MINING

AND
METALLURGY

•nacap

FLOATATION
Metallurgical Processes

NAME: Hernan Brito.

CAREER: Mining Engineering.
SUBJECT: Metallurgy Laboratory.
TEACHER: Joaquín Páez.
DATE: 06-22-2018.
 nacap
table of Contents
table of Contents.................................................................................................................................2
1. Introduction:...................................................................................................................................3
2 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK:..................................................................................................4
3 Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................13
4 Bibliography..................................................................................................................................14
1. Introduction:

The flotation process is used to separate minerals, this is the result of many Physicochemical
processes that occur in the Solid/Liquid phases. Flotation depends on the probability of binding to
the hydrophobicity of the particle surface. In most flotation systems, the surface of the particle is
made hydrophobic by the selective adsorption of surfactants called collectors.

Flotation is based on the adhesion of some solids to gas bubbles, generated in the pulp by some
external means, in the flotation cell, where they are collected and recovered as concentrate. The
fraction that n adheres to the bubbles where they are collected and recovered as concentrate.
The fraction that does not adhere to the bubbles remains in the pulp and is constituted as glue or
tailings, since it has no commercial economic value.
In this way, the buoyancy condition is a strong adhesion between the useful joints and the
bubbles, which must be able to withstand the agitation and turbulence in the cell. These particles
are presumed to be hydrophobic (Impermeable), or water repellent, unlike the particles that make
up the tailings or glue, which are hydrophilic (Wettable).
2 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK:

Hydrophilic and Hydrophobic Properties:

Illustration 1 (Graphic Representation of Physical Properties)

2.1.1 Etymologically Speaking

Hydrophilia according to the dictionary, comes from the Greek hydro meaning water and philia
meaning friendship. With this simple definition we can already deduce what it means for a
substance to be hydrophilic: that it can mix with water.
On the other hand, hydrophobia comes from the aforementioned term hydro and also from the
term phobos which means fear or fear. That is, a hydrophobic substance will be one that will be
repelled by water or that cannot be mixed with it.
It is also worth mentioning that they are not the only physical properties that this type of particles
contain, Hydrophilic particles are generally Aerophobic (They repel air) and Hydrophobic particles
are generally Aerophilic (Affinity with air). This is the basis of floating.
2.2 Flotation.

Flotation is a selective process that is used to carry out the separation of complex minerals, based
on the different surface properties of each of them.

It is the most effective mineral processing method with the greatest applications of those existing,
although in many aspects, it is the most complex of them. Of the three initial alternatives: Flotation
with oil, film or foam, the latter is the one that has prevailed and has achieved notable
development.

2.1.2 Concentration by Flotation:

This technique is based on the selective adhesion of minerals, converted into a pulp (mixture of
mineral plus variable percentage of water, depending on the resistance to intrinsic wetting of the
rock), adding air bubbles, which are introduced into said pulp. The minerals adhered to the
bubbles are separated in the form of mineralized foam, constituting the concentrate. While the
others remain in the pulp and constitute the sterile.

This method of separating the reactants is the most important component and variable, since the
number of naturally buoyant species is so small: talc, sulfur, graphite, molybdenite and little else,
and its commercial importance is so reduced that it can be stated that modern industrial flotation
could not be carried out without reagents.

2.1.3 Types of reagents.

The modern classification divides the reagents according to the role they play in the process:

2.1.3.1 Collectors:
They provide Hydrophobic characteristics to minerals. It is a large group of organic reagents of
diverse compositions.

2.1.3.2 Xanthates:
Xanthates are sodium or potassium salts of xanthogenic or xanthogenic acid. This group of
reagents is widely used due to its low cost, its strong collecting properties and its high selectivity.
They are the most appropriate for the collection of sulfides, native minerals and oxidized minerals
previously sulfidized. They should be used in neutral or alkaline circuits since they undergo
hydrolysis in an acidic medium. It has been proven that the hydrophobic properties of xanthates
increase with the length of the hydrocarbon chain and with branching. In practice they are used in
doses ranging from 5 to 100 g/t.
2.2.2.3 Modifiers

They regulate the operating conditions of the collectors. The specific function of the modifying
reagents is to prepare the mineral surfaces for the adsorption or desorption of a certain reagent on
them and to create the proper conditions in the pulp to achieve good flotation.

