Analysis of reverse cationic iron ore fines flotation using RSM-D-optimal design – An approach towards sustainability

Abstract

Froth flotation is an important process to recover iron values from slimes, ore fines to meet the rapidly growing demand of quality iron ore concentrate for environmental and economic advantages. In the present study, responses of −75 µm iron ore fines to flotation were analysed at different variable parameters. The D-optimal design of response surface methodology was adopted to evaluate the effect of different reagents such as collector, frother, depressant, dispersant and pH on the recovery and grade. The RSM-D optimal predicted responses with the coefficient of determination (R2) 0.97 for recovery and 0.98 for grade of iron concentrate collected from tailing launder. The optimal conditions were collector = 0.21 kg/ton, frother = 0.10 kg/ton, depressant = 0.61 kg/ton, disperssant = 0.20 kg/ton, and pH = 11 with 64.13% Fe and 84.37% iron recovery respectively with a model desirability of 84.3%. Flotation performance was optimized by carrying out statistical design of experiments to identify main and international effects on maximum recovery and grade. This study showed that RSM-D-optimal could efficiently be applied for modeling of iron ore reverse flotation and it is very economical to obtain maximum amount of information in less interval of time with few numbers of experiments. Successful upgradation of low-grade iron ore fines through reverse flotation route with proposed reagent regimes is envisaged.