Abstract
In this study, the aim is to simplify the graphite cleaning process. In order to achieve flotation for graphite effectively, ultrasonic treatment was used as a pre-treatment technique. Flotation tests were conducted using different ultrasound power and ultrasonic treatment time. The influences of ultrasonic treatment on particle sizes, morphologies, wettability, the content of surface elements and on the flotation effect of flaky graphite were investigated. The results of ultrasonic treatment for graphite flotation were compared with the results of conventional flotation. The results showed that ultrasonic treatment not only changed the size of flaky graphite, but also eliminated impurities on the graphite surface. Additionally, the ultrasonic treatment improved the hydrophobicity of graphite. It was observed that ultrasound can remove not only silicate impurities but also most other metal impurities. The yield, carbon content and recovery of flotation concentrate were 91.46%, 95.17% and 96.12% after ultrasonic treatment for 4 min with ultrasound power 1600 W, which were 5.83%, 2.86% and 8.84% higher than that of conventional flotation, respectively. The graphite after ultrasonic treatment was conducted only one times flotation, the carbon content in concentrate products had reached 95%. This study indicates that intensifying graphite flotation by ultrasonic treatment can shorten the graphite cleaning process.
Highlights
Flotation is one of the main methods for separating fine-grained minerals
Compared with the original samples, the elemental Fe, Ag, Ca and S contents in ultrasonically treated samples were reduced because impurities on the graphite surface were removed by ultrasonic treatment and fine impurities were adsorbed onto the filter and were thereby lost in the filtering process, resulting in the decreased amounts of the corresponding elements present on the graphite surface
1) Ultrasonic treatment changed the size of flaky graphite, and eliminated impurities on the graphite surface
Summary
Flotation is one of the main methods for separating fine-grained minerals. Owing to there being different types of fine-grained minerals, the process of flotation varies. Barma et al [29] investigated the feasibility of low-frequency ultrasound in enhancing the floatability of flaky graphite from low-grade graphite ore Their results showed that the yield, fixed carbon content and percentage recovery of the flotation concentrate products increased significantly under ultrasonic-assisted flotation. Previous researchers have made remarkable achievements in enhancing minerals flotation by ultrasound [21,30], but the effect of ultrasonic treatment on graphite cleaning process is studied less [29]. To develop a method for shortening the graphite cleaning process, the influences of ultrasonic treatment on changes of particle sizes, morphologies, wettability, content of surface elements of flaky graphite and on the flotation effect of flaky graphite were explored in this paper. The aim is to simplify the graphite cleaning process and promote the efficient development of the graphite industry
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