Effective parameters on generation of nanobubbles by cavitation method for froth flotation applications

The significant recovery increase in flotation of fine particles using nanobubbles has been one of the major topics in flotation science in recent years. Fine bubbles have an important effect on gas hold-up, which is necessary in froth flotation of minerals based on the process industries. At a given gas hold-up, using finer bubbles can reduce frother consumption. An exclusive nanobubble generation system has been developed in Iran Mineral Processing Research Center (IMPRC) to evaluate the effect of nanobubbles on the froth flotation performance. This device, which enhanced venturi tubes, works according to cavitation phenomena. The venturi tube is the most widely used hydrodynamic cavitation device, in which liquid flow increases in the conical convergent zone of the tube due to the thin diameter. The liquid in the cylindrical throat is higher in a flow velocity and lower in a pressure than the liquid in the entrance cylinder, which results in cavitation. In this research work, various factors such as the frother type and dosage, pH, compressed air flow, pressure in cavitation nozzle, gas types, temperature and venturi tube internal diameter were studied. For this purpose, a five-level central composite experimental design was used to check the influence of four important parameters on the median size and volume of nanobubbles. Online measurement of the bubbles size was implemented by a laser particle size analyzer (LPSA), according to standard BS ISO 13320-09. Due to the above parameters and obtained responses, the analysis of variance (ANOVA) was conducted with a suitable model to optimize the conditions, with the aim of minimizing the size of air bubbles. The optimal conditions were: frother (MIBC) dosage of 75.8 mg/dm3, air flow rate of 0.28 dm3/min, pressure of 324 kPa and pH of 9.5. The median bubble size d50 was equal to 203 nm. To validate the results, a test under optimum conditions was performed and the obtained results indicated that there was a good fit at the confidence interval of 95% and reflected the repeatability of the process

Nanobubbles effect on the mechanical flotation of phosphate ore fine particles

Froth flotation is one of the main methods for processing of phosphate ores. However, flotation of fine particles, especially phosphate ores, has always been one of the fundamental problems. For example, about 10% of Esfordi phosphate processing plant ore with a grade of more than 16% P2O5 and d80 of less than 30 μm is sent to the tailing dam. Flotation using nanobubbles generated by hydrodynamic cavitation is one of the latest industrial techniques to recycle fine particles of minerals. A significant recovery increment in flotation of fine particles using nanobubbles has been one of the main topics of flotation science in recent years. Fine bubbles have important effects on the gas holdup, which is necessary in the froth flotation cell of mineral based process industries. At a given gas holdup, using finer bubbles can reduce frother consumption. An exclusive nanobubble generation system has been developed at Iran Mineral Processing Research Center (IMPRC) for evaluating the effect of nanobubbles on froth flotation. This device enhances venturi tubes and works based on cavitation phenomena. In this study, a comparison of conventional flotation and nanobubble enhanced flotation in mechanical cells was carried out on two types of phosphate ore samples. As a result, the flotation recovery had a significant increment of more than 30% in the case of using nanobubbles versus conventional flotation in the same grade of P2O5

Response surface methodology (RSM) for optimization of chalcopyrite concentrate leaching with silver-coated pyrite

This study aims to leach copper from chalcopyrite and optimizing the leaching process, using the response surface methodology (RSM). The RSM, a D-optimal design with four factors in three levels was employed to evaluate the effect of particle size, temperature, silver-coated pyrite to chalcopyrite ratio and redox potential parameters on the copper extraction efficiency. A quadratic model was then proposed by the RSM to correlate leaching variables. The tests results indicated that the model was significant with the experimental data at a correlation coefficient (R2) of 0.96. The most important parameters of copper extraction efficiency were particle size and silver-coated pyrite-to-chalcopyrite ratio, and also the squared term of particle size (A2), temperature (B2) and redox potential (D2). In addition, the interaction between redox potential and silver-coated pyrite-to-chalcopyrite ratio (CD) was significant. It was shown that the finer the particle size the faster the leaching rate of copper. It was also indicated that by increasing silver-coated pyrite to chalcopyrite ratio of 6:1 copper recovery increased. The maximum recovery of copper (71%) was obtained for the particle size of -38 μm, 70 °C, 420 mV of redox potential, silver-coated pyrite-to-chalcopyrite ratio of 6 and leaching time of 8 hours

