Designed Collectors for Selective Flotation
The goal of the project is to develop environmentally sustainable flotation processes involving novel mineral-specific collectors. Applying these new reagents the use of any kind of additional toxic activators/modifiers/depressants (as used in many mineral flotation processes today) can totally be avoided.
For this purpose, a series of collectors with a fixed alkyl chain length but having two xanthate functional groups with varying geometrical distances between them will be used. A synthesis protocol was standardized during a previous Boliden-funded project and preliminary flotation tests involving these collectors were promising. As a continuation, during this pre-study project, the flotation behaviour of different sulfide minerals (with a special focus on nickel-copper based ores in Kevitsa minefield) will be tested in more detail using bench scale flotation studies, to observe mineral specific adsorption taking place depending on the geometrical matching of the varying distance between the reagent head groups and the distance between the active adsorption sites present on the mineral surface. The relationship between adsorption behaviour of a given collector on a specific mineral surface over a range of concentration and pH values, and region of maximum recovery will be established and compared with commercially used collectors, such as potassium amyl-xanthate, KAX. After optimization of the flotation conditions, production of one of the novel collectors will be scaled up in larger quantities (kg scale) for the future pilot scale tests, which will take place in Boliden. The upscaling will be performed by SP Process Development in Södertälje. As a continuation of this prestudy, a general scientific design of tailor-made mineral specific reagents will be developed.
Pre-study Vinnova
Project coordinator Anna-Carin Larsson
Other participants Anuttam Patra
Se video External link.
Contact
Anna-Carin Larsson
- Associate Professor
- 0920-491694
- anna-carin.v.larsson@ltu.se
- Anna-Carin Larsson
Anuttam Patra
- Senior Lecturer
- 0920-491934
- anuttam.patra@ltu.se
- Anuttam Patra
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