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By Zofia Swierczek

This paper reports the results of a detailed mineralogical study of typical, low-grade Australian nickel laterite run-of-mine ores. Successful development of an effective beneficiation process for upgrading such low grade laterite ores relies on good knowledge of the laterite mineralogy and the value metal(s)? distribution characteristics. Both QEMSCAN and quantitative X-ray diffraction techniques were used to conduct the mineralogical analysis of three types of laterite ores, and the results were compared with those obtained by chemical analysis. Some of the major challenges faced included accounting for the mismatch between the nickel values measured by QEMSCAN and those recorded by chemical analysis. This was primarily due to the relatively low concentration of nickel in the ores and its wide dissemination among several major host minerals in complex association. Careful analysis showed that the limit of nickel detection in iron oxide host mineral grains under normal operating conditions was around 4%. Keywords: nickel laterites, mineralogy, characterisation, QXRD, QEMSCAN

Sep 1, 2012

By B. Q. By

TiO2 is an ideal material for catalytic technology due to its unique properties. In this paper, Sm3+ doped TiO2 photo-catalyst was developed to improve the efficiency of TiO2 and to use the natural light as irradiation source, which was made from Titanium Tetrabutoxide and Samarium Oxide with the Sol-Gel process. The Sm3+-TiO2 photocatalyst was used to degrade reactive orange 4 (RO4) in Azo Dyes. The effects of solution pH, Sm3+ concentration and catalytic time on the degradation rate of RO4 were studied. The characteristics of the catalyst were analyzed with XRD and TEM. The experimental results show that the catalyst has high activity in the degradation of RO4. The Azo bonds of RO4 are active and easily broken by oxidation. The catalytic activity of the Sm3+ doped catalyst greatly depends on the pH of solution. The catalyst has high photo-catalytic activity at both neutral and alkaline conditions. The degradation mechanism of the Sm3+ doped TiO2 photo-catalyst was also discussed.

Jan 1, 2014

By A. Gül

This investigation was carried out with low grade Murgul-Cakmakkaya copper ore once used to be dumped away as waste material. Sulphide minerals in the ore sample observed are chalcopyrite, pyrite, sphalerite and to some extent molibdenite; quartz, calcite and dolomite are the gangue minerals. The ore sample assays 0.28% Cu, 2.94% Fe and 3.36% S. Mineralogical study of the ore sample showed that adequate liberation of chalcopyrite for flota-tion was achieved below 100 µm. In flotation tests Aerophine 3418-A was the collector employed, NaOH or Ca(OH)2were the pH modifiers. Deactivators used were sodium meta bi-sulphide, starch, dextrin and lime. MIBC was the frother used throughout the tests. Test results showed that starch alone was the most suitable depressant to give the optimum metal content and recovery val-ues. Activated charcoal was used to adsorb excess collector species in the flotation pulp during cleaning stages After two stages cleaning of the rougher concentrate using starch as the depressant a copper concentrate assaying 21.2% Cu was obtained with 79.5% recovery while the tailings contained 0.01% Cu and metal losses were about 3%

Jan 1, 2014

By Indrajit Paul, Atanu Pal, Kapil Modi, Sanjay Chandra, Chandra Sekhar, Srinivas Dwarapudi

