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With the ambitious target of adding another 2,00,000 MW of power generation by the year 2017 in India the demand for coal is bound to grow. The non-coking coal deposits in India are characterized as high ash and difficult-to-wash coals. Quality improvement by beneficiation is almost mandatory due to MoEF notification to use <34% ash coal for all power plants except those located at pithead. Most of the coal washeries in India are based on wet process, where the coal fines are allowed to settle in thickeners. The coarser particles settle faster leaving the fine particles suspended for longer period. The dispersed fine coal particles contain some surface charge, which leads to the development of electrical repulsion between the particles, and as a result of this, the suspension becomes more stable. In order to destabilize the colloidal suspension, flocculants are usually added, so that the settling rate of the fine particles also increases. These flocculants are of cationic, anionic and non-anionic depending upon the type of charge released when dispersed in water. The flocculants may act partly for charge neutralization and partly for inter particle bridging and electrostatic patch formation. The effectiveness of any type of flocculants depends upon the molecular weight and charge density of the polymer. The paper discusses the settling behavior of non-coking coal fines suspension by using different flocculants. Keywords: floculent, coal fines, sedimentation rate, effluent

Sep 1, 2012

By Y. Lin

It is difficult to remove arsenic and bismuth from antimony in the process of crude electro refining. The electro refining of antimony has been studied using ammonium fluoride-antimony sulphate electrolyte system. The Influence of temperature, current density and additives on arsenic and bismuth removal from crude antimony has been investigated in this paper. Optimum process parameters, namely, temperature of 25?, current density of 400A/m2, distance between anode and cathode of 50mm, electrolytic period of 24 hours, oxalic acid dosage of 10g/L and complexon III dosage of 0.2 g/L have been ascertained.

Jan 1, 2014

By Jacek Kolacz

A new sensor based sorting system related to complex image analysis has been developed at Comex AS - Norway. It makes it possible to separate different mineral particles regarding their color, shape, texture, size, density and indirectly their composition. The sorting system has been successfully tested and applied for sorting minerals providing high separation efficiency in the range of 95-99.9 %. The main advantage of this system is connected with its universality where many material parameters are analyzed in the same processing unit by a single passage.

Sep 1, 2012

By S. S. Yu

In this paper, the producing process of using V2O3 as raw material to obtain vanadium nitride was analyzed through the means of thermodynamic. The analysis shows that conversion follows the principle of reduction step by step in the conversion process of V2O3. The temperature of the reaction system has prominent influence on the nitrogen content of products, and the reaction is very sensitive to temperature. As raising temperature, the fine grain structure of the nitrides is more evident, and the grain size of nitrides increases. At 1703K, the nitrogen content of the products tended to be constant after soaking over 3 hours.

Jan 1, 2014

By Xing Yang, Zhen Peng, Guangwen Zhang, Haifeng Wang, Yaqun He

"Triboelectric separation of ilmenite ore based on the tribocharge differences between ilmenite and gangue minerals was conducted in this study. Triboelectric characteristics of ilmenite and its associated minerals were studied using polyvinyl chloride (PVC), pentatricopeptide repeats (PPR), copper, polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA), stainless steel (SS), teflon and quartz glass (QG) tribochargers in lab triboelectric unit. Results demonstrated that the ilmenite particles tribocharged positively while gangue minerals tribocharged negatively using PVC as tribocharger. The particle size also has a significant effect on tribocharge, and the -0.125+0.074 mm is the optimal size fraction of triboelectric separation. Charge-mass ratios of minerals increase with the increases of tribocharging length, but the increasing rate gradually reduce. At 1.5 m tribocharging length, charge-mass ratios of ilmenite, quartz, feldspar and mica are up to 6.07 nC/g, -6.05 nC/g, -4.30 nC/g and -4.56 nC/g, respectively. Based on the triboelectric characteristics of each mineral, triboelectric separation of ilmenite was conducted, and the grade of ilmenite ore increased from 15.47% to 28.40%. INTRODUCTION As a transition metal titanium plays an irreplaceable role in medical, aerospace and materials due to its light weight, high strength and corrosion resistance. Pure titanium dioxide is an excellent white pigment and is widely applied in industries of paint and textile. Ilmenite is the main raw material for titanium industry. For the beneficiation of ilmenite, series methods have been proposed, such as the application of dry magnetic and wet gravity separations to separate the ilmenite from the zircon and rutile. Electrostatic separation is extensively used in the beneficiation of heavy mineral sands for the recovery of rutile, zircon and ilmenite while flotation is used to separate fine ilmenite (Mehdilo et al., 2014; Fan et al., 2014). Compared with flotation and gravity separation, electrostatic separation does not consume water, and native properties of materials will not be changed and energy consumption will be reduced (Wang et al., 2014). Thus, the wide application of electrostatic separation and other dry separation methods is a trend in separation and purification industry, especially in water-scarce areas."

