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By Xiao Jian Li, Dai Xiong Chen, Jian Wen Yang

In one kind of lead and zinc bearing polymetallic ore containing secondary copper, the characteristic of low sulfur, high zinc, and particularly the existing of secondary copper minerals can lead to lead concentrate with high content of zinc because the dissociation of Cu2+ in the grinding process may have an activation influence on sphalerite. Considering its process mineralogy analysis, a new process of seperation of lead and zinc has been put forward. The experiments focused on the analysis of the advantages and disadvantages of the inhibition effect of traditional adjustment reagent + zinc sulfate on activated sphalerite compared with new organic inhibitor, polysaccharide xanthate. According to the numerical calculation and test results, a reagent system of polysaccharide xanthates is developed, which has a good inhibition effect on Cu2+ activated zinc minerals, achieving high-efficiency separation of lead and zinc. A new reagent system and flotation process was developed under optimal conditions. Under the condition of the run-of-mine ore containing 2.37% Pb and 12.48% Zn, lead of 67.69% grade and lead concentrate with the recovery rate of 86.06%, zinc of 60.32% grade and zinc concentrate with the recovery rate of 96.15% were achieved.

Jan 1, 2014

By B. Tora

The new method of evaluation of grindability of hard coal and its blend is shown. Standard Hardgrove test is used as a base to work out this method. The essence of this method consists of simulation of milling process in close circuit (mill-classifier) and determination of energy consumption and quantity of product under the constant feed flow. The research equipment designed specially for this project is described New method of grindability measuring completes standard Hardgrove method withdrawing its faults: ? bigger (c.a. 10 times) and more representative sample is used; ? the milling process is carried out in close circuit (similarly to the industrial condition); ? energy consumption of the milling process is determined for three samples, which differs in grain size. The new method of evaluation of grindability of hard coal and its blend is shown. Standard Hardgrove test is used as a base to work out this method. This method allows us to determine energy consumption of the milling process. The essence of this method consist of simulation of milling process in close circuit (mill-classifier) and determination of energy consumption and quantity of product under the constant feed flow. Our results will complete the Hardgrove method and will help us to better characterise coal. At the same time investigations in industrial scale are carried out. These investigations will verify this new method. Also a new mathematical model of the milling process is being elaborated. It will be used to predict behaviour of coals in industrial conditions.

Jan 1, 2014

By D. J. Zhao

The reduction of ilmenite pellets was investigated at 950°C and 1000°C under a CO-N2 gas mixture with 10 L/min gas flow rate. All the reducing reactions were conducted in a furnace with a thermogravimetric analysis system. The reduction rate is higher at 1000°C than that at 950°C. At the early stage of the reactions, with the CO concentration increasing in the gas mixture, the reduction rate increased at 1000°C. In addition, at the early stage of the reactions, a rapid temperature increment and a rapid conversion of oxygen were observed on the curves of temperature versus time and conversion of oxygen versus time under different experimental conditions. The solid reaction products obtained in these experiments were analyzed by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Energy Dispersive Spectrometers (EDS). Metallic Fe with small amount of Ti dissolved in it and oxides of Ti were found in the solid reaction products, but the formation of any nitride phases was not found under the prevailing conditions.

Jan 1, 2014

By C. H. Zhou

Cryogenic grinding of Printed Circuit Board will bring less pollution, reduce energy costs, smaller particles, regular particle size, efficient process, separation various materials due to different fracture toughness. Systemic studies of recycling discarded Printed Circuit Board (PCB) by low-temperature modification and cryogenic grinding have been made in this paper. Firstly test mechanical property of PCB at different low-temperature, including impact strength, flexural strength, and shear strength. Do experiment on the power consumption of different cooling temperature, The results show that the average power consumption is lower between -30? to -60? and the average power is decrease in evidence at -30?. Use ZKB type double roll shear crusher to crush PCB to 20mm×20mm particle size, in a temperature range of -10 ~ -30? Used R type mill to grind sample to minus 3mm under different working condition, the average power consumption is decrease in evidence from -10 ? to -30 ?, power consumption is the lest at rotational speed is 1180rpm.