"High alumina content in the Indian iron ore fines (2.5% Al2O3) resulted in poor quality pellets at the recently commissioned 6 MTPA pelletizing plant and a study was under taken to establish suitable pellet chemistry through proper fluxing agents. Limestone fluxed pellets were prepared at varying basicity (0 to 0.8) and pyroxenite fluxed pellets at varying MgO contents (0 to 3%) to study their effect on the metallurgical properties. Fired pellets were tested for their strength, RDI, reducibility and swelling. Microstructural studies, optical and SEM-EDS, were carried out to quantify different phases and their chemistry. Acid pellets exhibited poor quality whereas limestone pellets at 0.8 basicity and pyroxenite pellets at 1.5% MgO exhibited optimum metallurgical quality. Formation of widely distributed silicate melt in limestone pellets and high melting point slag & magnesioferrite in pyroxenite pellets found to improve their quality. However during commercial production of MgO bearing pyroxenite pellets, their room temperature and low temperature properties found to be inferior, but exhibited better high temperature properties, viz. softening-melting behavior. Contrary to this, commercially produced limestone pellets, comprising CaO, exhibited better strength and RDI but showed poor high temperature properties. To yield the benefits of both CaO (for good strength and RDI) and MgO (for low swelling and high softening), a dual flux combination was established by using both limestone and pyroxenite/olivine together that resulted in optimum metallurgical properties. Coke rate at the blast furnaces found to be reduced by 1kg for every1% increase of dual flux pellets in the burden.INTRODUCTION Iron ore agglomerate quality plays a vital role in decreasing the reducing agent consumption and increasing the productivity of blast furnace. In most of the integrated steel works, the burden mix for blast furnace is decided as per the availability of the iron ore agglomerates like sinter and pellets. More attention has been given in recent years to the use of fluxed pellets in blast furnace due to their good strength and improved reducibility, swelling and softening melting characteristics. Generally, quality of pellets is influenced by the nature of ore or concentrate, associated gangue, type and amount of fluxes added and their subsequent treatment to produce pellets. These factors in turn result in the variation of physicochemical properties of the coexisting phases and their distribution during pellet induration. Hence properties of the pellets are largely governed by the form and degree of bonding achieved between ore particles and the stability of these bonding phases during reduction of iron oxides (Panigraphy et al., 1990). It is important to note that conditions and parameters of pelletizing are specific to given ore or concentrate; the present study is undertaken for typical Indian hematite ore fines high in alumina. Except authors earlier work on quality of pellets from Indian iron ore (Dwarapudi et al., 2008, 2010), there is no considerable literature reported on the effect of pellet basicity and MgO content in the basicity range of 0 to 0.8 for Indian hematite ore."

Jan 1, 2018

By Z. G. Song

As a kind of complex physicochemical process, grinding would affect the subsequent mineral processing such as flotation considerably. In this study, the effect of wet grinding on malachite and calcite flotation using sodium oleate as collector was studied. And the mechanism of the effect of grinding was investigated. Laboratory scale grinding and flotation testing of malachite and calcite samples were performed. Different grinding media were used, including steel balls and zirconia balls. It was the aim of this work to study the effect of grinding on the pulp chemistry paying particular attention to flotation recovery. The effect of grinding media and different addition location of sodium oleate on malachite and calcite flotation was studied. The methodology used in this project involved grinding the ore with and without the addition of sodium oleate in mill, measuring the pH and metal ions produced by minerals after grinding, adding various quantities of sodium oleate and determining the copper recovery. The presence of species of products on the minerals after grinding was probed using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and the metal ions produced by minerals after grinding were measured by atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS). It is showed that the mil-ling environments evaluated significantly affected the flotation of malachite and calcite. This study also discusses the effecting mechanism of grinding environment on floatability of malachite and calcite.

Jan 1, 2014

By Irena Grigorova, Tashka Ignatova, Ivan Nishkov, Andrian Valchev

"Feldspars used by ceramic and glass industries as fluxing agents are mainly obtained from high quality feldspar deposits. The demand for feldspar as raw material for industrial applications especially in ceramic manufactures is continuously increasing. However, due to the depletion of those deposits, the research activities related to the recovery of feldspar from the lower grade feldspar deposits and feldspar bearing rocks such as pegmatite, granite, arkosic sandstone and syenite have been intensified in the last two decade. In Bulgaria, the main deposit of arkosic sandstone is located in the area of Shumen town, NE Bulgaria. In Srednya deposit arkosic sandstones are found in Upper Cretaceous sediments (Santonian). In this formation, there are two major industrial minerals - feldspar and quartz. They may be of economic value and possibly suitable for commercial uses. The main purpose of the present study was to investigate the beneficiation and upgrading processes of Srednya deposit arkosic sandstones. In a laboratory scale it was studied the possibility to obtain the feldspar concentrate and quartz sand from arkosic sandstones. Particle size distribution, chemical and mineralogical compositions of quartz-feldspar sands were determined. The bench-scale tests using the KOALIN AD laboratory experimental facilities were conducted. Many processing techniques were tested: disintegration, washing, sizing, carbonate flotation and feldspar flotation. The experimental results show that there are possibilities to obtain the silica sand with low content of Fe2O3 - below 0.02 % and potassium feldspar with content of K2O > 14 %. A new technology for recovery of feldspar and silica sand from arkosic sandstone was developed."

