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Effect of sodium alginate on reverse flotation of hematite and its mechanism

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Abstract

Given the gradual increase in the chlorite content of hematite ores, pulp properties seriously deteriorate during flotation. The traditional anion reverse flotation of hematite cannot effectively eliminate the effects of chlorite, leading to a significant decrease in the total Fe (TFe) grade of the concentrate. In this work, the effect of sodium alginate on the reverse flotation of hematite was systematically investigated. Flotation tests of artificially mixed ores were conducted, and the results showed that sodium alginate can significantly improve the removal rates of quartz and chlorite. The adsorption measurements, infrared spectroscopy, and contact angle tests demonstrated that sodium alginate adsorbs on the quartz surface by chelating with calcium ions, thereby weakening the steric hindrance of oleate ions and increasing the adsorption capacity of sodium oleate to ultimately improve the removal rate of quartz. Furthermore, owing to its lower density and fine particle size, chlorite is easily entrained into the foam layer. Sodium alginate dramatically increases the liquid-to-gas ratio of the foam layer by increasing pulp viscosity, thereby increasing the entrainment rate of chlorite and finally improving its removal rate. The core content of this thesis bears significance in improving the Fe grade in the reverse flotation of chlorite-containing hematite.

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Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 51504053 and 51374079) and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (No. N170107013). Ya-feng Fu would thank the scholarship provided by the Collaborative Innovation Center of Steel Technology.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Resources & Civil Engineering, Northeastern University, Shenyang, 110819, China

    Ya-feng Fu, Wan-zhong Yin, Bin Yang, Chuang Li, Zhang-lei Zhu & Dong Li

  2. The State Key Laboratory of Mineral Processing, Beijing General Research Institute of Mining & Metallurgy, Beijing, 102628, China

    Chuang Li

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  1. Ya-feng Fu
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Correspondence to Wan-zhong Yin.

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Fu, Yf., Yin, Wz., Yang, B. et al. Effect of sodium alginate on reverse flotation of hematite and its mechanism. Int J Miner Metall Mater 25, 1113–1122 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12613-018-1662-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12613-018-1662-z

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