Separation of copper-bearing carbonaceous shale from quartz by flotation in the presence of frothers

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Volume Title

Kemian tekniikan korkeakoulu | Master's thesis

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Date

2014-08-19

Department

Major/Subject

European Mineral Engineering Course

Mcode

CHEM3006

Degree programme

Erasmus Mundus Minerals and Environmental Programme

Language

en

Pages

96+4

Series

Abstract

This thesis investigates the flotation behaviour of copper shale-quartz mixed particles in the presence of different frothers. Flotation tests were conducted in a laboratory sized self-areated mechanical flotation machine. It was found that shale was very floatable and quartz was not. Different hydrophobicities and contact angles of quartz and shale were very likely responsible for their flotation behaviour and separation results. Three frothers tested for shale flotation: MIBC, butanol and C16E20 are all suitable for shale flotation as they all have good shale recovery at suitable concentrations. MIBC is recommended for use due to its reasonable recovery at 40 g/Mg which is a low dosage. MIBC has the highest rate constant at a low concentration but other frothers tend to accelerate shale flotation more at high concentrations. It was noticed that C16E20 has the highest rate constant at middle concentrations. The entrainment degree of mixed ore flotation can be detected by measuring quartz recovery or water recovery. It was found shale flotation is a real flotation process rather than entrainment. It was also found that critical coalesce concentration, also called CCC95, is a very useful way to compare flotation results for different frothers. The dosage and concentration are not suitable for a direct comparison of action of flotation frothers because the separation results using such scales are significantly scattered.

Description

Supervisor

Heiskanen, Kari

Thesis advisor

Drzymala, Jan

Keywords

microscopic counting, polish copper shale, flotation, frothers

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Citation

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https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:aalto-201408292525

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[dipl] Kemian tekniikan korkeakoulu / CHEM