Jan 1, 2014

By M. Blagojev, R. Tomanec

"Studies reported in this paper used polymetallic Pb-Zn-Sb-As-(Ag, Au) ore from Dražnja, Kosovo. The ore is comparatively rich in Zn (6.56%) and Pb (2.87%), but with high rates of Sb and As. Conventional lead and zinc concentration by flotation produced galena and sphalerite rich concentrate with high recovery, but with excessive As and Sb. After chemical analyses, which could not detect the reason for the excessive elements, ore minerals were identified under the ore microscope, their texture characterized, and degree of liberation of useful minerals was assessed. Microscopy of the mineral concentrates revealed complex intergrowths of galena and marmatite minerals mostly with sulphosalt minerals (boulangerite, jamesonite and bournonite) and also with arsenopyrite mainly responsible for the unsatisfactory quality of the concentrate. These complex sulphosalts, among other things have similar behaviour during the flotation concentration, and in spite of their interlocking with galena, therefore inadequate liberation, sulphosalts remain in the lead concentrate. Microscopic analyses indicated that a better galena concentration product is possible with a higher rate of mineral liberation, and then by selective floc flotation of some sulphosalt minerals. Purpose of this work was to show that only chemical analysis is not sufficient, according to that we solved the problem by precise mineral identification and time consuming mineral liberation measurements. INTRODUCTION The polymetallic Pb-Zn-Sb-As-(Ag, Au) ore body of Dražnja, Kosovo, fairly rich in Zn (6.56%) and Pb (2.87%) was repeatedly explored and once even worked. Mineralization at Draznja was primarily represented by sphalerite, galenite and marcasite/pirite. Some sections comprise massive sulphides, and others are lower grade zones of semi-massive sphalerite/galena or marcasite/pyrite dominant sulphides. The ore body II was formed in the southern gallery in the structure Çukë – Lajthishtë (with content of 3.16% Pb and 7.31% Zn). Pb-Zn ore with increased content of As, Sb sulphosalts is not rare phenomenon in the world. While previously treated as unprofitable, economical uninteresting ore, today with development processing and new reagents (organic, ecologic), are the topic of scientific papers. The examination of Pb-Zn ore with high content of sulphosalts we find in deposits as: The hydrothermal vein deposit of Harja in the Baia Mare area, contain a wide variety of sulphosalts [Cook, N. & Damian, G., 1997]; also the deposits Fankou Mine in Guangdong Province and the Dachang Mine in Guangxi Province, where the flotation concentration of galena and jamesonite takes place [Runqing Liu et al. 2015], [Zhang Ting, Qin Wen-Qing, 2015];. On a samples from Tibet in China flotation separation test of galena and jamesonite was conducted [Sun Wei, Han Haisheng, Tao Hongbiao, Liu Runqing, 2015]. According to history of investigation, the mineralized area of Dražnja has a long history of exploration and possible exploitation activities [Slowey, Galen, 2009]. Recent workings were carried out in three stages through the 20th century."

