Phosphate ore is mainly used in the production of phosphate fertilizers, and secondarily in detergents and feed additives. With the gradual reduction of high-grade and easy-to-select phosphate rock resources in the world, the development and utilization of low-grade and refractory phosphate rock resources have received widespread attention. Phosphate ore beneficiation technology is an indispensable technology for the development and utilization of phosphate rock. The following will introduce five phosphate ore beneficiation technologies: flotation technology, scrubbing desliming technology, dense medium separation technology, roasting digestion technology and chemical beneficiation technology.
Use the table of contents below to navigate through the guide:
01Phosphate ore flotation separation technology
When the magnesium oxide content in the phosphate rock is high, the phosphate rock and the gangue minerals are closely symbiotic, and the embedded particle size is finer. The flotation separation process can obtain a good separation effect.
Phosphate rock flotation separation technology is divided into direct flotation technology, reverse flotation technology, reverse-positive flotation technology and double reverse flotation technology. There are two kinds of flotation processes commonly used in concentrators, namely direct flotation technology and reverse flotation technology.
(1) Direct flotation technology: this process uses inhibitors to suppress gangue minerals in phosphate rocks, and then uses collectors to collect phosphate rock concentrates in foam. The separation of igneous rock type apatite and sedimentary metamorphic type apatite can be carried out by direct flotation method.
(2) Reverse flotation technology: this process is mainly used to separate phosphorus minerals and dolomite. The pH of the pulp is adjusted with inorganic acid. When the pulp is weakly acidic, the dolomite is floated out using a fatty acid collector, and the phosphorus minerals are left in the flotation tank. This process is carried out at room temperature, and the particle size of the obtained phosphorus minerals is relatively coarse, which is convenient for subsequent sorting treatment.
02Phosphate ore scrubbing technology
The principle of this process is simple, purely physical beneficiation. This process is mainly used for weathering phosphate rock. After pretreatment, the phosphate rock is sent to the scrubbing machine for scrubbing. The muddy impurities on the surface of phosphorus minerals can be removed, and phosphorus minerals can be enriched.
03Phosphate ore dense medium separation technology
The key to dense medium separation is the difference in specific gravity between minerals, and the separation specific gravity needs to be controlled between 2.8-2.9. Dense media separation technology has the advantages of high separation efficiency and low environmental pollution, so it is widely used in mineral processing plants. The dense medium separation technology of phosphate ore can also be used as a pre-selection operation. This technology can pre-exclude most of the gangue minerals in low-grade phosphate rock, and then improve the effect of the subsequent separation process.
04Phosphate ore roasting and digestion technology
As a chemical beneficiation method, roasting and digestion technology is mainly used for the separation of carbonate-type phosphate rocks with less silicate mineral content. This process mainly utilizes the thermal decomposition of carbonate minerals at high temperature to release carbon dioxide. After thermal decomposition, add water to hydrate calcium oxide and magnesium oxide into fine-grained calcium hydroxide and magnesium hydroxide, and use classification technology to remove calcium and magnesium hydroxide to enrich phosphorus minerals. This process has high energy consumption, difficult treatment of the extracted lime milk, difficult production control, and difficult process application.
05Phosphate ore chemical beneficiation technology
Phosphate ore chemical beneficiation technology is used to remove carbonate minerals, and magnesium oxide in the concentrate will also be removed. The cost of this process is relatively high, and this process is only used when the quality of concentrate products selected by other beneficiation processes cannot meet the requirements of subsequent phosphate rock processing. When using phosphate rock chemical beneficiation technology, the extraction agents used are ammonium chloride, sulfuric acid and sulfur dioxide, among which sulfuric acid is used more.
The above content is five kinds of phosphate ore beneficiation technology, according to the different characteristics of phosphate rock, choose the appropriate beneficiation process. Xinhai Mining can provide you with phosphate ore beneficiation tests, design a suitable phosphate ore beneficiation plan and produce a complete set of beneficiation equipment according to the test results, welcome to consult Xinhai Mining.