BENEFICIATION OF LOW-GRADE FELDSPAR ORE USING CYCLOJET FLOTATION CELL, CONVENTIONAL CELL AND MAGNETIC SEPARATOR

Abstract

In order to increase the quality of feldspar ore and to obtain sellable feldspar concentrate, it is necessary to remove coloring impurities such as iron and titanium contained in it. For the removal of coloring minerals from feldspar ore the most widely used method is reverse flotation method. Reverse flotation process is generally carried out in conventional mechanical cells. In this study, it was aimed to enrich low-grade feldspar by using cyclojet flotation cell which was developed as an alternative to conventional cell. Then, experiments were performed by using conventional cell and wet magnetic separator and the results were compared with the flotation results obtained by using cyclojet cell. In experimental studies, 200 micrometer grain sized feldspar (albite) ore obtained from Mugla province at the west side of Turkey was used. It was detected that the sample was containing 0.100% Fe2O3 and 0.360% TiO2 as coloring minerals. Cyclojet cell, conventional cell and magnetic separator reduced the Fe2O3 content down to 0.010%, but TiO2 content was different in the concentrates obtained by different devices. There was almost no reduction in TiO2 content by magnetic separation method. Cyclojet cell reduced TiO2 content down to 0.030% and mechanical cell reduced TiO2 content down to 0.020%. The weights of the concentrate were detected as the highest (92.70%) in magnetic separator and as the lowest (75.40%) in cyclojet cell. Therefore, it is possible to say that cyclojet cell can compete with mechanical cell and removal of TiO2 in cyclojet cell is much better than the removal of TiO2 in magnetic separator. Generally, in the flotation process performed by using a reagent of Aero801 and Acro825 mixture in natural pH medium, both Fe2O3 and TiO2 can be removed at a rate of up to 90%, but magnetic separator can only remove Fe2O3 mineral.