Jan 1, 2018

By Chenyang Zhang, Zhigang Yin, Wei Sun, Jingxiang Zou, Jianyong He, Yuehua Hu, Zhijie Xu

"In this work, a novel compound 4-Amino-5-mercapto-1,2,4-triazole was first synthesized and its selective adsorption mechanism on the surface of chalcopyrite was comprehensively investigated using UV-vis spectra, zeta potential, Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy(FTIR), X-ray Photoelectron Spectrscpy Measurements(XPS), and Time of Flight Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (ToF-SIMS) and first principle calculations. The experimental and computational results consistently demonstrated that AMT would chemisorb onto the chalcopyrite surface by the formation of a five-membered chelate ring. The first principle periodic calculations further indicated that AMT would prefer to adsorb onto Cu rather than Fe due to the more negative adsorption energy of AMT on Cu on the chalcopyrite (001) surface, which was further confirmed by the coordination bonding energies of AMT-Cu and AMT-Fe based on the simplified cluster models at a higher accuracy level (UB3LYP/Def2TZVP). The bench scale results indicated that the selective index improved significantly when using AMT as a potential chalcopyrite depressant in Cu-Mo flotation separation.INTRODUCTIONFroth flotation is one of the most important processes to separate valuable minerals from gangue by taking advantage of differences in the physical chemistry of their surface properties(Laitinen et al., 2014), particularly in their surface hydrophobicity. Hydrophobicity differences between valuable and gangue minerals could be regulated by adding different chemical additives (surfactants)(Kor, Korczyk, Addai-Mensah, Krasowska, & Beattie, 2014), such as collector and depressant. It could be conducted economically to selectively separate and enrich the complicated and/or poor ores, by adopting appropriate surfactants. For example, the beneficiation of molybdenite usually relies on a two-stage process to realize flotation separation of molybdenite from other unwanted sulphide ores(Wie & Fuerstenau, 1974). In the first step, a bulk molybdenite concentrate is produced by utilizing kerosene/ diesel oil and pine oil/alcohols as collector and frother, respectively. Second, sodium hydrosulphide, sodium cyanide, ammonium sulphide, or Nokes reagent are adopted as depressants in the separation stage. However, these depressants are usually toxicant and cannot meet the requirements of environmental protection. A large number of efforts have been taken to develop alternative environmentally-friendly depressants (Ansari & Pawlik, 2007; J. H. Chen, Lan, & Liao, 2013; Li et al., 2015; Yin, Sun, Hu, Zhai, & Guan, 2017; Yin, Sun, Hu, Zhang, Guan, Liu, et al., 2017; Yin et al., 2016). Although some novel and environmental-friendly depressants have been reported to achieve good performance in Cu-Mo flotation separation at a laboratory scale, there are still some challenging problems, including toxicity, high price or poor performance in practice, which severely limit their practical applications in Cu-Mo flotation separation on a commercial scale."

Jan 1, 2018

By Susanna G. de Jager, Francis W. Petersen

"The aim of the project was to develop a methodology applicable to different South African coal types to be able to predict with a high degree of certainty what kind of reagent will be suitable for flotation of a certain coal type.The study included 5 coal samples from different collieries and included Highveld seam 3 and 4 coal (as one sample), Waterberg coal (zone 10 -11), Highveld seam 5 upper coal and Witbank seam 2 and seam 4 coal. Seam 3 and 4 (mixture) coal, Waterberg and the seam 5 upper coal were all found to be vitrinite rich coals. The coal characterisation study included petrographic analysis, proximate analysis, float-sink analysis, oxygen-containing functional groups, surface extraction, flotation release analysis and contact angle measurements.The flotation tests showed that the best reagents to float all of the coal samples studied are iso-decanol and dodecene. These reagents produced flotation products that are near to the release curve. Statistical relationship for predicting ash content and yield that can be expected for a certain coal type and selected collector was obtained. From the relationship, the accuracy of the yield is above 95% (p-value below 0.05) with a linear regression of 0.9289. The accuracy of the ash is slightly lower with a linear regression of 0.7841 but also above 95%."