Jan 1, 2018

By E. A. Brocchi

This work is dedicated to the chemical treatment of a typical EAF dust by chlorine content agents. The residue contains 48% Fe2O3 and 28% ZnO mainly in the franklinite structural form. The others less compounds are: 4.00% CaO, 2.60% MnO, 2.20% MgO, 1.08% PbO, 0.36% Cr2O3, 0.21% B2O3, 0.03% CdO and 0.01% NiO. The experiments purpose is selectively to remove zinc from the residue leaving the iron behind. Thermodynamics studies have indicated some roasting possibilities. The experimental results have shown that both HCl leaching and carbochlorination will remove iron and zinc without any selectivity. However, either the chlorine or the calcium chloride roasting seems to form, preferentially, the zinc chloride. So, it will be presented how the EAF Dust can be treated by the using of chlorine roastings process such as carbochlorination in order to separate the zinc and iron present in the frankilinite, main EAF dust content.

Jan 1, 2014

By V. Sheikhzadeh, M. Saghaeian, R. Hejazi, M. Zare

High Pressure Grinding Roll (HPGR) plays a major role in increasing specific surface area of iron ore concentrate for producing pellet feed. HPGR grinding mechanism implies that material be compressed between the two rolls, therefore layer of material must be able to resist required pressure for achieving suitable grinding conditions. In this study for determining a simple relationship between material pressure resistance ability and HPGR main design parameters, piston press tests were performed on different iron ore concentrate samples along with HPGR Blaine increasing tests. Piston press tests results showed that by decreasing moisture content, material pressure resistance increased and in constant moisture content this parameter will change based on material specifications. HPGR Blaine increasing tests results showed that by decreasing moisture content, HPGR specific throughput and working gap increased and in constant moisture content this parameter will change based on material specifications. For all of the studied samples at worst condition, we got the results including: HPGR delta gap equal to zero, specific throughput lower than 200 ts/hm3.According to the tests results, HPGR Applicability Index (HAI) can be introduced at four different class types from 1 (weak) to 4 (excellent). This index determines achievable specific throughput and possibility of using HPGR according to material specifications, i.e. for HAI 1-4 the pressure resistance is <90, 90 to<125, 125 to <150 and = 150 bar, respectively. Similarly for HAI 1-4 specific throughput is <200, =200, =220 and =250, respectively. So based on design moisture content, if concentrate HAI is 3 or 4, HPGR is a correct choice. For HAI 2, HPGR can also be used. But for a material with HAI equal to 1, HPGR is not a good solution. As a result in order to apply HPGR for HAI 1, material condition such as moisture or slime content should be decreased.

Jan 1, 2018

By X. Q. Wu

Magnetization in slurry (MIS) of weakly magnetic minerals by iron ions was investigated. The magnetic seeds (strongly magnetic particles) were synthesized by ferruginous chlorides directly in slurry instead of previous preparations of magnetic seeds by finely grinding mineral magnetite or specially synthesizing them separately in an aqueous solution. In this way, the growth of the seeds and their adsorption on the minerals simultaneously take place in the same slurry. That after MIS the recovery of weakly magnetic mineral limonite in a magnetic separator increased means the formation and adsorption of magnetic seeds on the surface of iron mineral limonite. The magnetization effect was evaluated by limonite recovery at a magnetic strength of 3.500 Gs in a magnetic separator. Mineral limonite was properly magnetized in the following slurry condition: molar ratio of Fe3+ to Fe2+1:3, slurry temperature of 45 °C and pH 10.5. The selectivity of the magnetization between minerals limonite and quartz was improved by adding surfactant sodium oleate.