2.2.2.3.1 The traditional classification is :

Medium or PH modifiers , which control the ionic concentration of the pulps and their reactions
through acidity or basicity. The PH of a pulp is of great importance in flotation, since H+ and OH-
ions compete with other ions to reach the surfaces of the minerals, and in addition, their
concentration influences the dissociation of salts in ionic exchanges.

It is also important to take into account the hydrolysis effects that some reagents may suffer
depending on the acidity of the medium, for example, xanthans lose effectiveness in acidic
circuits. Amines give the best results in moderately alkaline circuits and in high alkalinity circuits
their collecting power decreases significantly. In the case of fatty acids, their activity is favored in
alkaline pulps since this favors the formation of soaps on the mineral surface. In general, we must
recognize that the alkaline circuit is more used than the acid one, among other reasons because
the reagents tend to be more stable and the salts of the heavy ions precipitate and are eliminated
from the pulp.

To produce the necessary PH in industrial circuits, low-cost acids and bases are used, which is
why they are usually used.

Lime, Sodium hydroxide, sodium carbonate and Sulfuric acid .

Activators: These are those that maximize the hydrophobic properties of minerals and increase
their buoyancy. Reagents of this type serve to increase the adsorption of collectors or to
strengthen the bond between the collector and the mineral surface. There are different ways to act
on a surface:
Renewing or cleaning the surface of the mineral affected by a secondary process such as
oxidation or slat adhesion.
Forming on the surface a layer particularly favorable for the adsorption of the collector.
Replacing some metal ions in the crystal lattice with others that form firmer bonds with the
collectors.
Depressants : which hydrophilize mineral surfaces and prevent their flotation. The specific function
of depressants is to reduce the buoyancy of a mineral by making its surface more hydrophilic or
preventing the adsorption of collectors that can hydrophilize it. For this purpose, there are several
ways to achieve it:

Introducing an ion into the pulp that competes with the collector to reach the surface of the
mineral.
Chemical neutralization and disposal of the collector.
Adding substances that generate hydrophilic groups that once they reach the mineral surface
orient the polar part towards the water.

2.2.2.3.2 Sparkling wines

They allow the formation of a stable foam. The production of a stable foam requires the
introduction of organic agents known as foaming agents, which are usually heteropolar surfactant
substances that can adsorb at the water-air interface. In pure liquids and water, in particular,
passing air through them does not produce foaming.

When adding small amounts of some organic compounds, such as alcohols, the injection of air will
be accompanied by the formation of air bubbles in the form of spheres, which, upon rising to the
surface of the liquid, before delivering their air content to the atmosphere, they will try to stop in
the form of foam.

The foamers used in flotation are organic reagents of a heteropolar nature, therefore, similar in
structure to the collectors, but while the collectors have an affinity for the liquid-solid interface, the
foamers have the affinity for the liquid-gas interface.

The most appropriate agents for foaming are:

✓ Alkyl and aryl alcohols.

✓ Carboxylic acids
✓ Aldehydes, Ketones.
✓ Amines and Nitriles.
✓ Classically the most used have been pine oil, cresylic acid and eucalyptus oil.

2.2.3 TYPES OF FLOATATION

2.2.3.1 Rougher Flotation:
Its objective is to increase metal recovery.

2.2.3.2 Flotation Cleaner:

Its objective is to increase the grade of the concentrate, there is also a second process called Re
Cleaner, whose objective is the same, but more thorough.

2.2.3.3 Floating Scavenger:

It is recuperative, it feeds exclusively on tailings and/or tailings from the Rougher and Scavenger
stages.

2.2.4 Flotation includes three phases

2.2.4.1 Solid phase:
It corresponds to the materials that you want to separate (mineral material).
2.2.4.2 Liquid phase:
It is the means in which these separations are carried out.
2.2.4.3 Gas phase:
It refers to the air injected into the pulp to form bubbles, which are the centers on which solid
particles adhere.

Flotation products typically contain between 50% and 70% solids. Much of the water contained in
the pulps produced by flotation is removed in the concentrate and tail thickeners, which
simultaneously carry out the sedimentation and clarification processes. The product obtained from
the discharge of the concentrate thickeners may contain between 50% and 65% solids. The
remaining water in these thickened concentrates is subsequently removed using filters until a final
value ranging from 8% to 10% humidity is obtained in the final product. The latter is the food for
the next stage.
2.2.5 FLOATATION CELLS

2.2.5.1 Self-priming: they are the most common, characterized by a mechanical impeller that agitates the pulp
and disperses it.
FOAM FLOTATION IN THE MACHINE

Illustration 2 (Self-priming or mechanized cell)

! — cell, 2 — support, 3 — rotor. 4 — air inlet, 5 — stator.