Jan 1, 2003

By Leonardo Soto, Fernando Villanueva

"Antofagasta Minerals S.A. (AMSA), for its Centinela District Project, is currently developing, at a first stage, a new 90 ktpd Concentrator Plant incorporating Esperanza Sur (ESP Sur) and Encuentro (ENC) ores. In order to dimension properly main equipment, specifically for grinding circuit, a final decision has been taken using geological and metallurgical (comminution) data from both body ores. Data was analyzed internally within AMSA and its consultants to get a final proposed circuit for further engineering studies. Specific Energy Consumption (SEC) parameter is one of the main key factors for proper dimensioning. To get an accurate value different tests have been made and modelled to ESP Sur and ENC ores. Also, operational data from Esperanza operation has been taken into account due to its similar ore characteristics to ESP Sur ore and incorporated as input data for design. Depending on data, quality and amount, it is possible to estimate accuracy for project investment and risk level, hence investment decision can be taken under good and reliable information."

Jan 1, 2014

By T. Khonthu

The purpose of this investigation was to evaluate the relationship between different milling procedures, viz. a ball mill and an IsaMill respectively, and the flotation performance of the different mill products. Two ores were used, viz. a base metal sulphide (BMS) and a platinum group mineral (PGM) UG2 ore. Flotation was used as a diagnostic to investigate whether the different milling procedures may have different effects of the floatability of the particles. The present study is part of a research programme investigating this question using a wide range of comminutiondevices and procedures. Similar particle size fractions from the different milling procedures were used in the flotation tests. The particles were characterized in terms of particle size distribution, morphology (using scanning electron microscopy and image analysis software) and rheology tests. The results have shown that in general when comparing similar feeds to flotation in terms of equivalent particle size distributions as indicated by the d80 value, the ball mill generally yielded better recoveries and grades in the case of the BMS and lower chromite recoveries in the case of the UG2 ore compared to the IsaMill. No significant differences were observed in the morphological or rheological characteristics of the particles subjected to the different milling procedures. Although the results appear to indicate that IsaMilling is less advantageous than ball milling in terms of the flotation performance for the two ores studied it should be emphasized that these results do not take into account the relative advantage which IsaMilling has over ball milling in terms of direct and indirect energy consumption and GHG emissions nor, most importantly, does it consider the platinum group element recoveries in the case of the UG2 which may have increased significantly as a result of the finer grind which the IsaMill produces after 4 passes compared to the ball mill after 64 min. Such results which will be reported is due course may show that the greater liberation expected after IsaMilling of the PGMs outweighs any disadvantages indicated in this study.

Sep 1, 2012

By J. Yianatos

The regrinding stage is necessary to achieve the particle size (liberation) for the final upgrade in the cleaning flotation process. At present, vertical mills (Vertimill) are employed at industrial scale, using small steel balls as grinding media. The regrinding process characterization requires mixing regime knowledge along with the mean residence time of the liquid and solid phases. The residence time distribution (RTD) and the actual mean residence time estimations from theoretical relationships are complex due to the presence of three components (solid mineral, balls and water), mass transport characteristics and segregation affecting solid holdup. Therefore, the experimental RTD determination is suitable for industrial mills. In this work, RTD measurements were performed in two different industrial flotation plants. Both plants operate with Vertimills of 1000-1500 HP in the regrinding process with different circuit arrangements according to the plant treatment capacity. The RTD was measured using the radioactive tracer technique. This technique allows for non-invasive tracer detection where the procedure consists of selecting a liquid (Br82 in aqueous solution) or solid (irradiated solid) tracer for RTD data acquisition in real time. The RTD was modelled by the Large and Small Tanks in Series (LSTS) model, which allowed the characterization of the different mixing regimes for both liquid and solids in the regrinding mills. Effective mean residence times in the range 2-11 min were obtained with RTD shapes similar to those obtained in tumbling ball mills. It was found that residence times of liquid and fine particles were similar, which is consistent with results observed in other mixing systems, e.g. mechanical flotation cells. Also, the mean residence times estimated from the RTD allowed the mass balance adjustment to be validated from metallurgical sampling data. RTD estimations are useful for better understanding the Vertimill behaviour and to identify the actual breakage rates. Keywords: vertical mill, residence time distribution, particle size, modeling

