Froth flotation process and its application

Abstract

The paper is about the froth flotation process and its application. It is a metallurgical process for the extraction of metals in a pure state from their ores: especially for sulfide ores. Froth flotation is one of the steps which is generally performed before roasting and it deals with the surface chemistry of liquids and of the minerals to be separated. This process requires a particular setup to be performed which contains different components. Surfactants play the most important role here. Different types of surfactants are used in different ways and each of them plays a crucial role like, collectors, frothers, froth stabilizers, depressants and activators, pH regulators etc. The sulfide ore flotation process can be studied by both chemical and electrochemical phenomena considering the interfacial energies. A broad application of this process in industrial field is the flotation of iron ores which is of two types: direct and reverse flotation. The later one is again based on two different types as cationic and anionic reverse flotation. In all these processes different types of flotation reagents are used. Another application is separation of malachite and azurite ore using sulfidization flotation.