6- feeding tnheria. 7-channel. 8- tailings pipe

2.2.5.2 Pneumatic: They have an

impeller and use compressed air to agitate and aerate the pulp.

Illustration 3 (Pneumatic Cell)

2.2.5.3 Column: they have a countercurrent flow of air bubbles with the pulp, and of mineralized bubbles with
the flow of washing water.

FLOATATION COLUMN

Illustration 4 (Column cell)

2.2.6 FLOAT CIRCUITS:

2.2.6.1 Air dispersion cells

> Engine

Air

foam with
"floated "
panicles

Residu
e
>- non-floated
solid

Figure 8 Slow float cell

2.2.6.2 Low agitation cell:

Foam with
Water
contaminants
to be
sedimentation
treate tank
d Treate
microbubbles d water

Alre a presten
and saturate it with
air

Figure 9; Flotation water treatment plant

2.3 Law of mineralogical and mineral species.

The law of a pure mineralogical species is the proportion that a certain element has with respect to the
total elements that the species contains.
This proportion is obtained from the <<Atomic Weights>> of each element.
Let's look at the case of the mineralogical species chalcopyrite, whose <<Chemical Formula>> is: Cu
Fe S2. The chemical formula of chalcopyrite that its structure is formed by a copper atom (Atomic
Weight; 63.5), 1 Iron atom (atomic weight; 55.8) and 2 sulfur atoms (atomic weight = 32.1), therefore ,
the law of pure copper is:

Chalcopyrite Copper Grade =------------ 1163,5---------.100 = 34.6% Cu

‘ 1 63,5+155,8+2:32,1
Illustration 5 (Copper law formula)

Let us now assume, in a simplified manner, that 90% of the mineralogical species of a mineral are
chalcopyrite, and the remaining 10% are other mineralogical species that do not contain copper.
Therefore, the copper grade of this mineral is:

Yo Mineral copper grade = 90 x 3^.5 + 10x0 =

31.14 % Cu 90+10

2.4 Formulas used in the laboratory:

2.4.1 Concentration ratio:

Rc = F/C

2.4.2 Weight recovery:

Rp = (C/F) * 100

2.4.3 Metallurgical Recovery:

Rm = (Cc/ Ff) * 100

2.4.4 Enrichment ratio:

Re = C/ F
2.5 Concentration by reverse flotation:

In reverse flotation, the relevant reactants induce the useful minerals to become hydrophobic (water-
repellent) and the waste minerals become hydrophilic (water-attracting). Aeration is achieved through
injectors at the bottom of the flotation cell. The bubbles attract and float waste minerals, leaving useful
minerals at the bottom. Generally when carrying out reverse flotation it is for minerals such as fluorite
or iron ore.
3 Conclusion
In flotation it is possible to vary the difference between the useful properties and the gangue,
modifying the chemical and electrochemical environment of the system, through the appropriate
selection of the added chemical reagents, including collectors, foamers and modifiers, etc.
It must be taken into account that the product that feeds the flotation process must come appropriately
mined and the mineral species must be appropriately released, in order for the process to be efficient
and effective, in the event that the mineral still lacks release. , this is compensated for by a regrind,
generally located in the flotation area. The release of the useful particles from the non-useful ones is
very important for the separation of these, whether the process is reverse or conventional. If adequate
conmination did not exist, the Flotation process could not be carried out, due to the physical properties
of the mineral (Hydrophilic and Hydrophobic), the flotation reagents could not form a consistent
bubble, not carrying out their purpose and affecting the process itself.
4 Bibliography
http://ocw.bib.upct.es/pluginfile.php/5564/mod_resource/content/1/FLOTACION_REACTIVOS.pdf

http://opac.pucv.cl/pucv_txt/txt-3000/UCE3011_01.pdf

https://www.codelcoeduca.cl/productos_productivos/tecnicos_flotacion.asp

http://www.mch.cl/reportajes/claves-tecnicas-de-andina-fase-i/