Jan 1, 2014

By Dongyun Liang

Process mineralogy focuses on the chemical components and mineral composition of ore, dissemination size of valuable minerals, the occurrence of valuable and detrimental elements as well as the behavior of each mineral in the process. Through determining process mineralogy parameters and analyzing the characteristics of minerals, the results of process mineralogy study can provide mineralogy data for making a reasonable mineral processing technology program and optimizing the process. A detailed process mineralogy study is carried out for a complex rare metal ore in this paper and the results show that niobium mainly exists in the form of ferrocolumbite as well as nioboaeschynite and zirconium primarily occurs as zircon. The valuable minerals including Th-nioboaeschynite, ferrocolumbite, zircon, etc. have the characteristics of fine dissemination size, wide size range, complex chemical composition and variable physical properties, which mean it is a refractory ore. According to the results of mineral composition of ore, chemical composition of minerals, dissemination size of minerals, magnetism ranges of minerals and the distribution of niobium and zirconium, the process of ?desliming-Nb-Zr bulk flotation? is designed for this ore and the niobium-zirconium bulk rough concentrate with the grade of Nb2O5 9.43%, ZrO2 24.95%, Ta2O5 0.36% and the recovery of Nb2O5 77.66%, ZrO2 76.70%, Ta2O5 75.13% to crude ore can be obtained in the whole process closed-circuit test.

Sep 1, 2012

By Minna Päällysaho

For the first time, the idea of sustainable development was recognised at a high political level at the UN Conference on Environment and Development held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 (UNEP, 1992). Then the governments of the world committed themselves to promote sustainable development in their national activities and international co-operation. In 2001, the European Council approved the EU Strategy for Sustainable Development (European commission, 2011). This complements and supports the EU?s so-called Lisbon Strategy (European council, 2000) on competitiveness. The revised Strategy for Sustainable Development was approved in June 2006. Recently sustainability has had an important role in policy and decision-making while the public awareness towards limits of the environment has been rising. However, the indicators of industrial sustainability satisfy primarily the needs of corporate management and global investors. The information is often broad and non-specific and might occasionally even give a false impression. Moreover, contradictions between environmental, economical and social aspects also point out the unreliability of existing sustainability indexes. Therefore, the current state of affairs serves the interests of neither the industry nor the policy makers. Current corporate sustainability indexes and indicator systems need to be assessed with scientific methods encompassing the identification of their strengths and weaknesses. This requires quantitative and qualitative assessment and synthesis of existing indexes and indicator systems, providing new data on the functionality of existing corporate sustainability indicators. Therefore, the assessment lays the foundation for the development of new, more balanced sustainability index. Our first aim in this multidisciplinary article is to analyse existing global sustainability indexes for process industry. Second, we will introduce a first version of a new sustainability index for process industry, which includes the environmental, social and economic impacts of the plant, as well as legislation aspects.

Sep 1, 2012

By Vladimir Vigdergauz, Elena Belogub, Dmitriy Makarov

The influence of supergene oxidation on physicochemical and technological properties of polysulfide ores was studied. Modeling and analysis of oxidation pyrite copper-zinc ore samples from the Valentorskoye deposit show that sulfide floatability is decreased by the longer-term oxidation. The treatment of oxidized samples by sulfuric acid in oxidative conditions and its impact on the elemental sulfur composition on the surface of sulfides was discussed. It is shown that an enhancement of the floatability of sulfides of oxidized polysulfide ores after leaching by sulfuric acid could be perspective for the developing of combining floatation-hydrometallurgical technology of the nonferrous metals recovery.