Jan 1, 2014

By Mingfei He, Yude Gao

"The leaching kinetics was studied during leaching of indium-bearing zinc oxide to recover indium. The effects of temperature, sulfuric acidity, particle size, stirring rate on dissolution rate of indium were investigated. Results showed that the leaching process was controlled by chemical reaction at the condition of low sulfuric acid concentration. While the acidity increased to 1.8 mol/L, the leaching process was transformed into an internal diffusion controlling model . The corresponding value of reaction orders under low acidity and high acidity were 1.194, 0.156, respectively. Further calculation results indicated that the leaching reaction activation energy was only 10.97kJ/mol under the condition of high acid. The leaching rate constant was inversely proportional to the square of particle size, while the effect of stirring rate on leaching process was insignificant. The leaching process can be enhanced by increasing the temperature and acid concentration, as well as the decrease of particle size. And a final kinetics eqution was proposed. KEYWORDS Indium, extration, leaching kinetics, zinc oxide INTRODUCTION Indium[1,2] plays an important role in many aspects of living and industrial production owning to its special physical and chemical properties. The reserve of indium is rare on the earth, and most of indium is distributed in some other minerals[3]. Some researchers [4,5] have proposed that indium mainly substitutes for the lattice of other minerals by isomorphous. Therefore, the extraction of indium should take into account of the production technologies of those minerals to comprehensively recover the valuable metals."

Jan 1, 2018

By M. Kargar Razi

According to the unique properties and many applications of nano gold powder, it was prepared from an acid leaching tail solution. The low value residual gold ions were existed in acid leaching tail solution in Mouteh gold mine in Iran with fellow heavy metals as pollutants (FeP2+P, Cu P2+P, and ZnP2+P). Preparation of nano gold particles is achieved by two steps. First, by addition of ammonia as separation step and second using suitable reagents for precipitation/extraction step. Conditions control includes pH, residence time, temperature, agitation, and molar ratio of reducing agents to reagents. The optimum results show that nano gold powder was prepared by temperature of 250 °C, urea to gold molar ratio of 3:1, and reduction time of 20 min. Also, heat treatment improves dispersion of nano sized gold particles. The properties of gold nano powders were evaluated by SEM, A.A, and UV- Vis spectroscopy methods. The size of prepared particles were about 80nm to 90nm.

Jan 1, 2014

By K. Gonçalves

One of Vale?s sponsored research project is aimed at the implementation of a practical scale-up procedure for flotation. In this context, detailed flotation kinetics characterization is of critical importance. This work presents the results of a campaign aimed at characterizing flotation kinetic parameters with respect to particle composition. MLA analysis was carried out for 40 narrow-sized iron ore particles with known flotation time from a controlled flotation kinetic test. The iron ore sample studied (59% hematite and 41% quartz) comes from a mine in the southeast of Brazil and the type of reagents applied are the same as used in the plant. For the reagent conditions tested, the overall rougher concentrate (sink) yielded 79.1%, pure quartz and hematite recoveries to the froth were 56.0% and 4.8%, respectively. The results from the kinetic tests show that the flotation rate of the particles doesn?t vary much (~0.03s-1) with composition and that the fraction of floatable particles in each grade controls the separation action. The results show that the rate of flotation is controlled by transport and that the selectivity is controlled by the fraction of floatable particle of each phase.

