George Eduardo Sales Valadão

Electrokinetic properties of wavellite and its floatability with cationic and anionic collectors

The reverse apatite flotation with fatty acids has been widely used for the reduction of phosphorus content of magmatic origin iron ores. However, the occurrence of phosphorus intensely disseminated as secondary minerals such as wavellite renders the anionic reverse flotation a challenge. Zeta potential measurements and microflotation tests of wavellite with the use of anionic and cationic collectors were carried out in this work. The wavellites IEP value was achieved at pH 4.5. Below the IEP value, the surface positively charged sites are made up of aluminum ions. The species H(+), Al(OH)(2)(+), Al(OH)(2+), Al(3+), OH(-), H(2)PO(4)(-), HPO(4)(2-), and PO(4)(3-) play a role in the protonation and deprotonation reactions that will determine the wavellite-solution interface properties. The highest values of wavellites floatability under basic pH conditions were achieved in the presence of cationic collectors (1 × 10(-4) mol L(-1)). The formation of surface complexes and the precipitation of insoluble salt of aluminum onto wavellite surface seems to be the most likely hypothesis for the chemical nature interactions between amines and wavellite. The surface formation of aluminum oleate on the wavellites surface seems to be the most probable hypothesis for the adsorption mechanism and the resultant high floatability of wavellite between pH 7.5 and pH 10.0 in the presence of sodium oleate (1 × 10(-4) mol L(-1)). The results showed that the cationic reverse flotation of secondary phosphates is a promising route to reduce the phosphorus content of iron ores from deposits that underwent a supergene enrichment process, since wavellite floatability in the alkaline pH range, using amine as collector, was not significantly affected by the presence of corn starch.

The Effect of Reagents on Ultrafine Iron Ore Vacuum Filtration

Abstract Continuous vacuum filters normally carry out the final removal of water from iron ore products. The objective of this investigation is to check the possibility of enhancing the industrial performance of a horizontal belt filter by adding one flocculant and two surfactants to the filtration feed slurry. The mineral sample came from the Iron Quadrangle (State of Minas Gerais, Brazil). X-ray diffraction showed a predominance of hematite and small amounts of quartz and goethite. The filtration tests were performed at laboratory scale using a modified Buchner funnel apparatus, which was connected to a scale/computer system. The results indicated: a) the best filtration condition was achieved near the zero charge condition; b) cake moisture, cake porosity, cake formation time and the specific cake resistance were pronouncedly influenced by the flocculant addition; and c) surfactants tested were not able to significantly reduce the cake moisture.

Estudo comparativo entre dois sistemas de aeração de coluna de flotação

The growing demand for nonrenewable mineral resources and the exhausting of high grade deposits forced the mineral industry to cope with the challenge of processing ores of increasing complexity aiming at producing concentrates meeting specifications that become continuously more strict. Under this scenario, innovative pieces of equipment and techniques for the concentration of ores have been developed in the past years. Among these developments, column flotation proved to be a proper technique for processing low grade ores, presenting a high liberation degree only at fine size ranges. The performance of a flotation column is closely related to the size and distribution uniformity of the air bubbles introduced at its bottom. Consequently several types of sparging systems are available in the world market. This investigation was performed aiming at comparing two types of spargers that are presently utilized in Brazilian concentrators: the standard air/water sparger system and the single nozzle (at the end) sparger, utilizing air only. The results indicated that, under the usual operation conditions of flotation columns, the water/air sparger generates bubbles with smaller mean diameters than those achieved with the air only sparger. The water/air sparger is recommended in industrial applications requiring small bubbles, uniform in size, for enhanced metallurgical performance.