Sep 1, 2012

By S. M. Narbekova, L. V. Semushkina, Zh. A. Aldybayeva, A. A. Mukhanova, D. K. Turysbekov, N. K. Tussupbayev

More complex and heavy-concentrating oxidized and mixed sulphidic oxidized ores are involved in production because of increasing needs for non-ferrous metals. Extraction of the oxidized minerals of non-ferrous metals general in current technologies. The problem is solved to oxidized polymetallic ores the preliminary selective sulphidization is the oxidized surface of the components by means of hydrogen sulphide, sulphide and calcium polysulphide, and also element sulphur, etc. The task was to study details of flotation of the oxidized lead-bearing ore of the Zarechnoe deposit (Kazakhstan) with calcium polysulphide as sulphidation. According to chemical analysis initial samples of the ore contain, %: lead – 4.8; zinc – 0.1; general iron – 0.81. Phase structure lead is characterized by the oxidized form of 57.76-64.5 %; by sulphidic status of 25.5-32.64 %, and by plyumboyarosite of 19.0-23.02 %. Researches on flotation beneficiation of oxidized lead-bearing ore are conducted. Sulfidizator gave to grinding, on flotations there were used the collector (butyl xanthogenate of sodium) and frother (T-80). Experiments were conducted with a new sulphidizator – calcium polysulphide. The latter is obtained by interaction of CaO calcium oxide with sulfur and water at high temperature with component mass the following ratio S:CaO:H2O =10:5:85. Extent of mill initial ore was optimised (88.42 % of - 0.071 mm grade). For the optimum mill mode the studies on matching of an optimized consumption of sulphidizators are performed. On basic technology with application of sulphide of sodium as a sulphidizator at optimum mill, the lead concentrate with the content of lead 64.4 % at extraction of 86.6 % was received. The content of cerussite in a concentrate was about 14.9 % at extraction of 82.1 %. With application of calcium polysulphide as a sulphidizator the lead concentrate with the content of lead 68.0 % at extraction of 88.0 % was received. The content of cerussite has made 16.0 % at extraction of 85.0 %. Application of a new sulphidizator allows to increase extraction of lead in a concentrate from 64.4% to 68% and cerussite extraction – from 82.1 % to 85.0 %. The possibility of application of calcium polysulphide as a sulphidizator instead of conventional sulphurous sodium was established.

Jan 1, 2018

By P. Han

The preparation technological conditions and regeneration method of two novel granulated adsorbing materials of rectorite/fly ash composite (Material 1) and rectorite/water quenched - slag composite (Material 2) and the use of them to remove heavy metals from copper smelting plant wastewater have been studied. The experimental results showed that under the preparation conditions with the ratio of rectorite to fly ash or water - quenched slag of 1:1, the amount of the additive (Industrial Starch, IS) of 15% (Material 1) or 10% (Material 2), the addition of 50% water, and the calcination temperature of 500? (Material 1) or 400? (Material 2), the efficiency of heavy metal removal with the granulated materials was the best, whereas the ratio of disintegration loss was the lowest. Under the treatment conditions of natural pH, and with the addition of the granulated materials of 0.07g/cm3 (Material 1) or 0.05g/cm3 (Material 2), a reaction time of 60 minutes (Material 1) or 40 minutes (Material 2), and the adsorption temperature of 25?, the efficiency for the granulated materials to remove Cu2+Pb2+Zn2+Cd2+ and Ni2+ from the copper smelting plant wastewater was 98.9, 97.5, 96.7, 90.2, and 79.1, (Material 1) or 98.2, 96.3, 78.6, 86.2, and 64.2, (Material 2), respectively, and the quality indexes of the wastewater after treatment conformed with the first level of integrated wastewater discharge standard (GB8978-1996). When the adsorption of heavy metal ions on the surface attained saturation the granulated materials could be regenerated by washing with 1 mol/L sodium chloride (NaCl) solution and still with quite good heavy metal removal efficiency. The granulated adsorbing materials had the advantages of high efficiency of wastewater treatment, easy method of solid-liquid separation and regeneration, and a broad prospect of applications.

