Direct hematite flotation from an iron ore tailing using an innovative biosurfactant

Effect of Solid Concentration and Particle Size on the Flotation Kinetics and Entrainment of Quartz and Hematite

“…Although the entrainment can be limited by the experimental set-up design [38], the recovery by entrainment is usually proportional to the percentage of fine particles present in the slurry and flotation time but decreases with particle density [39]. The latter aspect plays a critical role in this study due to the density difference between quartz (2.65 g/cm 3 ) and hematite (5.3 g/cm 3 ). The main factors influencing entrainment include water recovery, particle size, solid concentration, froth structure, froth residence time, and mineral density [22,40,41].…”

“…As to the Rahal [40] model, a and b are the model parameters, with a = 0.2 and b varying between 1.27 and 1.41. Finally, in the Ross and Van Deventer model [20], ENT is the degree of entrainment of the ith size fraction, di (m) is the particle diameter, and ρ (g/cm 3 ) is the density of particles. However, the last model was developed for column flotation; thus, its application to cell flotation in this work was approached with caution.…”

“…Froth flotation is one of the most-used routes for iron ore beneficiation, especially in cases of low-grade, finely grained ores with iron-bearing silicate content. It is also useful as a cleaning step of the concentration process for the production of the so-called "superconcentrates" and can be performed as a reverse or direct process [1][2][3]. In direct flotation (e.g., [4]), the valuable iron mineral is collected and recovered in the froth zone, whereas in reverse flotation it is recovered in the underflow, thereby allowing the gangue to be driven to the overflow.…”

“…The selection of an appropriate route depends on the ore's geometallurgical characteristics, which are intrinsic to each ore; the proportion of gangue; the technological capacity of the operation; and the process costs. For instance, Pereira et al [3] demonstrated the feasibility of the direct flotation of hematite using a biosurfactant and were able to achieve up to 44% grade and 65% recovery, with a reduced environmental footprint. However, reverse cationic flotation remains by far the most widely used flotation route both in laboratories and industry, owing to the higher selectivity and process rate performance than direct flotation [2,6].…”

Comparison of the depression effect of two thiol depressants on the separation of specularite and aegirite

“…Iron ore is the primary raw material for steel, with iron ore resources being continuously mined and utilized, the research of separation of low-grade refractory iron ores have become an important channel for the utilization of iron ore resources (Filippov, 2013;Fu, 2018;. Among the refractory iron ores, one of the hardest ores to separate is iron-bearing silicates type iron ore, which includes a huge number of gangue minerals such as aegirite, chlorite, and amphibole (Wen, 2013;Pereira, 2021). Aegirite (FeNaSi2O6) belongs to the subgroup of clinopyroxene, which is a typical single-chain iron-bearing silicate mineral, often associated with iron oxide ore .…”