Jan 1, 2014

By M. E. Taranenko, V. A. Krivonosov, S. A. Nemykin

"In concentrating production energy-consuming power installations are wide used, the most powerful of them are the wet autogenous grinding mill operating in closed circuit with a spiral classifier. The analysis of the current state of the automation of the grinding process shows that the reserves for maximizing productivity and minimizing electricity consumption have not yet been exhausted on the existing process equipment. Usage of the achievements of the modern management theory reveals an opportunity for further optimizing of the grinding process. The purpose of the research is to develop an automated control system of complex ""the mill-classifier"" to conduct the grinding process in the most operating efficiency, ensuring the maximization of productivity and minimization of specific electricity consumption. The main idea of this work is to study the specific features of the ore grinding process and creation on this basis of automated control system complex ""mill-classifier"" which allows to find and to maintain the optimal mode of grinding based on identification of the current object parameters, observance and regulating of the object state coordinates. Research methods. We used the methods of system analysis, mathematical statistics, modern automated control theory, theory of systems identification, optimal control, modelling of dynamic processes. Developed scientific provisions: - identification algorithm of the loading sub-system management object of complex ""mill - classifier"" allowing to obtain the unbiased estimators of its parameters according to the data of normal object exploitation; - observing device, which differs from the classic version of the observer Luenberger with possibility of estimating not only the state coordinates of the control object, but also the low-frequency perturbation component; - automated system stabilizing the active power of the grinding mode on the basis of a states controller with Luenberger observer; - structure of the software and hardware that implements the developed models, algorithms, methods of control, management and optimization in the framework of the automation of grinding."

Jan 1, 2018

By Ashish Agarwal

For a correct evaluation of the performance of any process, it is important to reconcile the data gathered in the plant from the material balance point of view for all the streams flowing in and flowing out of the process unit. There are two main approaches to reconciliation of data, which involve minimization of the sum of the squares of: (i) the closure residuals and (ii) the component adjustments; both weighed with the estimated variances of the components. Though, these approaches have served us well, it has not been possible to ascertain if the reconciled values for various components and the split factors obtained using these approaches are truly the best estimates. In this paper, this aspect has been investigated by analyzing pseudo-experimental data of known error structure on size classification of particles in a hydrocyclone. Three types of basic error structures were considered for the measured component values: absolute error, relative error and chi-square error. The error structure was modified by adding a random component of error using normally distributed random numbers corresponding to zero mean and different levels of variance. By carrying out a large number of simulation experiments, it has been shown that in the presence of random errors, irrespective of the basic error structure of data, which is usually unknown, the chi-square error minimization criterion can be used to obtain most reliable results. Keywords: data reconciliation methods, chi-square error minimization

Sep 1, 2012

By V. K. Kuppusamy, M. Holuszko

"Lamps and lighting products are the most commonly used electrical products around the globe. With the improvement in lamp technologies, lighting products have grown complex and hence require an improved recycling process. The LED lamps consist of various valuable metals such as iron, copper, aluminum, chromium, silver, and gold, as well as non-metals such as glass, plastics, and fibers. In addition, there are also traces of hazardous substances such as lead, arsenic, and mercury. A major step in the recovery process is size reduction, and researchers have suggested that up to 40% of the total valuable material is lost during the shredding and grinding processes. SELFRAG is a high voltage selective fragmentation comminution technology that uses high voltage pulses in a water medium to efficiently separate the metals at a coarser size without generating many fine particles. It has been proposed that during the fragmentation process of electronic waste (e-waste), the metals can be separated without fine grinding. This research considers the applicability of high voltage pulse fragmentation for LED lamps. Eight different types of LED lamps were processed through the SELFRAG unit at varying pulses to study metal liberation. The product obtained was characterized for metal liberation, metal grades, and liberation analysis. The specific energy consumption for this size reduction process was also monitored. INTRODUCTION Lamps and bulbs are the most commonly used electrical products in homes, offices, industrial operations, and streets. According to Energy Star research (2006), an average US household has more than 40 sockets for light bulbs and consumes approximately 2100kWh every year for lighting. The development in lamp technology has pushed the boundary for newer products. The LED lamps have been taking over the market from the incandescent bulbs and compact fluorescent lamps (CFL). According to the US Department of Energy (2012) and myLEDlight.com (2007), LED lamps have several benefits over other lamps. LEDs produce light hemi-spherically, which increases their efficiency in directional light emission. It has higher breakage resistance from vibration or transportation. LED lamps use up to 90% less power than incandescent bulbs thus making them highly energy efficient; They have a longer lifespan, lasting 10 times longer than a CFL and 133 times longer than the traditional incandescent bulb. Because of all the benefits, Smallwood (2014) suggested that the market of LED lamps will grow to $12.2 billion by 2018."