Effect of particles size range on iron ore flotation

Flotation is one of the main concentration processes being employed for many classes of minerals (sulfides, oxides, silicates, phosphates, for example) at different particle sizes. In the iron ore industry, reverse quartz flotation has been successfully employed for particle sizes below ISOfim after the desliming process. The high demand for iron ore products has made flotation the main process for concentration in this industry, thus a better understanding of its mechanisms and the effect of the particle sizes in the process has become imperative. Flotation tests were carried out with three different size fractions of an itabirite iron ore, obtained using cyclone classification after desliming. The results showed distinct behaviors of the different size ranges. Higher etheramine dosages are required when coarse and fine fractions are floated separately and also this procedure is more sensitive to variations in etheramine dosages and pH values. The differences in particle size distributions and the specific surface area may explain the different flotation behavior of the distinct size fractions. The split flotation circuits for coarse and fine particles indicated an increase of 3% points in the metallurgical recovery with reduction of SiO2 content in final concentrate, increase of etheramine dosage and reduction of corn starch dosage. Economic feasibility analysis indicated a positive net present value of 50 million of dollars with split circuits for coarse and fine particles, considering a production of 10 million tons per year of pellet feed.

Utilização de reagentes auxiliares na filtragem

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of chemical filter aids on the formation and dewatering of cakes of fine iron ore products. A weakly anionic flocculant and two anionic surfactants were utilized. The filtration apparatus employed includes a balance interfaced with a microcomputer. The surface tension was measured by means of a tensiometer, using the plate method. The addition of flocculant caused a significant reduction of the cake formation time, an aspect of major relevance for industrial operation, but a slight increase in the final cake moisture was observed. Both surfactants decreased the values of the surface tension, however the expected significant decrease of the final cake moisture was not achieved.

The Influence of Lattice Ions on the Electrokinetic Potential of Primary and Secondary Phosphates

Zeta potential measurements of apatite, wavellite, senegalite, and turquoise with inert and non-inert electrolytes were conducted. Sodium nitrate seems not to be an inert electrolyte with respect to fluorapatite because the increase in the nitrate concentration renders the zeta potential more negative, indicating ion-specificity towards apatite. Wavellite’s pHIEP was achieved at 5.2, while the pHIEP values for senegalite and turquoise were determined at 6.2 and 7.2, respectively. The preferential hydrolysis of cations and the decrease in the number of water molecules composing the crystal structure are the most probable explanation of the increment in the IEP values (IEPwavellite

Adsorção de misturas de coletores em silicatos

Despite the fact that over 70 years ago the industrial flotation practice already considered the mixture of oils as chain extenders, detailed studies on interactions between flotation reagents appeared only in the sixties. The initial work investigations were dedicated to the study of the mixtures of anionic or cationic reagents with alcohols. Publications during the last 20 years have been related to the adsorption of collector mixtures: at the alumina-water interface, the feldspar flotation, and the reverse flotation of hematite. The present work reviews the main aspects of collector mixture in the flotation and shows the microflotation results of some silicates with the combination of anionic and cationic collectors.

Consistencia, Fluidez y Viscosidad de Pastas Minerales de Relaves de Hierro

Se presentan las caracteristicas de viscosidad aparente, altura de abatimiento y angulo de reposo de pastas minerales preparadas a partir de una mezcla lama/relave de hierro, ademas de algunas caracteristicas del componente solido de la pasta. La metodologia aplicada para caracterizar las pastas minerales considera el uso de ensayos de abatimiento (slump), de canaleta (flume) y viscosimetria. Los resultados muestran que la parte solida correspondiente a la mezcla de relaves esta compuesta predominantemente de hematita con menores cantidades de cuarzo, goetita, gibsita y caolinita, con una distribucion granulometrica muy fina (inferior a 25 mm); los ensayos de abatimento y de canaleta mostraron ser herramientas muy simples para caracterizar consistencia y fluidez de pastas minerales; pueden alcanzarse angulos de reposo proximos a 5° sin mayores dificultades; y las pastas adensadas con 70 y 72.5% en solidos mostraron comportamientos tixotropicos al considerar el ciclo reologico 11001 rpm.