Abstract
Grinding media have significant influence on the flotation of chalcopyrite and pyrite. This effect is mainly related to the change in the surface properties of chalcopyrite and pyrite. This paper investigates the influence of steel ball and nano-ceramic ball grinding on the floatability of chalcopyrite and pyrite. Flotation results, as well scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), ultraviolet spectrophotometer, and zeta potential measurement results indicate that nano-ceramic ball grinding is beneficial to the flotation of chalcopyrite. Flotation results also indicate that chalcopyrite has better floatability after nano-ceramic ball grinding compared with steel ball grinding. Results of adsorption experiments show that nano-ceramic media grinding contributes to the adsorption of chalcopyrite and isobutyl xanthate. XPS and SEM techniques demonstrated that steel ball grinding easily produces oxidation species at the surface of chalcopyrite, thereby reducing its floatability. Results from this study also confirmed that steel ball grinding is beneficial to the flotation of pyrite. Therefore, nano-ceramic media grinding produces better selective flotation in chalcopyrite than steel media grinding.
Highlights
Grinding operation is an essential process in a mineral processing plant
The surrounding of larger particles by smaller particles and crack on the surface of mineral may be owing to the mechanical force of grinding media, FIGURE 2 | scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images of chalcopyrite and pyrite after dry grinding: (A) Chalcopyrite; (B) Chalcopyrite; (C) Pyrite; (D) Pyrite
Scanning electron microscopy results show that the surface of the ground product and the flotation concentrate of chalcopyrite using nano-ceramic balls grinding is smooth, whereas the surface of the product ground using steel balls is rough and the surface of chalcopyrite flotation concentrates have many flocs
Summary
Grinding operation is an essential process in a mineral processing plant. The primary purpose of grinding is to achieve monomer dissociation between useful minerals, gangue minerals, and other minerals. Grinding media have important effect on subsequent flotation operations by changing the grinding pulp environment (Martin et al, 1991; Palm et al, 2010, 2011; Li and Gao, 2017, 2018; Corin et al, 2018; Feng et al, 2019), the pulp chemistry and surface properties of minerals in the flotation. The effect of the grinding media on flotation is mostly determined using three parameters, namely dissolved oxygen concentration, slurry potential, and galvanic interaction between the medium and the mineral (Erdemoglu and Sarikaya, 2002; Gonçalves et al, 2003; Peng and Grano, 2010a,b). The electrochemical standard potentials interaction between sulfide minerals and grinding media during the grinding processing. Steel media generate hydrophilic products on mineral surfaces, reduce the natural floatability of minerals, and affect the adsorption of collectors at the surface of mineral (Heyes and Trahar, 1979; Greet et al, 2004; Huang and Grano, 2006; Bruckard et al, 2011; Feng et al, 2020)
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