this data is of limited use for evaluation of (potential) performance unless it links in some way to the site business model.An underlying reason for this waste of data is that the different cultures, financial, technical, community, environmental, etc, not only have many areas of interest but also have very different conceptual models by which they evaluate performance.It is too ambitious to attempt to bring all of these cultures together - in a single step.However, the success of the Mine to Mill - project has demonstrated that substantial operational value can be added by using a more integrated approach to comminution. The next logical step is to integrate measurement and then to track performance from ore body model to saleable product and waste disposal. From resource to product also represents a path from very sparse, highly variable data to much more detailed measurement and more representative sampling.However, in both cases the data collected is strongly focused on the technical requirements - not on the business model.This paper considers how to define at least some of the key decision points in terms of some case studies.Performance data from many areas might be used to derive simple models which can then be used for forecasting and optimisation of planning."

Jan 1, 2003

By John Ralston, Jona Addai-Mensah, Patience Mpofu

The flocculation and dewatering behaviour of kaolinite (non swelling) and smectite (swelling) clay dispersions has been investigated using hydrolysable metal ions Mn(II) and Ca(II) and anionic polyacrylamide-acrylate copolymer (PAM) at pH 7.5 and 10.5. A pH-dependent, specific metal ion adsorption behaviour, accompanied by a marked reduction in particle zeta potential and slurry shear yield stress, was observed to have a profound influence on the colloid stability of both types of clays. Due to the differences in the cation exchange capacity, the smectite clay dispersion required a higher amount of metal ions than kaolinite dispersion to produce similar effects. The adsorption density of the anionic PAM at the negatively charged clay particle surfaces correlated well with metal ion hydrolysis and adsorption behaviour, all of which had a strong effect on slurry settling rate and extent of consolidation. At pH 7.5 where Mn(II) ions hydrolyse, metal ion and flocculant adsorption densities were both greater in the presence of Mn(II) than Ca(II) ions. At pH 10.5, however, where Ca(II) ions begins to hydrolyse, higher adsorption densities were observed for Ca(II) ions in comparison with Mn(II) ions, as the latter hydrolysed completely and precipitated. The metal ion mediated flocculant adsorption led to improved hydrogen bond driven particle bridging and facilitated charge neutralisation flocculation mechanisms which significantly enhanced the dewaterability of both clay dispersions.

Jan 1, 2003

By Behzad Vaziri Hassas, Firat Karakas, Mehmet Celik, Onur Guven

Since dewatering is a costly process, removal of moisture from relatively fine size lignites is an important industrial problem. As the lignite gets finer, the presence of micropores and relatively low hydrophobic nature of lignite lead to trapping of large quantities of water in the coal matrix. Lignites used in power stations need to be dried to a certain degree of humidity before it is transferred to the combustion chamber. It is generally wise to dewater coal as much as possible by physical means before it is dried. However, dewatering cost in some cases may be prohibitive. Thus, sometimes removal of even little percent moisture may be of great help in such operations. Surfactants have been used to increase the efficiency of coal dewatering. It is crucial to select appropriate type and amount of surfactants in order to get higher efficiency. Since the hydrophobic characteristic of coals increases with increasing the coal rank, dewatering of bituminous and anthracite can be accomplished using low HLB surfactants (Oily), however, these surfactants are not efficient in the case of low rank coals like lignites and brown coals. It is suggested that adsorption of low HLB surfactants on high rank coals is governed by Acid-Base interactions rather than electrostatic and van der Waals forces. Since this characteristic in lignites is not strong enough, low HLB surfactants could not be effectively adsorbed on low rank coals to make surface more hydrophobic. In this paper, a special set-up has been designed to study the effect of high HLB surfactants on dewatering of fine lignite particles. It is shown that high HLB surfactants function more efficiently on low rank coals than low HLB ones.

Jan 1, 2014

By A. Kogelbauer, A. Stadtschnitzer, A. Boehm, F. Schillab

"The paper covers the design and implementation of an industrial dense medium cyclone plant for carbonaceous iron ore, the proving of efficiency as well as the development of a predictive model for plant control. The VA Erzberg GmbH mines about 12 Mio.t of carbonaceous rock ore at the “Steirische Erzberg”. Due to increased demand of the Austrian steel plants, the production of ore concentrate was raised by 30 % up to 3.0 Mio t/a during the last 5 years. One of the projects to realize the increase in capacity at improved concentrate quality was the implementation of a dense medium cyclone plant for the fine size fraction – 8 +1 mm replacing the former dry permanent magnetic drum separators. By physical separation the siderite variety “spateisenstein” (42% Fe) of a density of 3,8 g/cm³ is separated from ankerite (10 – 17% Fe), the second iron bearing carbonate with a density of 3,2 g/cm³, dolomite, calcite and silicate bearing schists. The feasibility of the process was proven by the test results obtained from a test rig, that was constructed and operated in close cooperation between the Chair of Mineral Processing, Montanuniversitaet Leoben and VA Erzberg GmbH. The density separation surpassed the efficiency of magnetic separation clearly shown by •- values. The plant performance tests (capacity 120 t/h) verify the cut densities defined by Tromp T50 -values and the assigned efficiency found in the pilot tests at varied settings of media density, pressure drop, cone angle and apex diameter. The test rig as well as the final process will be presented. In order to create a tool to predict the performance of the DMS in the centrifugal field at various settings for varying feed composition the experimental results from size and density testing are analyzed in a modified way to obtain physically justified, smooth approximations for the performance curves. Models developed on coal washing plants are checked for their validity at increased densities."

