Fine Particles Separation through Hydrophobic Agglomeration.Application on the System Magnesite/Ouartz
The separation and recovery of fine and ultra-fine particles during the processing of mineral commodities by conventional separation methods is difficult and inefficient. This is due to the problems posed by the very small size of the mineral particles.The fine and ultra-fine mineral particles are either generated during size reduction processes or are necessitated by liberation size. This problem is expected to deteriorate, as deposits of even lower grade are processed. The inefficiency of the conventional separation methods with regards to the processing of very fine particles leads to the loss of considerable quantities of mineral commodities to the tailings. Novel methods and techniques as well combinations of known methods have been tested over the years. Among them, selective aggregation, along or in combination with flotation,has been given much attention.This study deals with the application of hydrophobic agglomeration as a separation method for very fine particles. The selected mineral system is magnesite/quartz, due to its sensitivity to physicochemical separation methods. The aim was the selective agglomeration of magnesite using sodium oleate. Tests on single minerals revealed that separation seems feasible and efficient. The parameters examined were: pH, quantity of sodium oleate, conditioning time, and, finally, settling time.Tests carried out on artificial mixtures of the two minerals, under various proportions, confirmed the results obtained from single mineral tests but they were slightly inferior. Finally, hydrophobic agglomeration tests were carried out on single and artificial mixtures of minerals using sodium oleate and petroleum as reagents.The results show that the addition of petroleum improves the results. In conclusion, hydrophobic agglomeration can be applied successfully even for free particles of difficult-to-be-separated systems such as magnesite and quartz.
Hydrophobic agglomeration Hydrophobic flocculation Fine particles Magnesite Quartz
N. Tsoni G. N. Anastassakis
School of Mining Engineering and Metallurgy, National Technical University of Athens (NTUA), Greece
国际会议
XXIV International Mineral Processing Congress(第24届国际矿物加工大会)
北京
英文
2191-2197
2008-09-24（万方平台首次上网日期，不代表论文的发表时间）