Classifying – separating – and assorting solids – Fluid suspension – Liquid
Patent
1994-04-04
1996-07-30
Lithgow, Thomas M.
Classifying, separating, and assorting solids
Fluid suspension
Liquid
252 61, B03D 102, B03D 101
Patent
active
055403360
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to a process for the production of iron ore concentrates by flotation of iron ores, in which mixtures of special ether amines with anionic and/or nonionic collectors are used as collectors.
PRIOR ART
Iron ores occur in nature mostly in the form of oxides, among which magnetite, hematite, martite, limonite and goethite are the most well known. These oxides mainly contain silicates, more particularly quartz, and also phosphorus and sulfur compounds as impurities. For the production of high-quality steel, the impurities mentioned have to be removed from the iron ores; this is generally done by flotation.
To this end, the iron ore is normally first size-reduced and dry-ground but preferably wet-ground and suspended in water. A collector is then added, often in conjunction with other reagents, including frothers, regulators, deactivators and/or activators, to support removal of the valuable minerals from the gangue minerals of the ore in the subsequent flotation stage. Before air is injected into the suspension to produce foam at its surface and to initiate the flotation process, these reagents are normally left to act on the finely ground ore for a certain time (conditioning). The collector hydrophobicizes the surface of the impurities present in the iron ore, so that the minerals adhere to the gas bubbles formed during aeration. The mineral components are selectively hydrophobicized so that the gangue is floated out and the concentrate remains behind as the residue (indirect flotation).
In the flotation of iron ores, aminic compounds are preferably used as collectors. Their function is to be selectively adsorbed onto the surface of the impurities to ensure high depletion of these unwanted constituents in the flotation concentrate. In addition, the collectors are intended to form a stable, but not overly stable, flotation foam.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,168,227 describes a process for the removal of silicate impurities from iron ores in which alkylamines, alkylenediamines and ether amines are used as collectors.
According to Australian patent AU 86/53 766, the removal of silicates and phosphates from iron ores by flotation is carried out with collector mixtures containing ether amines and ether carboxylic acid amides.
The use of anionic surfactants as collectors or co-collectors in the flotation of nonsulfide ores is known from a number of publications. Corresponding examples are alkyl phosphates and alkylether phosphates [Erzmetall {Title in English: Heavy Metal} 30, 505 (1977)], ether carboxylic acids [DE 22 37 359 A1], sulfosuccinamides and succinamates [U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,206,045; 4,309,282 and 4,139,481] and alkyl aspartic acids [EP 0 270 018 A1].
However, the purification of iron ores by flotation to form concentrates which satisfy the increasing quality requirements of industry is still problematical. In particular, there are no collector systems with which iron ore concentrates containing less than 0.015% by weight of phosphorus can be produced.
OBJECT OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, the problem addressed by the present invention was to provide an improved flotation process for the production of iron ore concentrates which would not be attended by any of the disadvantages mentioned above.
DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a process for the production of iron ore concentrates by flotation, in which crushed iron ore is mixed with water to form a suspension, air is introduced into the suspension in the presence of a reagent system, and the froth formed is removed together with the solids floated therein, characterized in that mixtures containing H(I), having 6 to 22 carbon atoms and 0, 1, 2 or 3 double bonds; n and m independently of one another represent the number 1, 2 or 3; x=0 or the number 1, 2 or 3; and y=2 or 3, and collectors.
It has surprisingly been found that the collector mixtures to be used in accordance with the invention are capable of selectively removing phosphorus impurities from iron ores without any adverse effect on
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Koester Rita
Schreck Berthold
Henkel Kommanditgesellschaft auf Aktien
Lithgow Thomas M.
Span Patrick J.
Szoke Ernest G.
Wisdom, Jr. Norvell E.
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