Jan 1, 2018

By Sergio Castro, Janusz Laskowski

In the flotation in highly concentrated electrolyte solutions not only ionic strength but also chemical composition, flotation pH and mineral properties play an important role. As a result an improvement or depression may be observed. A strong improvement in the floatability of hydrophobic bituminous coals and other inherently hydrophobic minerals is characteristic for the "salt flotation process", which is carried out in concentrated electrolyte solutions at natural pH and without addition of any flotation reagents. However, pH is a key factor when saline and hipersaline waters with hydrolyzing metallic ions are used as process water. In the case of flotation of Cu-Mo sulfide ores in seawater, molybdenite is strongly depressed by the Mg2+ hydrolysis products when pH is raised to depress pyrite. Process water with a high content of Mg2+ and Ca2+ ions, and this also includes seawater, have deleterious effect on the anionic flotation of industrial minerals with fatty acids. The flotation of potash ores is carried out in NaCl-KCl saturated brine (6-7 mole/L of NaCl and KCl) with the use of long-chain amines. Such a high electrolyte concentration changes dramatically the amine Krafft point making the collector insoluble in brine; its mode of action entirely differs from that in conventional flotation processes.

Jan 1, 2014

By Diego Mesa, Willy Kracht

Frothers may be classified as weak or strong depending on their ability to produce stable froths, which is related to the amount of water that they transfer from the pulp to the froth. They can also have an effect on the non-selective mechanism of recovery by entrainment, implying that both selectivity and froth stability are, at least to some extent, frother dependent. Solids, on the other hand, also have an effect on froth behaviour. Clays, which are characterized by their small particle size, laminar shape, and high specific surface, tend to report to the froth phase and have an enormous impact on both froth stability and the overall performance of the flotation process. The purpose of this work is to shed light on the effect that different frothers have on the froth behaviour when clays are present. In order to do that, two sets of experiments were conducted using frothers from the families of alcohols and polyglycols. For each test, the equilibrium froth height was measured at different frother concentrations in an agitated machine with an acrylic square-base cell that was 11 cm wide and 25 cm high. The cell was designed in such a way that froth was able to grow without concentrate discharge. In the first set of tests, pure clays such as kaolinite and montmorillonite were used. In the second set, an actual copper sulphide ore with a high content of clays was used as solid phase. The results, expressed as curves of equilibrium froth height against frother dosage, showed a coupled effect of frother-clay on froth behaviour for both sets of experiments. In some cases, the froth grew up until the border of the cell with only a few parts per million of frother. In other cases, the equilibrium froth height varied smoothly with frother dosage. The results suggest that choosing the right frother can be of use for controlling the froth behaviour when dealing with clay-rich froths, using frother dosage as the control variable. The application of these findings at industrial scale are discussed and some recommendations are given.

Jan 1, 2018

By Jacques Eksteen, Sharif Jahanshahi, Neill J. Bartie, Shouyi Sun

The gradual increase in Cr2O3 levels of UG-2 ores has become a matter of concern for platinum producers in South Africa due to the formation of chromite spinels in melters. The effect of bulk FeOx/MgO ratio, Cr2O3, temperature and oxygen partial pressure on phase stability and composition in the system FeOx-MgO-SiO2-Cr2O3-Al2O3-CaO has been studied between 1400°C and 1600°C using the drop-quench technique. An increase in temperature was found to result in a decrease in [Fe/Cr]spinel. This effect is shown in Figure 1 for the six slag compositions investigated.

Jan 1, 2003

By Zoran S. Markovic

The extensive laboratory investigations were carried out in order to determinate behavior of sulphide and nonsulphide copper bearing particles during the flotation. The present ore sample were contained 0.55% Cu with 20.1% of nonsulphide copper in it and gangue material with higher contents of alumina about 19.07%. In this paper will be presented some results such as: effect of particle size, pH and applied collectors. The main goal was in application of collectors S-7518, as well as mixture of KEX and Z-96. Z-96 is a product from Chemical Industry Zupa Krusevac which was used as auxiliary collector in mixture with xanthates. The best results were done with this mixture in ratio KEX / Z-96 as 77/23 % in area of oxidized minerals flotation, but the collector S-7518 was achieved better results in sulphide mineral flotation. The S-7518 has better selectivity between copper minerals and pyrite comparing to mixture of KEX/Z-96 in mentioned optimal ratio. Flotation recovery and copper grade in concentrate were studied by flotation kinetics tests.

