Graphite Ore Processing | How To Process 3 Kinds Of Graphite Ore

Graphite is regarded as one of the important industrial mineral raw materials.

Graphite has the properties of lubrication, high temperature resistance, electrical conductivity and chemical stability, so it is widely used in the production of refractory materials, conductive materials, lubricants, and high temperature resistant materials.

Natural graphite resources can be divided into three categories, namely massive graphite, flake graphite and cryptocrystalline graphite.

Different types of graphite require different graphite ore beneficiation processes according to their specific properties.

Massive Graphite Processing

Massive graphite is also called dense crystalline graphite. Its graphite crystals are obvious and visible to the naked eye. The crystals are arranged in disorder and have a dense block structure.

This kind of graphite has a high carbon content, up to 60%-80%, or even 90%, and has few impurities, but its plasticity and lubricity are not as good as flake graphite, which can be directly used or enriched by manual sorting.

Flake Graphite Processing

Flake graphite ore is composed of many single layers of graphite, and the crystal is flake-like, which is formed by metamorphism in a high-pressure environment.

Flake graphite has less reserves, but its lubricity and plasticity are superior to other types of graphite, so it has the greatest industrial value.

The larger the scale of flake graphite, the greater the use and the higher the value. Therefore, in the process of mineral processing, attention should be paid to the protection of large flake graphite.

The grade of flake graphite is low, but fortunately, it has good floatability, so it can be sorted by flotation process.

The flake graphite beneficiation generally adopts the process of multi-stage grinding and multi-stage flotation, which is to protect the graphite flakes, ensure that the flakes are not damaged, and ensure that the quality of the concentrate meets the requirements.

Cryptocrystalline Graphite Processing

Cryptocrystalline graphite is also called microcrystalline graphite, its surface is earthy, and the crystal diameter is generally less than 1 micron.

Cryptocrystalline graphite has high taste, and its lubricity is slightly worse than that of flake graphite. It can also be purified by flotation method.

Cryptocrystalline graphite needs to be pre-selected by gravity before flotation, but the effect is not necessarily ideal, so alkali-acid method, hydrofluoric acid method and high-temperature purification method can also be adopted for treatment to meet the industrial utilization standard.

Different types of graphite ore need to be purified by different beneficiation processes.

But the graphite purification process is not the only method mentioned above.

In actual production, the best beneficiation process needs to be determined according to the ore properties and mineral components of graphite ore.