Combined microflotation of fine quartz

Abstract

It is already well established that the flotation efficiency of fine minerals can be significantly improved by adding a relatively small amount of microbubbles ( < 50 μm) to conventional coarse bubbles (>1 mm) normally used in flotation cells. To establish quantitative characteristics of this effect, the dependence of the flotation rate constant and recovery on microbubbles dosage was studied using fine quartz ( < 25 μm) samples in laboratory pneumomechanical and column flotation cells. It was found that, for pulp concentration in the range of 20–30 g L^− 1, the flotation rate constant of the pneumomechanical flotation process is directly proportional to the microbubbles dosage. It was also found that the introduction of 0.25 L kg^− 1 of microbubbles into the pulp before it is fed into the column flotation cell resulted in the recovery increasing from 77 to 89% for quartz concentration of 34 g L^− 1 and from 66 to 87% for the quartz concentration of 68 g L^− 1.