Sulphur removal of iron ore tailings by flotation

Abstract

ABSTRACTIron ore tailings have become one kind of the most hazardous solid waste. Beneficiation of iron ore tailings is a significant issue in the world steel industries, from the point of view of both pollution control and secondary resources. This investigation addressed the processing of tailings with high sulphur content from an iron ore concentrator to produce pellet feed fines and to prevent acid mine drainage. This study was the lab-scale testing of an integrated method consisting of froth flotation combined with gravity and magnetic separation. Reverse flotation located at the end of the primary treatment circuit (high- and low-intensity magnetic separation) will lower a large amount of the sulphur from magnetic separator concentrate. The effects of various operating parameters such as concentrations of collector, frother, depressant and activator, pH, solid-in-pulp concentration have been studied on the sulphur removal using reverse flotation. According to the data presented in this study, the maximum recovery of total sulphur was obtained when the operational parameters were set to the PAX dosage160 gr/t, MIBC dosage 140 gr/t, CuSo4 100 gr/t, air flow rate 10 l/min, pH 8.5, and pulp density 30%. With these optimum parameters, final concentrate with the grade of 63.7% Fe and 0.085% S was obtained. The results of this study indicated that, with this method, a great amount of iron concentrate is produced and, simultaneously, the sulphidic fraction is separated that can later be managed more easily owing to the reduced volume.