Sep 1, 2012

Flinders Power, formerly NRG Flinders, is considering the possible use of low rank coal from Lake Phillipson, South Australia (SA) in its power stations at Port Augusta, SA. Typically, this coal contains about 35% moisture and 10% ash. Unfortunately, it also contains high levels of sodium (1% Na) and chloride (0.95% Cl) with a Na2O level in ash of 18.9%. Such levels cause serious problems during coal combustion, making the use of as-mined coal impractical for power generation. This paper describes the development of an aqueous leaching technique to remove 90% of the sodium and chloride and to yield a product with a Na2 O level in ash of less than 3%. Small-scale agitation leaching tests with good quality tap water at ambient temperatures showed that the coal needed to be crushed to minus 5.6 mm to obtain maximum removal of water-soluble sodium and chloride in 30 min. Leaching kinetics, but not the ultimate removal of salt, were enhanced by the use of higher temperatures (up to 150°C), but this was deemed uneconomic. Varying the pulp density between 20% and 50% had little effect on extractions and there was no benefit in multiple stage water washing. The best results by water leaching were 69%~74% extraction for sodium and 95%~97% for chloride, meaning that the sodium removal was well below the target level. From SEM examinations of the leached product it was concluded that the remaining sodium was organically bound to the carbon atoms in the coal. Further tests using aqueous solutions containing cation exchange additives such as calcium chloride (CaCl2) or ammonium chloride (NH4Cl) or sulphuric acid (H2SO4) showed that significantly enhanced sodium extractions were possible and target specifications were met. Two options, namely a single-stage and a two-stage leach, were then investigated. In a single-stage leach with additive, minus 5.6 mm coal was leached at 33%~50% solids for 30 min at ambient temperature and then filtered and washed with fresh water. This gave a sodium removal level of about 81% and a Na2O level in ash of about 5%. These levels do not quite meet tar-get specifications. In a two-stage leach, the coal was first leached with water alone without an additive as in the single stage leach, and the washed residue re-leached under similar conditions for about 5 min with an additive (CaCl2), and then filtered and washed. This gave a cumulative sodium removal of 96% and a Na2O level in ash of 1.4%~2.4%. These levels are well within target specifications.

Jan 1, 2014

By Diogo R. Prado, José Aurélio M. da Luz

Drying operation can have a major importance in a mineral processing undertaking. The proper sizing of dryers can ensure the specified dewatering level without energy wastage. However, often the sizing of fluidized bed is done disregarding the actual residence time distribution (RTD) of the particles inside the reactor. In this case it is usual to adopt the average residence time as a design criterion. In this work, we have quantified the effect of residence time distribution on drying, ensuring that a previously adopted fraction of the particles remains inside the reactor for the required time lapse needed for drying. Design criteria such as particulate flow rate and drying time, taking into account the statistical distribution of residence time was studied, matching the thermodynamic and fluid dynamic aspects of the drying process. Experimental tests carried out have confirmed the RTD for a teetering bed as the same for a canonical ideal mixing system. Although the fluidized bed volume using the proposed formulation was higher than that found for the average time based procedure, the efficiency gain in drying has proven advantageous.

Jan 1, 2014

By Mohsen Hashemzadehfini

Nowadays heap leaching has become established as a mineral processing technology for treatment of some low grade minerals such as copper, gold, and zinc, etc. Heap height, particle size, leach reagent consumption, and metal recovery are four important metallurgical parameters in a hydrometallurgical process like heap leaching. This paper investigated the effects of heap height and particle size on copper recovery as well as acid consumption. Three heap heights of 2, 4 and 6 meters and two particle size fractions of less than 25.4 mm and 50.8 mm were selected as variables in the experiments. The research results showed the inverse relation between heap height and copper recovery as well as acid consumption. Under given conditions, the copper recoveries of minus 25.4 mm ore are 78.63%, 66.27% and 52.88% higher than that of minus 50.8 mm samples for the heap heights of 2, 4, and 6 m, respectively. Both copper recovery and acid consumption increase with decreasing particle size. Keywords: heap leaching, heap height, particle size, acid consumption