Jan 1, 2018

By C. Abbruzzese, F. Vegliò, S. Ubaldini, R. Massidda

"Gold solubilised during cyanidation can be recovered by precipitation (Merrill-Crow process) or by adsorption onto activated carbon, these being the techniques applied in industrial plants.Precious metals (Au, Ag) adsorbed onto activated carbon are extracted during a subsequent stage in aqueous phase, by various technologies, such as hot elution (70-80°C) or under pression desorption (100-130°), with hydro-alcoholic solutions.This stage is of great interest from an economic point of view, due to the high energy costs. Temperature represents the critical kinetic factor.The aim of this paper was to study the influence of different water/organic solvent mixtures (isopropyl alcohol, ethanol and ethylene glycol) on the desorption process.The experimental work was carried out on laboratory scale, using activated coconut carbon with different temperatures and extraction times, without adding cyanide.Best results have been obtained in this order: isopropyl alcohol > ethylene glycol > ethanol. Starting from gold concentration of about 5 g Au per kg of carbon, best kinetics resulted in 97-100% of gold extraction, after 8 hours of desorption, at a temperature of 80ºC."

Jan 1, 2003

By N. S. Voiloshnikova

Large-scale continuous ?Resin-In-Pulp? process tests were conducted at Irgiredmet. The object for testing was the sample of oxidized gold ore from one of Siberian deposit. Weak-base ion ex-change resin PuroGold was used as adsorbent. The duration of ?Resin-In-Pulp? tests was sufficient for a completing of three cycles ?Adsorption/Elution?. Gold in feed was 0.95 mg/L. Gold in solid phase of adsorption tails? 0.065 g/t. Gold in liquid phase of adsorption tails? 0.026 mg/L. Total gold in adsorption tails ?0.11 g/t. Gold recovery ?94.3 %. The use of regenerated resin had practically no effect on gold losses with adsorption tails. Alkaline cyanide solution (NaCN-20g/L, NaOH- 5g/L) was used as eluent for gold elution from loaded resin. Elution temperature ?60 °C. Number of eluent bed volumes passed ?10. Loaded resin analysis was following (g/ton): Au? 1700~1250; Ag? 400~460; Cu? 250~450; Zn? 5100~9600; Fe? 860~1200. Elution efficiency: Au? 95.3%~97.8%; Ag? 84.0%~88.0%; Cu? 84.0%~88.0%; Zn? 97.0%~99.0%. Although high zinc resin loading was shown zinc was eluted efficiently. The adsorption properties of fresh PuroGold resin, PuroGold resin after 3 cycle ?Adsorp-tion-Elution?cycles in comparison with AM-2B resin were tested. It was shown from adsorption isotherms that selectivity of PuroGold resin slightly less in comparison with AM-2B resin mainly due to its higher zinc adsorption properties. It was founded on base of test results that adsorption properties of PuroGold resin was practically constant during three ?Adsorption/Elution? cycles. Gold may be efficiently recovered by resin tested. There were no difficulties during gold elution from loaded resin and its regeneration. PuroGold resin was recommended for industrial use in RIP process. Process design criteria were developed and plant design is on progress at the moment.

