Beneficiation and concentration of feldspar from syenite ore in Medina, Saudi Arabia for industrial utilization

Abstract

The objective of this study was to reduce the contents of iron and titanium heavy minerals of feldspar from Medina syenite ore by a combination of magnetic separation and flotation to obtain the commercial scale of feldspar concentrate for glass and ceramics industries. For the first time, a process flowchart was provided in the light of this study to produce a high-quality K-feldspar product from syenite ore, which meets the requirements of feldspar for glass and ceramics productions. The results reflect that the best performance separation of iron and titanium contents was produced by a dry magnetic separator at 16.000 gauss. The produced feldspar concentrate by magnetic separation yielding 0.54% Fe2O3 with 87% Fe2O3 recovery and 0.57% TiO2 with 16% recovery. The flotation tests were performed on the non-magnetic fraction of the syenite ore. In this stage, the most effective for removal of Fe2O3 and TiO2 from syenite ore was obtained at a 300 g/ton dosage of a mixture of Aeromine 3030C and Aeromine 801 + Aeromine 825 as a collector in an acidic medium (pH 3). The final feldspar concentrate with 0.07% Fe2O3 and 0.06%TiO2 grades was obtained with 89% Fe2O3 recovery and 86% TiO2 recovery. The commercial scale of feldspar concentrate from syenite ore can meet the desired specification of grades 1 and 2 for glass, porcelain, and ceramics industries.