Sep 1, 2012

By Yongfu Yu, Xiaotie Wang, Fuguang Zhang, Liping Che

"The flotation process of native Rare Earth minerals such as bastnasite, monazite, mixed minerals of bastnasite and monazite, using the new effective collector Dh was studied in this paper, respectively, and the flotation properties are described. The good qualities of the new collector Dh were revealed through comparing with other collector of Rare Earth minerals. The test results of different ore samples show that at moderate pulp pH (8.5-9.5), Rare earth minerals can be effectively separated from barium, calcium and silicon bearing intergrowth minerals (barite, calcite and silicate minerals) and high quality Rare Earth concentrates can be obtained successfully by the new collector Dh, acid silica gel, turpentine and reagents fitting together rationally. In order to determine optimum technical conditions, the effect of pulp pH, pulp temperature, pulp density and the effect of dosage of reagents (Dh and acid silica gel) on the flotation were investigated in the test.Simultaneously, the paper explores the mechanism of the flotation of Rare Earth minerals from intergrowth minerals. The infrared spectra for Dh and Rare Earth cation by analysis in theory shows that Dh formed chelate complex with Rare Earth cation and were adsorbed on the surfaces of Rare Earth minerals. The mechanism of the intergrowth minerals depressed by acid silica gel can be explained as gummy colloid hydrolyzed from acid silica gel which are selectively absorbed on the gangue minerals, making them hydrophilic and depressed, with pulp pH value of alkalescent."

Jan 1, 2003

By G. P. Wong

"In the Inco matte separation process, a slow-cooled converter matte is separated into three main discrete mineral phases: chalcocite (Cc), heazlewoodite (Hz) and a Cu-Ni-Fe alloy. After magnetic removal of the alloy, Cc and Hz are separated by flotation at pH>12 with diphenyl guanidine (DPG) as both collector and frother. High selectivity is achieved in rougher flotation. However, in later flotation stages such as in the middlings circuit, as oxidation takes place, Hz becomes highly floatable, resulting in a very poor separation between Cc and Hz.Starch and dextrin as Hz depressants were evaluated on the middlings circuit feed and showed no positive impact on Cc/Hz separation selectivity. Ethylene diamine tetra-acetic acid (EDTA) extraction showed the existence of abundant surface Cu and Ni ions. The use of triethylene triamine (TETA) or EDTA in flotation did not improve Cc/Hz separation selectivity. Microflotation tests were carried out on pure synthetic Cc and Hz minerals. It was found that Hz did not float in the presence of DPG. However, Hz conditioned with either copper sulfate solution or in contact with Cc floated readily in the presence of DPG. It is concluded that the major reason for Hz flotation in the middlings circuit is due to Cc oxidation releasing Cu ions that adsorb on the Hz surface making it reactive with DPG thus rendering the Hz floatable."

Jan 1, 2003

By C. Y. Wang

Based on Slurry Electrolysis, and combined with the problems of extraction antimony, lead and their separation from complicated antimony-lead concentrate, a series of tests have been done in this paper. Using Slurry Electrolysis to treat complicated antimony-lead concentrate, antimony and lead can be separated in one step. And 2# metal antimony can be achieved in cathode directly at the same time. Lead in concentrate is restrained still in the residue at the form of PbCl2. After converting the residue with ammonium carbonate and removing sulfur with kerosene, the high quality of lead concentrate (Pb is above 45%, S is below 15%) and pure sulfur can be achieved, respectively. The recovery of all in Slurry Electrolysis process is as: Sb 95%, Pb 95%, Ag 80%, S 60%.