Jan 1, 2014

By F. Z. Dong

The paper is mainly about a study on the techniques of separating iron from pyrite cinder of a certain sulfuric acid plant in Shandong province. The main components of the cinder are Fe2O3 and SiO2, and the degree of liberation of iron mineral and gangue is very high. So the iron concentrate with higher degree of iron and lower grade of silicon and sulfur can be achieved by reverse flotation. The iron grade of the concentrate reaches 63% and the recovery of iron is no less than 63%. And the most important influencing factor of the flotation is the temperature of the pulp. A better guideline can be achieved by magnetic separation. The cinder is magnetizing roasted for 15 minutes with temperature of 800?, and the concentrate with the iron grade 64%, sulfur grade 0.2% and iron recovery 85% can be obtained by two stage magnetic separation. A rotary kiln has been built to deal with the pyrite cinder, and the result of the industrial magnetizing experiment and magnetic separation is satisfying.

Jan 1, 2014

By A. A. Rogozhin, E. G. Likhnikevich, S. I. Anufrieva, A. V. Kurkov

"Russia is among the nations holding the world's largest lithium ore reserves. Lithium is of key importance for the global economy. Therefore, it is important to review the current state of technology research aimed at finding the most effective solutions for the recovery of lithium from promising reserves in Russia. In Russia, a number of process solutions for the flotation of spodumene into salable concentrate (5% Li2O) have been implemented at the earlier existing complex low-grade ore concentration project. By applying these solutions, a sample of high-grade spodumene ore (4.7% Li2O) of the Greenbushes deposit was processed into a spodumene concentrate (7.5% Li2O) at a high recovery (~93%) of lithium. In Australia and Canada, new processes have been developed for the recovery of high-grade spodumene concentrates from high-grade ores using dense medium separation and flotation. For the recovery of mica lithium concentrates from low-grade ore, a flotation process was developed in Russia using the cationic collector ANP-2 and Oxifos-B as an additional collector. Low-grade ore containing 0.14% of lithium oxide was processed into a 2.7% Li2O concentrate. New hydrometallurgical lithium concentrate and ore processes are developed to avoid high-temperature (>1000 °C) roasting. The Sileach process (Australia) includes leaching of lithium ore with sulfuric acid in the presence of a halogen-containing component at a temperature of 95-115 °C. In the Russian process, lithium is recovered into an alkaline solution from low-grade spodumene ore in a pressure alkaline leaching environment (250 °C, NaOH concentration > 300 g/l). The developed concentration and hydrometallurgical methods will allow to design on their basis efficient processes for recovering salable products for hi-tech industries from lithium ores.INTRODUCTION Lithium has many unique and important properties. It is the least dense hard metal. Its alloys have some of the highest strength-to-weight ratios. Lithium has the lowest melting point of all known solid elements and is used as a highly-effective heat transfer medium. The high demand for lithium is due primarily to its unique electrochemical potential and low thermal expansion coefficient. It is used in the production of glass and ceramics, in petrochemicals, metals, medical and other industries. Since the late 20th century, the electronics industry has been the largest consumer of lithium. In recent years, lithium has attracted much attention also as an important component of ultra-lightweight electronic devices. It is also the preferred metal for electric batteries used in mobile electronic devices, vehicles, household power generators, making it an important resource for the development of environmentally friendly technology. Leading automotive brands have ambitious plans for the production of electric cars — Tesla Motors, VW, Toyota, GM, BYD Auto. It is expected that the production of electric vehicles alone will triple the demand for lithium by 2025. A sharp increase in the production of lithium is expected. Lithium has all the prerequisites to become a strategic resource of the 21st century. (Deutsche Bank, 2016; Bradley et al, 2017)"

