Review of the Main Factors Affecting the Flotation of Phosphate Ores

Abstract

The way to successfully upgrade a phosphate ore is based on the full understanding of its mineralogy, minerals surface properties, minerals distribution and liberation. The conception of a treatment process consists of choosing the proper operations with an adequate succession depending on the ore properties. Usually, froth flotation takes place in phosphate enrichment processes, since it is cheap, convenient, and well developed. Nevertheless, it is a complex technique as it depends on the mineral’s superficial properties in aqueous solutions. Aspects such as wettability, surface charge, zeta potential, and the solubility of minerals play a basic role in defining the flotation conditions. These aspects range from the reagents type and dosage to the pH of the pulp. Other variables namely particles size, froth stability, and bubbles size play critical roles during the treatment, as well. The overall aim is to control the selectivity and recovery of the process. The following review is an attempt to add to previous works gathering phosphate froth flotation data. In that sense, the relevant parameters of phosphate ores flotation are discussed while focusing on apatite, calcite, dolomite, and quartz as main constituent minerals.

Effect of Ether Mono Amine Collector on the Cationic Flotation of Micaceous Minerals—A Comparative Study

“…Mineral flotation separation, as a physicochemical process, is a well-known technique for the purification of target minerals which become finely liberated (mainly +25-100 micron) [1,2]. Currently, froth flotation is globally considered for processing various finely disseminated minerals (sulphides [3][4][5][6], oxides [7][8][9][10][11][12], silicates [7,8,10,12], phosphates [7,13,14], etc). In direct flotation, target minerals are floated, whereas in reverse flotation, valuable minerals are sunk, and gangue minerals are rejected in the froth phase [1,2].…”

“…Silicate can be separated by flotation beneficiation. Although some silicates can be considered as commercial minerals, they are mostly known as gangue associated with other valuable oxides [8,9,12,[15][16][17][18], semi-soluble minerals [13,14], and sulfides [5,6]. In terms of processing, silicates could be classified as simple and complex, in which quartz and micaceous minerals should be named as simple and complex silicates, respectively [12].…”

Sodium N-Lauroylsarcosinate (SNLS) as a Selective Collector for Calcareous Phosphate Beneficiation

“…In addition, it reduces the quality of concentrates of phosphate products. The latter reduces the filtration rate, so it is vital to remove it from the phosphate concentrate [9]. Although froth flotation is one of the most commonly used approaches to this problem, it has limitations, due to the comparable surface behavior of dolomite and apatite minerals.…”

Flotation separation of quartz from phosphorite using an imidazole ionic liquid collector and its adsorption mechanism

“…In the reverse flotation of phosphorite, the selection of inhibitors is also important (Xie et al, 2010;Zhou et al, 2013;Derhy et al, 2020). Sulfuric acid, phosphoric acid, and their derivatives are commonly used for phosphate minerals.…”