Jan 1, 2014

By T. N. Alexandrova

Results of mineralogical-technological research of carbonaceous rocks of Kimkansky precious metal occurrence are presented, on their basis new typemorphic natural and technological microelement associations were revealed using mathematical statistics methods. Keywords: carbonaceous rocks, processing, microelements, flotation, statistical criteria

Sep 1, 2012

By M. Barsky, E. Barsky

It is generally accepted that the optimal flow velocity for gravity classification is the final particle settling velocity or, which is the same, the particle spin velocity. However, we have found differences between the settling velocities and the spin velocities of the very same particles. Here we present the results of experiments in a cascading gravitational classifier comprising eleven stages. The feed material was introduced at each stage successively, from the first to the eleventh. The optimal flow velocity was determined for each case. From these experiments it follows that the value of the optimal flow velocity depends to a greater extent on the point of introduction of the feed (i.e., on the design of the device) than it does on the interaction between the solid phase and the flow.

Jan 1, 2003

By R. Marandi

The effective removal of heavy metals from aqueous wastes is among the most important issues for many industrialized countries, How ever biosorption, i.e. the uptake of heavy metals by non- living biomass, has gained increased credibility during recent years. Biosorption of Cr(VI) from aqueous solution, on pretreated and immobilized Aspergillus niger was investigated in a batch and countinuous reactors. A.niger biomass pretreated by boiling in 0.5 N NaOH solution for 15 min, exhibited higher Cr(VI) removal capacity than autoclaved biomass. The optimum adsorption pH value observed for Cr(VI) ions was 2. The Cr(VI)removal rate increased with a decrease in pH. The influence of contact time, pH, Cr(VI) concentration, biomass concentration and temperature on Cr(VI) removal were also evaluated. Biosorption of Cr(VI) on pretreated biomass followed the Freundlich and Langmuir adsorption models.In this study A.niger biomass was immobilized in Na-alginate matrix. The biomass beads packed in a column were able to remove metal ions.In this study we used two different flow rate in a column, 1.5 mL/min and 3 mL/min.The breakthrough data obtained for Cr(VI) was adequately by the Thomas and Yan models and the adsorption capacity of the biomass was found to less than the adsorption capacity obtaind in the batch study. When the beads containing biomass become saturated with metal ions, the adsorbed metals were eluted using 0.5 N NaOH solution. Therefor nearly 90% of Cr(VI) was desorbed by NaOH solution.

Jan 1, 2014

By V. Runkana, N. K. V. Nadimpalli, S. Sahu

"IsaMill™ has been in operation in the recent past for fine grinding of low grade ores to extract non-ferrous minerals. IsaMill™, typically, consists of a series of uniformly spaced identical disks mounted on a rotating shaft which is encased in an outer shell. The mill offers high energy efficiency for fine grinding and an inherent scalability. But, it encounters certain operational challenges such as non-uniform distribution of grinding media coupled with high wear rate of the disks and solid walls of the mill at specific locations—which adversely affect the mill performance. To circumvent these operational challenges, design modification of the disks through heuristics, by introducing a reduced diameter disk (RDD) at specific locations, is a common practice in industry. But there is no systematic scientific study in this regard. In the current work, we developed a discrete element method (DEM) based model and simulated for the IsaMill™ operation to study the effect of RDD on the efficiency of the mill and wear rate of the solid walls and disks. Since the first set of disks experience the high wear rate due to the high loading of the charge, the RDD was introduced at the first two disks. The simulations were performed at different diameters of the RDDs and at different media loadings. The performance of the mill was analyzed based on the power consumption, the wear rate on disks and the distribution of media particles inside the mill. Besides, the performance variables such as mean velocity of media particles and total impact energy provided useful insights into the milling operation. It was observed that the reduction in disk diameter yields lower wear rate of the disks at the cost of decrease in power draw at a constant high media loading. Whereas, when the media loading was decreased, the amount of wear and power drawn was comparable for both the most reduced and least reduced disk diameters. Therefore, there is an optimum choice of RDD for a given mill loading to maximize the mill performance while reducing the wear rate of the disks."

