Mineral Processing 02

Burhanuddin As-Siraj
1606885006
Magnetic separation of hematite and limonite
fines as hydrophobic flocs from iron ores

▪ S. Song ,S.Lu, A. Lopez-Valdivieso

▪ Instituto de Metalurgia, Universidad Autonoma de San Luis Potosı,
Av. Sierra Leona 550, Lomas 2a Secci on, C.P. 78210,San Luis Potosı,
Mexico
▪ Resources Engineering School, University of Science and Technology
Beijing, 30 Xueyuan Road, Beijing, 100083, China Received 29
January 2002; accepted 24 March 2002
Introduction

▪ In a magnetic separation system, the force on a particle toward increasing field

intensity (F) is expressed by (Svoboda, 1987):

– V = volume of particle
– Sp & So = magnetic susceptibility of the particle and surrounding media
– H = magnetic field intensity
– dH/dl = magnetic field gradient

▪ The lower size limit of a magnetic separator varies with the minerals to be
separated, field intensity and field gradient used, for instance, about 10–20lm for
hematite if a Jones high-intensity magnetic separator is used.
Introduction

▪ According to Eq. (1), the poor efficiency of magnetic separation of

weakly magnetic mineral fines can be improved through increasing
magnetic field gradient, field intensity and particle size.
▪ High-gradient magnetic separators use a matrix of secondary poles
(wire wool) to fill working volume to generate a very high field
gradient, and thus a very strong magnetic force on fine particles
(Oberteuffer, 1973), which have been commercially applied to kaolin
industry for removing micron-sized iron impurities (Oberteuffer,
1976).
Introduction

▪ Floc Magnetic Separation (FMS):

– Dispersion are by adding special dispersants and pH, to eliminate the hetero-
coagulation of magnetic and non-magnetic mineral fines in suspensions
– Selective hydrophobization of weakly magnetic mineral fines is induced by
special surfactants upon their adsorption
– Hydrophobic flocculation that is only applied to hydrophobic particles is
realized by means of mechanical conditioning to offer the particles sufficient
kinetic energy to overcome the energy barrier
– A middle-intensity magnetic separator is then followed to separate the
hydrophobic flocs from dispersed non-magnetic mineral fines
Experimental

▪ Materials
– Two types of weakly magnetic iron:
▪ East Anshan (EA) Hematite ore
▪ Tiekeng (TK) Limonite Ore

– Then, they were crushed by jaw crusher

 Experimental

▪ Fine Grinding and Dispersion

– The iron ore samples (200 g) were first finely ground by using a
wet ball mill in the presence of sodium silicate of 0.9 kg/ton for
the EA iron ore and 1.0 kg/ton for the TK iron ore
– slurry dispersion were achieved in this step
Experimental

▪ Selective Hydrophobic Flocculation

– The ground ore slurries were diluted to a given solid concentration, and transferred
to a mixing tank
– The slurry was first adjusted for pH using sodium hydroxide solution
– Was strongly conditioned at 1200 rev/min for a given time while sodium oleate or
kerosene emulsion was added

▪ Magnetic separation of iron mineral fines as hydrophobic flocs

– The slurry was fed to a laboratory Jones magnetic separator
– From this operation, one concentrate (magnetic product) and one tailing (non-
magnetic product) were produced
– Conventional magnetic separation was also performed on the fine iron ores for a
comparison, which was carried out at the same test conditions as the FMS process
(pH, dispersion, field-intensity and washing water, etc).
Results and Discussions

• The conventional
magnetic separation
achieved a very poor
separation efficiency for
the fine iron ore
• Produced: concentrate
assaying 41% Fe with 43%
recovery.
Results and Discussions
Fig. 4 illustrates the
separation efficiency
(concentrate grade and
recovery) of the FMS process
applied to the fine EA iron ore
as a function of sodium oleate
addition.

the effect of sodium oleate

addition in this case could be
considered as the effect of
particle hydrophobicity
Results and Discussions

The separation efficiency of

the FMS process applied to
the fine EA iron ore as a
function of kerosene addition

It can be seen from this graph

that the recovery strongly
increased with the increase of
kerosene addition

the effect of kerosene

addition on the FMS process is
very marked, even at small
amount of addition
Results and Discussions

a kinetic energy input in a

conditioning tank depends on
stirring strength (stirring
speed, tank size, impeller size,
slurry volume, etc.) and
stirring time.
a high stirring speed would
produce a large amount of
froth because of oleate ions
involved in the suspension,
which is very detrimental to
the following magnetic
separation, so that only the
effect of the stirring time was
studied
Results and Discussions

The FMS process could be an

effective and potential
technique for the
beneficiation of finely
disseminated hematite ores or
for the elimination of fine
hematite impurity.
Results and Discussions

▪ without hydrophobic flocculation, the magnetic separation could only produce a concentrate
assaying 51% Fe with 48% recovery from the fine TK iron ore
▪ The FMS process considerably increased the iron recovery to 81.7% while the concentrate grade
was 50.8% Fe. Such a large recovery increase should be contributed to that a large amount of
limonite fines were held on the separation plate in the form of hydrophobic flocs, and thus were
collected as magnetic concentrate.
▪ Clearly, the FMS process is also effective for the recovery of the fine TK limonite, a more weakly
magnetic mineral
Conclusions

▪ From the experimental results, the present work has shown that the
magnetic separation of hematite and limonite fines from iron ores can be
considerably improved by selectively aggregating the fines through the
hydrophobic flocculation induced by sodium oleate, kerosene and a
sufficient kinetic energy input.
▪ It has been found that less kinetic energy input is needed to achieve the
maximum aggregation degree in a hydrophobic flocculation system if a
higher solid concentration is used in the slurry conditioning.
▪ In the hydrophobic flocculation of hematite fines, a small amount of
kerosene addition could substitute for a major dosage of sodium oleate to
achieve a good separation efficiency when the FMS process was applied to
the beneficiation of the fine hematite ore, allowing a large saving at the
reagent cost
References