Jan 1, 2018

By F. Burat

The present research covers the results of experiments carried out with high frequency vibration screen on dewatering of coal fines. In the tests, the addition of surface active reagents was studied employing a high frequency vibrating screen. To increase the efficiency of mechanical dewatering processes, ultrasonic treatment was applied along with surfactants and optimum dewatering conditions were obtained. The moisture content of the feed material was from 82.5% to 41% by the optimization of operation parameters including the angle of the screen, vibration frequency, feed rate and screen opening size. Optimum parameters obtained in dewatering processes carried out with the vibrating screen were kept constant and the effects of surface active reagents and ultrasonic treatment on dewatering were investigated. Finally, the moisture level of the material was further reduced from 41.0% to 37.66%.

Sep 1, 2012

By S. Titkov

At present, Russia is engaged in processing, 3new plants of hard-to-process potash ores with increased content (up to 10 - 12%) of insoluble impurities (insoluble residue ? I.R.). This required additional research to improve the process of potash ores flotation. Based on the study of the effect of dispersive properties of frother and its flow rate on the efficiency of aliphatic amines with different length of the hydrocarbon radical (as sylvite collector) there was showed the possibility to apply high molecular amine with length of hydrocarbon radical C20 ? C26 by normal temperature of circulated plant salt solution (saturated solution KCl ? NaCl ? H2O). There was designed and tested in plant conditions the modified amine collector with the length of the hydrocarbon radical C16 - C26, improving flotation of Sylvite under normal temperature of circulating salt solutions at potash flotation plants. There was made the study of the influence of the hydrocarbon radical length of alkylmorpholine on the Halite flotation from intermediate products of sylvite recleaner flotation with different content of I.R. (silicate-carbonate slimes), at normal and elevated temperature of salt solution. On the basis of the application of modified alkylmorpholine for Halite flotation, there was developed the process of further beneficiation for the intermediate products of sylvite recleaner flotation from potash ores with increased content of insoluble impurities, which can eliminate the circulation of the intermediate products in the process flow sheet of sylvinite ore processing and increase the KCl recovery into the finished product. Keywords: flotation, potash, halite, alkylamine, alkylmorpholine

Sep 1, 2012

By Weiran Zuo, Narayan Krishnan, Frédéric von der Weid, Emmy Manlapig, Fengnian Shi, Klaas van der Wielen

Laboratory study has identified a new application of high voltage electrical pulse technology for pre-weakening ores. In recent years, the Julius Kruttschnitt Mineral Research Centre (JKMRC), Newcrest Mining and SELFRAG AG have conducted joint research in validation of pre-weakening of SAG mill feed through the pilot scale tests and comminution circuit simulations. Ten tons of SAG mill feed with a top particle size 150 mm were tested with two pilot scale SELFRAG machines installed in Switzerland. A simulation study using JKSimMet software was carried out to find where the high voltage pulses pre-weakening technique can be best applied in a gold-copper ore comminution circuit, based on the data of the pilot scale SELFRAG tests. A novel comminution circuit was designed, which incorporated SELFRAG to pre-condition part of SAG mill feed (9.5 to 150 mm) and to treat the circulating SAG mill pebbles. The high voltage pulse technology effectively reduced the amount of ‘critical size’ particles in the SAG mill and pre-weakened particle strength for grinding. Attributing to the nature of bi-modal size distribution and the significantly reduced F80, the simulations showed that the SAG mill had spare capacity to process part of hydrocyclone underflow from the secondary ball mill grinding circuit. The simulations indicated that the novel comminution circuit had the potential to remove two MP1000 pebble crushers and one 10 MW ball mill from the existing 2000 t/h grinding circuit. A 5 kWh/t energy reduction by adopting the novel comminution circuit in a gold-copper operation may be realized. This would result in substantial savings in operation costs.