The role of ore properties in thickening process

The role of ore properties (density, particle size, and mineralogy) in thickening process was studied in this research. The shaking table was used to prepare the sample for the tests. The tailings were continuously fed on the table by gravity to separate the tailings in three products as slime, middling and coarse particles. The solid density and particle size of the samples were different. To study the effect of mineralogical properties, the sedimentation behavior of the feed and middling samples were tested. The results showed that the free settling velocity of the feed (2–6 mm/s) was less than that of the middling sample (18–23 mm/s), and the compressibility of middling (density: 0.63–0.86 Mg/m3) was more than that of feed (density: 0.33–0.47 Mg/m3). This was due to the amount of clay reduction in the middling sample. The sedimentation behavior of the slime and the coarse samples were also compared in order to study the effect of particle size and density. The settling velocity of the slime and the coarse particles was obtained as 0.1-0.4 and 26 mm/s, respectively, and the maximum underflow density were obtained as 0.35 and 1.57 Mg/m3, respectively. Therefore, the particle size and density reduction reduced the thickener performance. In order to study the effect of particle size, the sedimentation behavior of the slime and coarse samples were compared, and it was obtained that the settling velocity and underflow density increased with the increasing in the particle size

The Effect of Different Additives and Medium on the Bioleaching of Molybdenite for Cu and Mo Extraction Using Mix Mesophilic Microorganism

Bioleaching processes for extraction of Cu and Mo from molybdenite cons. are more environmentally friendly and consume less energy than conventional technologies, yet less economically efficient. One necessary step towards arriving at a cost-effective bioleaching process is using appropriate methodology to optimize pertinent factors in such processes. To this end, the present study employed Response Surface Methodology to optimize important factors in a molybdenite bioleaching process by mix mesophilic microorganism using shake flasks. The effect of change in the levels of molybdenite concentration, pyrite and silver ion concentration as additives - in the range 3-9%, 1-5%, and 0-1.2gr/l, respectively - on the rate of Cu and Mo bioleaching was studied using a Central Composite Design. The results showed a statistically significant effect of silver ion and molybdenite concentration, and to a lesser pyrite concentration, on the rate of bioleaching of Cu and Mo. Further, different mediums and additives were evaluated for copper and molybdenum extraction from molybdenite concentrate in bioleaching process. Small amounts of silver (100mgr/l AgSO4) dramatically accelerated the copper dissolution process. Addition of FeS2 and sulfur with ferrous sulfate accelerated the acidification and raised the oxidation-reduction potential of solution (medium) with an inoculation of 15% (v/v) of active and adapted indigenous mesophilic bacteria, thus resulting in an overall increase in Mo dissolution efficiency

Recovery of coal particles from a tailing dam for environmental protection and economical beneficiations

Abstract Considerable amounts of coal particles are accumulated in the tailing dams of washing plants which can make serious environmental problems. Recovery of these particles from tailings has economically and environmentally several advantages. Maintaining natural resources and reducing discharges to the dams are the most important ones. This study was examined the possibility to recover coal particles from a tailing dam with 56.29% ash content by using series of processing techniques. For this purpose, gravity separation (jig, shaking table and spiral) and flotation tests were conducted to upgrade products. Based the optimum value of these processing methods, a flowsheet was designed to increase the rate of recovery for a wide range of coal particles. Results indicated that the designed circuit can recover over 90% of value coal particles and reduce ash content of product to less than 14%. These results can potentially be used for designing an industrial operation as a recycling plant and an appropriate instance for other areas to reduce the environmental issues of coal tailing dams

Double reverse flotation of a very low grade sedimentary phosphate rock rich in carbonate and silicate

In this study, reverse flotation was applied to recover phosphate from a very low grade (5.01% of PO) sedimentary ore. Sodium silicate, starch, tannic acid, aluminum sulfate, (Na,K)Tartarat, sodium tripolyphosphate, HPO, and HSO were used as phosphate mineral depressants in acidic and alkaline conditions. Oleic acid and Armac-T were added as carbonate and silicate collectors respectively, while pine oil was used as a frother and fuel oil as modifier. It was demonstrated that aluminum sulfate and (Na,K) Tartarat work synergistically to depress phosphate minerals. An experimental protocol was devised to optimize the grade and recovery of phosphate using two different methods: anionic-cationic and cationic-anionic. Anionic-cationic method was found more effective