Study on effect of nanobubble on ultra-fine flake graphite (UFG) flotation

Abstract

Traditional flotation bubbles with large in size and small in specific surface area have low mineralization efficiency for fine particles in flotation, which makes it difficult to recover ultra-fine particles. Nanobubble flotation and traditional flotation of ultra-fine graphite (UFG) were studied in the study. The effects of nanobubble flotation and conventional flotation on UFG were stated by laser particle size analyzer, optical microscope and flotation kinetics test. The results show that the hydrophobic aggregates of UFG in nanobubble flotation system show floc morphology, increase the average size of hydrophobic aggregates by 17.31 µm, and effectively recover finer graphite particles compared with traditional flotation. In addition, the minimum particle size of nanobubble flotation concentrate (NFC) is 1 µm, while the traditional flotation concentrate (TFC) is about 18 µm, nanobubble flotation enhances recovery effect of UFG. More importantly, nanobubble flotation not only significantly improves the flotation rate of UFG but also increases the grade and recovery of UFG.