Sep 1, 2012

By Lj. D. Andric

Development of modern devices for mechanical and mechanochemical materials activation has been dated since the beginning of last century. Rapid development of high-energy mills that are different in type, size, design and performances, has been occurred during the last four decades. Because of complete understanding of mechanical processing, entire knowledge of theoretical principles of high-energy mills is necessary. These principles are main causales of process that are happened in materials during the mechanical activation. This paper is occupied by theoretical principles of operation of high-energy mills. Conventional high energy mills with balls, high-energy planetary mills and high-energy vibrational mills are particularly considered in the paper.

Jan 1, 2014

By I. Gombköto

In the EU-region, the automatically operated approximately 200 (rotating hammer) shredder plants processing large technical equipment (end-of-life vehicles, large household appliances) annually produces 8-9 million tons of non-metallic grinded by-product, which ends in landfills, without recovery. Although this by-product is organic material, still contains large amount of metal components worth recycling. These operations, such as shredding and processing end of life vehicles or mixed metal components are a growing market and it is become more potential if EU directive 2002/96/EC will become obligatory for new member and candidate countries and they have to apply EU regulations. Eddy current separators (ECS) are one of the most important units of separation of non-ferrous metals from insulators in waste recycling. The product of ECS processing of shredded ELV?s is usually a mixture of Al, Cu, Brass and stainless steel. This mixture has relatively low price on the market, while purified metal products are required by smelters for which shredder operators are able to get even higher price. Our aim at University of Miskolc was to find solution producing pure metal products using dry separation processes. Authors are presenting a possible solution, using ECS. Institute of Raw Material Preparation and Environmental Processing possesses an ECS, equipped with 305 mm wide belt, and a concentric magnetic rotor. The subject of our work was to investigate the behaviour of model particles with different shape, conductivity (aluminium and brass), orientation and size in order to separate Al and Brass. We used model particles with similar shapes of shredder plant originated ones. The magnetic flux and magnetic frequency was constant and derived by the design of the rotor. During our research work, belt speed and rotor speed of ECS were varied. The particle distance and trajectory caused by throwing was determined and the results are reported in this paper.

Sep 1, 2012

By John A. Rumball, Martin R. Houchin

Data from autogenous and semi-autogenous tests in a 1.67m diameter mill have been analysed in terms of a new model for rock abrasion. This model defines specific rate as the rate of production of fines (material less than 13mm) per unit mass of rock, where the term “rock” is applied to all ore pieces of ore coarser than the grate size. In most cases, an allowance for preliminary rounding and cleavage was made. A method has been developed to analyse steady-state data, using piecewise fitting to the cumulative size distributions. The model was compared to the well-established models, which are based on the population balance method. The specific rate increased for all rock sizes as the volume of 100mm balls in the mill was increased. Tests using a coarser feed and smaller balls provided further evidence that once rocks are rounded, abrasion is due to localised surface damage, caused by impacts, rather than rotational shear. An allowance for rapid rounding of jagged rocks, followed by less rapid abrasion of rounded pebbles was also tested, but the analysis was not conclusive. The average specific rate is a useful measure of the capacity of a primary mill. The effect of power intensity (kW/t of ore) was also investigated as a means of extrapolating the pilot-plant data to large production mills.

Sep 29, 2003

By Gus Van Weert, Samuel A. Bolorunduro, David B. Dreisinger

"Silver is currently lost as jarosite during the pressure oxidation of sulphides and cyanidation of the residues yields 5-10% of silver. Efforts to recover silver from complex sulphides, which contain economic fractions of silver require an understanding of the behaviour of acanthite during pressure oxidation. However, previous studies of acanthite (Ag2S) reaction have been complicated by the formation of argento-jarosite and uncertainties arise on the interpretation of the results.In this work, the acid pressure oxidation of high-grade natural silver sulphide mineral (acanthite) was carried out at 110-150°C and under the conditions similar to that of pressure oxidation of complex sulphide. The predominant product of reaction is elemental sulphur. The rate of reaction increases with increasing temperature and with the presence of ferric ions. The kinetics is controlled by chemical reaction with activation energy of 72.6 kJ/mol. The rate of reaction decreases with the presence of silver sulphate in the initial slurry. The proposed overall reaction is close to: []"

Jan 1, 2003

By Morin D. H., Battaglia-Brunet F., D'Hugues P.

"In the mineral-processing field, bioleaching of metal sulphide concentrates is currently operated in very large mechanically agitated tanks. Such bioreactors have considerable requirements in terms of power consumption for mixing, aeration and heat transfer. The use of slurry bubble column, where the particles are suspended by gas motion as well as by liquid upward flow, could be an alternative to achieve bioleaching in more economical conditions. In order to compare these two techniques, a unit of stirred reactors in cascade and a bubble column were comparatively operated at laboratory scale in the bioleaching of a pyrite concentrate. For both pieces of equipment, experiments were performed not only in batch mode but also in continuous conditions.Bubble column performances were significantly affected by unpredictable technical difficulties met to maintain continuous feeding in the bubble column and by a significant settling of the heavy solid particles. Nonetheless, theoretical kinetic data, extrapolated from results in batch conditions, could be compared to those obtained in continuous tests, in bubble column and in mechanically agitated reactors. These kinetic data were used to evaluate the influence of reactor design and configuration choice on bioleaching performances."

Jan 1, 2003