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Carbonate Depressants (20 replies)
I recommend you have a look at the review article with the following title:
"Reagents used in the flotation of phosphate ores: a critical review".
I do not know the mineralogy of your sample; have you ever used oxalic acid?
Check a mix of hydrofluorosilicic acid and oxalic acid, be careful about dosage.
Calcite is very difficult to remove as such. You can try Quebracho in slightly acidic pH using H2SO4 to depress Calcite and float Apatite with sodium oleate as collector. Conditioning time should be high. Otherwise reverse flotation is the only remedy.
Generally I agree that reverse flotation would be the recommended choice.
By the way, Oxalic acid depressed carbonates and hydrofluorosilicic acid depressed silicates, so 50% oxalic and 50% H2SiF6, and for the collector tries tallow diamine acetate.
I've tried Sodium oleate and Quebracho but it didn't answer. In reserve flotation I achieved 29% P2O5 with 40% recovery. But I want to do it in direct way.
As the consultation, regarding to similarity in calcite and apatite surface, do you think it's possible to changing apatite surface to make difference between these two?
I have in the past worked with both Sulfonic or sulfuric acids and fatty acid as collector in direct flotation with great recoveries, what is grind like?
There is an interesting paper published in the Flotation'13 about apatite flotation with carbonate called:
"Understanding the effect of CO2 on apatite flotation from Catalão´s siliceous carbonate phosphate ore"
I had worked on apatite ores containing highly Siliceous, Calcitic& Dolomitic ores as impurities. Grinding pattern is first studied and liberation size obtained. Flotation at coarse grind, regrind of rougher concentrate, separation of apatite from impurities can also be tried.
Can we do silica flotation in rock phosphate for concentrate produced to upgrade the concentrate grade? Confirm. If so your problem is solved.
Since Silica is not high, cleaning phosphate ores in alkaline pH - two times is sufficient, using sodium oleate as collector, before separating apatite from calcite. Calcite is very difficult to separate from phosphatic ores. Even though you achieve +28% P2O5 which is acceptable in fertilizer industries, still you will be losing much of apatite in tails and final recovery in phosphate concentrate will be very less. This is not acceptable.
Can you do Pre-concentration for removing Calcite at 1 mm or 0.5 mm size? Then you can achieve your goal. Can you do lab testing and then do cost benefit analysis. Then go for pilot plant testing and do costs benefit analysis and then go for commercial plant. We do all kinds of technical designing for such activities.
Have a look at the FIPR web site they have various documented reagent survey reports for carbonaceous phosphate flotation.
Also http://is.gd/6c0auY
Could you please suggest me best depressants for carbonate minerals in flotation of sedimentary phosphate? I'm planning to float apatite in direct flotation.