Over the past few years the demand for iron has increased, but the supply of high grade ore is depleting.  In order to increase supply of high quality iron, iron ore producers will have to rely on more efficient chemistries to process the ores.   When iron ore is mined, quartz is intermingled with the iron oxides, hematite or magnetite.  The separation of iron oxides and quartz is vital to iron ore producers.    One way to achieve the separation of hematite and quartz is by reverse cation flotation.   Reverse cation flotation uses hydrophobic and hydrophilic properties of collectors and depressants to improve selective separation of quartz and iron.   Starch is currently the most widely used depressant. Focused Beam Reflective Measurement (FBRM) can be used to study particle size in slurries. It has been an effective tool for evaluating the effect of starch as a depressant on hematite and quartz, indicating an effect on hematite, but not on quartz.  With  improved  understanding of the particle size of the slurry, new technologies can be developed to improve the separation of iron and quartz during flotation.  Kemira has developed an experimental depressant, E-4931, for this application. This study will show the results of FBRM and flotation studies that indicate Kemira E-4931 to have  better selectivity for iron than the industry standard depressant, starch.<br/>

Study of a novel depressant for reverse cation flotation of iron ore with focused beam reflective measurement

249th National Meeting (2015)

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.