Development of methodologies to improve the assessment of reagent behaviour in flotation with particular reference to collectors and depressants

Abstract

Reagents are added to flotation pulps to perform specific roles, however due to the complexity of the sub-processes and the interactions between reagents and these sub processes, it is not always possible to know whether the intentions have been achieved—either directly or indirectly. It is also not possible to reliably predict whether the behaviour or trends observed in the laboratory can be scaled up to plant conditions. This paper seeks to unravel the behaviour of reagents and improve the understanding of the mechanisms on the sub processes which contribute to the resulting overall flotation performance. In particular, to decouple the material reporting to the concentrate by true flotation from that recovered by entrainment and to take into account the froth phase behaviour as well as that of the pulp phase. This makes it possible to get a better indication of how trends will be translated to a larger scale.