Jan 1, 2018

By A. Vidyadhar

Printed circuit boards (PCBs) constitute a majorpart of electrical and electronic equipment containing valuable metals such as Cu, Ni, Au, Ag, Pd, Fe, Sn, Pb, etc. The concentration of base and precious metals in PCBs is observed to be several times more than those in their respective ores. Therefore, the recycling of PCBs is necessary to recover the valuable materials. However, the ultrafine particles pose a big challenge. Removal of them is suggested prior to processing by flotation. Froth flotation is observed to be a promising technique for rejecting the plastics from the comminution product. In the present work, enrichment of ground 1.0 mm PCB powder was investigated through flotation route by varying the operating variables such as frother dosage, pulp density, air flow rate and rotational speed of the impeller. The liberation studies indicate that excellent liberation of metal values is achieved from the non-metallic constituents at -1.0 mm size and below. The particulate system is quite rich in metal value with about 23% total metal content. The non-metallic constituents such as plastics are observed to possess strong hydrophobicity while the metal particles in the pulverized mass are hydrophilic in nature. Froth flotation kinetics is studied in depth with a view to facilitate high rejection of plastics and identify optimum operating conditions for the same. A number of experiments are performed to establish the influence of the operating variables on flotation performance. The conditions for achieving higher yield of the metal-rich fraction with respect to a specified grade are discussed in the light of the experimental results. It is found that the requirement of reagents is negligible which could be a very important factor from the commercial stand point. Single-stage flotation increases the metal content from 23% to over 32% with a mass yield of around 75% and over 90% recovery of metal values. 32% of the materials in the feed could be effectively rejected in the float fraction losing less than 4% metal values. The dependence of kinetics on the process variables is also discussed. It was concluded that a high rotor speed helps in efficiently rejecting the plastics. Frother should be added to help stabilize the froth and enhance the kinetics. A moderate air flow is required while pulp density must be kept low for efficient pre-concentration. It is established that the entire -1.0 mm comminution product could be treated by flotation for generating a pre-concentrate. Keywords: printed circuit boards, recycling, froth flotation, kinetics, recovery

Sep 1, 2012

By Mahdi Shevrini, Hamed Haghi

"In this research, the operation of screen classifying in silica processing circuits was investigated and modified by replacement of available trommel screens with teetered bed separator (TBS). In addition the effect of the mentioned replacement and addition of attrition scrubber on quality of final product, impurities removal, recovery and production rate were inspected. Considering screen efficiency problems to achieve certain particle size distribution, hydraulic classifying system was selected instead of trommel screens. Application of suggested plan improved quality and particle size distribution of produced silica significantly. Optimization of size classification in process circuit resulted in increase in production rate up to 21% (from 67% to 81%), silica recovery (from 68.35% up to 83.11%) and relative enhancement in removal of impurities such as Fe2O3 and TiO2. After optimization and stabilization of grinding and size classification section, industrial attrition scrubbing tests were carried out and the best solid percent and retention time were determined i.e. 70% and 6 minutes, respectively. Using sodium carbonate during attrition scrubbing, has major effect on removal of surface coating and staining especially sharp increase in clay removal; therefore 2 kg/t of sodium carbonate can be optimistic point of industrial procedure for this silica processing plant. It should be mentioned that application of attrition scrubbing which is followed by screw classifier for de-sliming were useful for better cumulating of particles in the range of appropriate liberation degree (+106-300µm) and efficient removal of metallic (iron and titanium oxides) and non-metallic (clays and feldspars) impurities."

Jan 1, 2014