Study Of Process Mineralogy And Silicon Reduction And K-feldspar Increasing By Reverse Flotation On K-feldspar Ore In Ebian-Wudu Sichuan

K-feldspar ore is a very important nonmetallic mineral. It is widely applied to theglass industry, ceramic industry, and extracting potash fertilizer. In recent years, thedemand of glass products is increasing with China’s fast economic growth andbooming construction industry, leading to the demand of K-feldspar go up sharply.However, the high quality mineral resources are less and can’t meet the need ofnational economic construction.K-feldspar ore is a large weathering deposit in Ebian-Wudu, Sichuan. The parentrock of it is gray two-mica alkali feldspar granite in Jingningian period. The reserve ofmineral is rich, while it is easy to mine and it is convenient in traffic. It is the mainbase of K-feldspar ore production in Sichuan. In the mining area, the K-feldspar ore ismined for sieving. In accordance with the particle size, it can be divided into differentclassification, including the first-grade raw ore （6¹5mm）, the second-grade raw ore（1⁶mm） and tailing （<1mm）. The first-grade raw ore accounts for about7.5%, andit is processed into glass raw material. The second-grade raw ore accounts for about18%. It is processed into ceramic raw material by acid dipping. Tailing accounts forabout70%, few of it is used as building sand, and more of it is discarded as goaf.In recent years, the glass industry and ceramic industry develop rapidly inSichuan Province. The demand of K-feldspar ore grows sustainedly, the situation inthe glass industry is particular. If the second-grade raw ore can be used as glass rawmaterial by processed reasonablely, it will make contributions to the development ofglass industry in Sichuan. In order to provide a scientific basis for mineral processingand comprehensive utilization of resources of K-feldspar in Ebian-Wudu, Sichuan, theX-ray fluorescence spectrometer （XRF） and X-ray powder diffractometer （XRD） andother measurement and analysis technique were used to research the ore’s process mineralogy deeply, such as composition, structure, granularity and occurrence ofdisadvantage composition and so on. Based on these, a scheme is designed that usediamine for flotation. The main research results or progresses are as follows:（1） The chemical composition （wB/%） of first-grade raw ore is SiO₂68.31, Al₂O₃14.70, Fe₂O₃1.19, TiO₂0.30, CaO0.69, MgO0.21, K₂O7.40and Na₂O2.97, and themineral composition （wB/%） is composed of K-feldspar43.79, albite25.17, quartz22.66and clay minerals8.38. The chemical composition of the first-grade raw oremeets the standard of the glass industry except Fe₂O₃. It can meet the standard by thewater-washing and the magnetic separation process.（2） The chemical composition （wB/%） of second-grade raw ore is SiO₂72.30，Al₂O₃12.00，Fe₂O₃1.64，TiO₂0.40，CaO0.34，MgO0.38，K₂O4.96，Na₂O2.70,the content （wB/%） of K-feldspar （29.35） and albite （22.88） in the second-grade rawore is lower, while the content of quartz （37.57） and clay minerals （10.20） is higher.The process of water-washing and acid-leaching can obviously reduce the content ofFe₂O₃, but lead to decrease the useful components and make the chemicalcomposition can’t meet the standard.（3） The particle size of the first-grade raw ore is larger than the second-grade rawore. There are more K-feldspar ore, albite and less quartz in the first-grade raw orethan in the second-grade raw ore. The process as water-washing, acid-leaching andmagnetic separation can influence the particle size of raw ore. In addition, throughsieving the K-feldspar production, it can be seen that the content of K-feldsparincreases and the content of quartz reduces gradually with the particle size minish.（4） Fe₂O₃is the main disadvantage composition in the K-feldspar ore, which isdue to that there are some iron-rich minerals, such as biotite, hematite and chlorite. Itmay be influenced by the clay minerals because their iron content is higher.（5） The reverse flotation optimization of process parameters is: pulp pH11, pulpdensity25%, collector cost4000g/t, blowing agent80g/t, flotation time10min.（6） The content of quartz in water-washing second-grade raw ore （-40～200） canbe reduced to77.56%, and the content of K-feldspar, albite quartz in it （-40～200） canbe increased to6.38%,2.59%. It is processed to the mesh （-80～200） by vibromilland riddle which is used for floatation. The content of quartz in it can be reduced to77.53%. But the content of ore still dissatisfies the glass industry using K-feldsparstandard, and it is needed further study.