Jan 1, 2014

By Muammer Kaya, Sait Kursunoglu

"Energy is the major concern for society. It is expected that developing country economies and populations will grow and consume more energy. Interest in nuclear power is rising, while the world looks for non-depletable energy source that will not contribute to global warming. However, it still has concerns of nuclear proliferation, radioactive waste and safety. It is necessary to overcome these concerns if nuclear energy is expanded to developing countries. Thorium (Th) utilization as nuclear fuel will be an opening key of these difficulties because Th produces less Plutonium (Pu) and less radioactive waste with enhanced safety. Research into the use of Th as a nuclear fuel has been taking place over forty years, through with much less intensity than that for uranium (U) or U-Pu fuels. Nuclear industry is currently using only 0.7% of the available energy from mined U. With huge resources of Th and relatively little U, Turkey has made utilization of Th for large-scale energy production a major goal in its nuclear power programme. Thorium fuel is plentiful and inexpensive. Energy is major concern for developing Turkish society. Turkey, today exports more than 70% of its energy as fossil fuels. In the last 50 years, Turks are skeptical, anxious and indecisive about having nuclear energy for electricity production. In the last 10 years, Thorium is brought into Turkish government’s attention and national discussion as a new, safe, clean, affordable, CO2-free, alternative, strategic and domestic nuclear energy fuel. Turkey recently contacted four VVER-1200 type Russian Nuclear Power Reactors using U as a fuel in Akkuyu (Rosatom) and another four units will be established in Sinop in the next decade by Japan (Mitsubishi-Westinghouse). Turkish nuclear programme must envisage use of domestic Th as a fertile material. This paper briefly reviews the developments of Th-fuel cycle for nuclear energy from global and Turkish perspectives. Previous Th reserve development and recovery studies from Turkish bastnasite ore are summarized in this paper."

Jan 1, 2014

The present work aimed to verify the possibility of using froth flotation to separate the constitu-ent minerals of an alaskite rock waste having as the main minerals quartz and feldspar. Three stages of tests have been carried through. In the first stage was used an amphoteric collector for flotation, diaminedioleate, at pH 2 and, after analyzing the final products, a very poor selectivity was ob-served. During the second stage of tests, different collectors that are normally used for feldspar flo-tation as amines, sulfonates and soybean oil were employed. Once more, it was not possible to reach reasonably selective results. In the third stage, a salt of etheramine was used for collecting the feldspar and hydrofluoric acid was utilized for controlling the pH. A simulation of three flotation steps (rougher, cleaner and recleaner) permitted to attain a good selectivity in the flotation process. A concentrate with a silica content of 96.6% was obtained. The low concentrate content of alkalis totalizing 0.52% and a feldspar recovery of 96.5% to the tailings, represented by the high content of Na, K, and Al2O3 in the tailings, demonstrated that the concentrate was made up mostly of quartz.

Jan 1, 2014

By Bruno Miotto, Rômulo Faria, Juliano Tessinari

Water has become a scarce resource in quality. Companies in the ornamental stones sector use water intensively in their processes. Given the current situation, it is imperative to rationalize this feature that at first is related to the reduction of consumption, through no waste. Considering the importance of environmental preservation of this resource and also to comply with the legislation that governs the procedure for processing of ornamental stones, new alternatives should be available for the maintenance of current activities and promoting the development / growth of the sector on the principles of environmental sustainability and economic in future scenarios. The ornamental stones processing industries, especially for micro and small enterprises, require the implementation of a management program that optimizes the use of this feature, since the techniques individually processed operate with three basic processes dependent on water use: split blocks, polishing and finishing slabs. This technology requires a large volume of water resources and control measures involving operating recirculation water can minimize power consumption, making the company more profitable and sustainable. This is a survey of literature, associated with technical reports provided by partner companies and government agencies. This study aimed to the organization and provision of theoretical knowledge about the subject matter coupled with management practices, which may be reproduced or re-purposed in ornamental stones processing companies. It should be noted that the industry in question is lacking in technical expertise for the implementation of sustainable attitudes relevant to water reuse.

Jan 1, 2014