Three Core Technologies Of IronOre

Iron ore beneficiation equipment plays a key role in the process of ore processing, and its technical level directly affects the ore grade, recovery rate and production costs.

1. Crushing Technology

Crushing technology is the primary link of iron ore beneficiation, and its main task is to crush the large ore to a size suitable for grinding, in order to improve beneficiation efficiency and reduce energy consumption. The crushing process usually adopts three-stage crushing process, i.e. coarse crushing, medium crushing and fine crushing, and the corresponding equipments are jaw crusher, cone crusher and impact crusher respectively.

The jaw crusher utilises the compression crushing principle and is suitable for large ores with high compressive strength, while the cone crusher achieves efficient crushing and reduces over-crushing of ores through the principle of laminated crushing. In addition, the introduction of intelligent control technology, such as adaptive adjustment of the discharge port, crushing chamber optimisation design and load monitoring system, can reduce the energy loss and improve the operating efficiency of the crushing equipment under the premise of ensuring high crushing ratio.

2. Grinding Technology

The core of grinding technology is to make the ore particles fully dissociated through mechanical force, in order to improve the subsequent sorting effect. Commonly used grinding equipment includes ball mill, rod mill, autogenous mill and stirring mill.

Ball mills are widely used for fine grinding of iron ores, utilising impact and grinding. In order to improve the grinding efficiency and reduce energy consumption, in recent years, the combination of high-pressure roller mill + ball mill grinding technology has been promoted, which produces microcracks through laminar crushing, improves ore grindability, and reduces the energy consumption of grinding by 20%~30%. In addition, the ultrafine stirred mill uses strong shear and high frequency impact to increase the dissociation degree of fine-grained iron ore, which is suitable for hard-to-grind ores. Frequency control grinding can dynamically adjust the mill speed according to the nature of the ore, improve the energy efficiency ratio, and reduce the phenomenon of over-crushing. High-chromium alloy steel balls, ceramic grinding balls and other new wear-resistant media can reduce wear and prolong the service life and improve the stability of grinding.

3. Sorting Technology

Sorting technology is the core link of iron ore beneficiation, mainly through the difference of physical or chemical properties of minerals, to achieve the effective separation of valuable iron minerals and veins. Magnetic separation is the most commonly used technology in iron ore beneficiation, applicable to strong magnetic ores and some weak magnetic minerals.

Common equipments include dry magnetic separator and wet magnetic separator, among which wet high gradient magnetic separator is widely used for fine-grained ore sorting due to its high magnetic field strength and fine sorting ability. For weakly magnetic minerals, flotation technology is an important means to improve the hydrophobicity of the mineral surface by adjusting the pH value, adding trapping agents and foaming agents to achieve mineral enrichment. In recent years, the application of new technologies such as high-efficiency cyclone, re-election centrifuge and intelligent beneficiation system has improved the sorting precision and efficiency.