Jan 1, 2014

By Ahmad Amini, Hadi Abdollahi, Pouya Karimi

Due to detrimental effects of cyanidation process on the environment in gold industry, application of cyanide alternatives such as thiourea are being highly considered in recent projects. In this study, the extraction of gold from poly metal ore, using thiourea was precisely investigated. The representative sample contained 2.5 ppm Au and 160 ppm Ag. The sample was categorized as oxide gold ore, because the main part of its pyrite was changed to iron oxide and hydroxide such as goethite and lepidocrosite. According to mineralogy, the main gangue mineral was quartz. It shows that gold grains are free and interlocked with quartz matrix. Also, the presence of a high amount of silver in free and sulfide forms and also the low content of other sulfide minerals such as base metal sulfides is a remarkable point of these studies. In the gold extraction process with thiourea, there are several parameters that affect the rate of gold dissolution such as concentrations of thiourea as a gold lixiviant and ferric sulfate as an oxidant, pH and size fraction of feed and leaching time. The influence of these parameters on the gold dissolution rate were investigated and optimized. The results showed that the concentration of thiourea is the most influential parameter which could increase the gold recovery to 71% (at 10 g/kg sample). The optimal amount of ferric sulfate was determined as 6 g/kg sample. Also, the optimal levels of size fraction of feed and pH of solution were 88% under 75 micron and 2 as acidity; respectively. Leaching time was 6 hrs. In addition, this sample was leached with cyanide and the optimized values of size fraction of d88=75 microns, pH=10.45, 2500 ppm of sodium cyanide with time leaching of 24 hours were concluded for maximum recovery of gold in solution. Finally, the results of cyanidation tests were compared to the thiourea dissolution after optimizing all affected parameters in cyanidation process.

Jan 1, 2018

By Y. B. Zhang

China is rich in iron ore resources, but most of these ores are low-grade, polymetallic and refrac-tory ones. Furthermore, with the rapid development of chinese iron & steel industry, the comprehen-sive recovery of these ores is becoming more and more important. The tin, zinc-containing complex iron ores are typical polymetallic and intractable ones, and great reserves of them are found in China. At present, they have not been efficiently utilized. In this paper, based on the investigation of basic physicochemical properties of the tin, zinc-bearing iron concentrates, taken from a mineral processing plant, the mineralogy reason that these concentrates are so intractable and refractory is found out, using advanced microscopic testing methods, such as optical microscope (OM), Scanning Electronic Microscope (SEM), X-ray diffrac-tion (XRD), etc. It is found that the symbiotic relationship of iron, tin and zinc metallic minerals are very complicated, and magnetite in the concentrate is closely symbiotic or enwrapped by fine cassi-terite and sphalerite. So it is difficult to separate tin and zinc completely from the iron concentrates by simple regrinding and physical separation method. This investigation provides theoretical guid-ance for developing new approaches for utilizing these concentrates.

Jan 1, 2014

By J. Roth

The increasing demand of the filler industry regarding fineness and better delaminated products led to the development of a series of different grinding machines, which differentiate basically by the grinding mechanism as well as the kind of classification. Spiral jetmills grind, as it is well known preferably by delamination, therefore a spiral jetmill with integrated dynamic classifier has been developed. Especially the enhancement of the functional properties of the used industrial mineral fillers is a factor of highly increasing importance. These properties are very often bound to the platy shape of the minerals expressed by the aspect ratio. The developed Spiral Jetmill shows sufficient ability for such delamination and therefore increases in aspect ratio. In a series of comparative tests the suitability and advantages of this system regarding achievable fineness down to the submicron range as well as the conservation or even improvement of the aspect ratio of different minerals has been studied. As an emphasis on the results application tests with certain materials in the plastics field have been conducted. Due to the fact that in this range the required specific energy for achieving the necessary fineness increases exponentially another target is to optimize the grinding efficiency. A special feed control system provides on one hand a sufficient load inside the mill to obtain maximum utilization of the applied energy and on the other hand to prevent the mill from overfilling and coming with this a poor classification. The integrated classifier is a combination of a high speed motor with directly attached classifier wheels. This unit on one hand grants the necessary high circumferential speed of up to 190 m/s for providing an exact top cut of the ultrafine products and on the other hand gives the required operational reliability for continuous operation. Hard grindable impurities, which enrich inside the mill chamber, can be rejected from the process leading to an even cleaner product. Comparative tests on a talc product with certain free quartz impurities showed a significant improvement of the final product with respectively low loss on rejected material. This effect again had a beneficiary impact on the suitability of the final product when used in plastics application.

Jan 1, 2014