The use of anionic flocculant in water treatment for flotation of apatite-nepheline ores

Abstract

Currently, an urgent problem is the improvement of methods for purification of industrial water from concentrates of suspended particles and water-soluble impurities using polyacrylamide flocculants. By studying the adsorption processes from aqueous solutions of H and OH ions, the acid-base properties of the surface of the solid phase of the most contaminated technological product have been analyzed, i. e. discharge of the thickener of apatite concentrate, the mineral composition of which is 90 % represented by apatite. The influence of reagents present in the processing technology (fatty acid collector, iron sulfate) on the quantitative ratio of acid-base centers on the surface of apatite has been evaluated. It has been shown that the interaction of these reagents with the mineral creates prerequisites for greater efficiency of the anion-type flocculant. In order to determine the conditions under which flocculants of different types are in the maximally ionized state, studies have been carried out to change the viscosity of the polyelectrolyte solution at different pH values. The position of the isionic point for samples of cationic and anionic flocculants in the presence of reagents used in apatite flotation and dehydration of apatite concentrate has been studied as well. Studies on model and real suspensions in recycled water for a wide range of cationic and anionic flocculants have been performed. Kinetic and concentration dependencies of flocculating capacity of analyzed reagents have been determined; the experiments have confirmed the more efficient operation of anionic-type reagents. The search for the most effective reagents will make it possible to provide optimal water values for the content of suspended particles and hardness cations when introducing closed water circulation technology.