Cellulose based surfactants as frothers on sphalerite flotation
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Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Kemian tekniikan korkeakoulu |
Master's thesis
Authors
Date
2019-01-29
Department
Major/Subject
European Mining Course
Mcode
ENG3077
Degree programme
Master ́s Programme in Chemical, Biochemical and Materials Engineering
Language
en
Pages
42
Series
Abstract
The trend towards lower grade ore bodies in a world with growing base metal demand requires the most efficient concentration process. An optimized froth flotation process which makes use of cellulose based surfactants as frothers could potentially recover more of the valuable mineral with higher grades and have other benefits. One commercial polyglycol frother, DF200, and two cellulose based surfactants, HPMClong and HPMCshort, and their mixtures were evaluated for their flotation performance floating sphalerite in synthetic sphalerite/quartz ore. HPMClong and HPMCshort molecules were found to be suitable as frothers. Mixtures of DF200 and HPMClong or HPMCshort were found to have synergetic effects on froth flotation. The mixtures boosted kinetics, were resistant to high pH and kept on recovering all sphalerite at reduced collector dosages. Grades were found to be in the same range for all the experiments and were not affected by the HPMC. Froth stability measurements in a two phase system showed that the outstanding results of the mixtures can to a large extent be attributed to the froth forming and stabilizing ability of the HPMC types. The results produced suggest that the use of HPMC produces a unique froth flotation behaviour that has enormous potential to optimize existing and new operations.Description
Supervisor
Serna, RodrigoThesis advisor
Nuorivaara, TedKeywords
frothers, cellulose, sphalerite, flotation, froth