Beneficiation and Upgrading of Low-Grade Feldspar Ore in Medina, Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Large reserves of feldspar ore deposits are found in the alkali granite rocks at Al-Madinah province, Saudi Arabia. Magnetic separation and flotation tests were used in order to achieve the aims of this study which are: reduce the iron and titanium contents of Medina feldspar ore, which impart color and decrease the feldspar quality, as well as produce a high-quality feldspar concentrate, which meets the commercial grade of the raw material specifications for the ceramics and glass industry. The obtained results from this study showed that the efficient separation of Fe-and Ti-bearing minerals could be achieved by a combination of the dry high-intensity magnetic separator at 14.000 gauss and the direct cationic flotations under 500 g/ton dosage of Aero 801 + Aero 825 + Aero 830 mixture in an acidic medium at pH 3. The feldspar concentrate was produced with 65.18 wt.% SiO 2 , 19.02 wt.% Al 2 O 3 , 0.06 wt.% Fe 2 O 3 , 0.09 wt.% TiO 2 9.09 wt.% K 2 O and 6.01 wt.% Na 2 O grades, which meet the commercial scale of feldspar.

Beneficiation and concentration of feldspar from syenite ore in Medina, Saudi Arabia for industrial utilization

“…A dry magnetic separator with high field intensity (18.000 gauss) was used to decrease the discoloring of iron and titanium oxides (Gougazeh, 2022). A different magnetic field intensity was conducted on the obtained fraction (-250+38 µm) from the crushing, grinding, and screening processes.…”

“…The beneficiation, pre-concentration and upgrading techniques of the syenite ore (feldspar ore) from Medina are discussed here in detail as a laboratory scale which is a kind of new approach. The first attempt to upgrade feldspar from granitic deposits of Medina as a semi processing scale was made by Gougazeh (2022). This study clearly shows the vital role of beneficiating and upgrading the Medina feldspar from Syenite ore to meet the specification of ceramics and glass industries to increase its economic value.…”

“…The upgrading and concentration processes of feldspars in Russia, Norway, Italy, Canada, China, and Turkey are conducted by flotation technique (Bayat et al, 2007;El-Salmawy et al, 1993;Gougazeh, 2006;2022;Gulsoy et al, 2005;Hanumantha, 2007, Karagüzel, 2010, and Karagüzel and Obanoglu, 2010Vidyadhar, 2007). The flotation of the colored impurities in the feldspar ore was floated with multi-stage flotation.…”

“…First, Micaceous minerals were floated with Aero 3030C cationic collector at acidic medium at pH 3 and the remaining ore was washed to remove the stains of the collectors from the mineral surfaces. Second, heavy mineral contents (iron-and titanium-bearing impurities) in an acidic medium (pH 3) were floated with the mixture of Cyanamid Aero promoter 801 + 825 + 830 at a ratio of 1: 1: 1 at pH 3 (Abouzaid and Negm, 2014;Burat et al, 2006;Gougazeh, 2022, Gulsoy et al, 1994. Burat et al, (2006) investigated the effect of magnetic separation and flotation to reduce the coloring iron impurities of the final products of feldspar from syenite ore to meet the desired specification for glass and ceramic grades.…”

Sedimentary Circumstances and Physiographic Sites Impact on the Morphological Properties of Feldspar Minerals of Iraqi Soils

“…Among the most common aggregates are the plagioclase feldspar group, including sodium and calcium, and the primary feldspar group, including potassium and Sodium [3]. There are four chemical groups of feldspar: potassium feldspar KAlSi 3 O 3 , sodium feldspar NaAlSi 3 O 3 , calcium feldspar CaAlSi 3 O 8 , and barium feldspar BaAlSi 3 O 3 [4,5] . Feldspar minerals are present in very coarse parts, at a rate of 12%, in the coarse parts of the sand 0.5-2.0 mm [6].…”