Spodumene flotation method and flotation reagents

Lithium products can be widely used in metallurgy, ceramics, battery and other industries. There are many types of lithium-containing minerals in nature. Among them, the lithium minerals with development value mainly include spodumene, lepidolite, lithium feldspar and spodumene.

At present, spodumene has become a widely exploited lithium ore resource. The stone is mainly of pegmatite type. In addition to spodumene, this type of ore also contains silicate minerals such as feldspar, quartz and mica. Commonly used methods include flotation, magnetic separation, heavy liquid mineral processing and thermal cracking.

1. Spodumene flotation method

For the selection of pegmatite-type spodumene, flotation is often used at home and abroad, which can effectively separate spodumene from gangue minerals such as mica and feldspar. Spodumene flotation methods can be divided into two types: forward flotation and reverse flotation, but in general, the effect of forward flotation is better than reverse flotation.

Spodumene positive flotation method: Generally, it needs to be carried out in an alkaline environment, and fatty acids and soap collectors are used to recover foam products.

Spodumene reverse flotation method: It needs to be carried out in an acidic environment, using amine collectors, starch and other inhibitors to prioritize gangue minerals such as feldspar and quartz, leaving spodumene and iron-containing minerals behind. In the flotation tank, flotation or magnetic separation is then used to separate the iron-containing minerals, and the final residue is spodumene concentrate.

2. New technology for spodumene flotation

Modern industry continues to develop, mineral processing technology is also constantly innovating, and methods applied to spodumene mineral processing are also emerging in endlessly. Since spodumene has the characteristics of easy weathering and high slime content, flotation column and stirring pretreatment and other processes can be used for spodumene separation, thereby improving the spodumene beneficiation effect.

Flotation column flotation spodumene: flotation column is mainly used for the separation of fine-grained minerals. When applied to coarse-grained minerals with a particle size greater than 75 μm, it is often difficult to obtain good mineral processing indicators. Therefore, when using a flotation column to process spodumene, it is necessary to carry out a reasonable grinding process to reach the size of the ore required by the flotation column. When flotation column separation is performed on fine-grained spodumene, good results can be obtained, and the concentrate in the foam product has a finer particle size.

Stirring pretreatment to sort spodumene: It is mainly carried out in a strong alkali medium. By adding regulators and adjusting the stirring time and intensity, the fresh surface of the mineral is exposed and the surface properties of the mineral are changed, thereby facilitating the flotation of spodumene.

3. Spodumene flotation reagents

During spodumene flotation, in order to obtain good beneficiation indicators, it is necessary to add appropriate chemicals to the slurry. The types of spodumene usually added include amine collectors, fatty acid collectors, new collectors and regulators.

Amine collector: Amine collector is one of the most commonly used collectors in silicate ore flotation. Spodumene mainly exists in granitic pegmatite deposits, and spodumene, quartz, feldspar and other gangue minerals are silicate minerals, so amine collectors have strong effects on these minerals. Capture performance.

Fatty acid collectors: Fatty acid collectors commonly used in spodumene flotation mainly include sodium oleate, oxidized paraffin soap and naphthenic acid soap.

New collectors: After years of research, spodumene beneficiation technology has been greatly improved. A lot of research and experiments have been done on the research of high-efficiency collectors for spodumene, and the separation effect and water solubility have been developed. A good collector, among which oxamic acid is a chelating collector, oxime can be used to chelate active ions on the surface of minerals, thereby achieving a collection effect.

Adjuster: The pharmaceutical system of spodumene flotation is generally "three bases and two soaps". The "three bases" are sodium carbonate, sodium sulfide and sodium hydroxide, and the two soaps are oxidized paraffin soap and naphthenic acid soap. In actual production, oxidized paraffin soap and naphthenic acid soap are used in large amounts. When used alone, their collection ability is not strong, and they are not easy to dissolve and disperse. Therefore, adjusters need to be added to the slurry to bind spodumene and suppress gangue minerals. Commonly used regulators for spodumene flotation include NaOH, CaCl2, Na2S and Na2CO3.

The rational planning of spodumene beneficiation technology should be based on the nature of the ore itself and the actual production requirements, and improve the production efficiency and economic benefits of the overall mineral processing plant by formulating a reasonable beneficiation process and arranging production equipment.