Research On Regulators Used In Flotation Of Kyanite Ore From Gansu Province

Kyanite is an important raw material for the production of refractory matrials,alumina,silumins,etc.Although kyanite resource remaining rich in our country,the rich ore resources have been declining sharply after many years’ development and utilization.The development and utilization of kyanite resources with low and medium grade become extremely urgent.Quartz as the most common gangue minerals in kyanite ores,flotation separating quartz from kyanite is an important subject to utilize the kyanite resources with low and medium grade.This subject includes single mineral flotation test,actual ore flotation test andmechanism analyzing,which is studied from the perspective of mineral surface characteristics,the function of the collector and citric acid.In this paper,the pure mineral tests were conducted in the systems where the collector is petroleum sodium sulfonate and sodium oleate respectively.As a director of the actual ore flotation test,the single mineral flotation test researched the influence of collector,citric acid,metal ions onthe flotation behavior of kyanite and quartz.Actual ore from Longqin Mining Company in Gansu province,through the research of process mineralogy and mineral processing experiments,the reasonable flotation reagents and separating process were obtained.The result of pure mineral test showed:citric acid had an inhibition effect on the single mineral flotation;the metal ions restrained the flotation of kyanite while activated the flotation of quartz.At a low concentration,citric acid could activate the kyanite which was restrained by metal ion,and restrain the quartz which was activated by metal ions.At a high concentration,citric acid had an inhibition effect both on the kyanite and quartz which had reacted with metal ion.Metal ion or citric acid restrained the mineral flotation at a too high concentration.Actual ore flotation test using sodium oleate and petroleum sodium sulfonate as collector,after exploring the tests of grinding time,the dosage of citric acid,the ratio and dosage of collectors,a beneficiation flowsheet of one rougher-one scavenging-four cleaner was established ultimately.The Al2O3 grade and recovery rate of the final concentrate reached 55.60%and 78.92%respectively,which had reached the industry standard.And then the flotation effect of the oxalic acid,tartaric acid,malic acid and EDTA as the regulators was explored.All of the flotation results being compared,under the condition of natural pH,it came out that citric acid was the more appropriate regulator to separate quartz from kyanite.The adsorption of metal ions on mineral surface changes the ores’surface electrical behavior,deflects the ores’zero potential and thus changes the ores floatability.Citric acid has complexation to the metal ions on mineral surface and in the pulp,influences the Zeta potential of the mineral and adsorption of collector.The adsorption of sodium oleate and petroleum sodium sulfonate on kyanite surface is mainly chemical adsorption,while the adsorption on quartz surface is mainly pH 值ysical adsorption.