Beneficiation of west sibaiya phosphate ores by flotation in alkaline media
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INTRODUCTION
PHOSPHATE deposits (ores) are quite abundant in the earth crust and occur in a wide variety of diverse origin, i.e., marine sedimentary and igneous. The world consumption mainly in a fertilizer use is about 90 pct, with the remaining 10 pct being in nonfertilizer use. The Egyptian phosphates are distributed in the Western Desert (High Dam Locality), Red Sea District, Wadi Qena, Wadi Araba, and Sinai Peninsula.[1,2] The West Sibaiya phosphate deposit mainly belongs to the Upper Cretaceous marine sediments, which is stratigraphically represented by rocks of the Campanian and Maestrichtian stages of nonoxidized (it occurs below the zone of chemical weathering) and oxidized (21 to 28 pct P2O5) phosphate ores. Phosphate ores, before beneficiation, are subjected to different processes such as selective crushing, screening, desliming, gravity concentration, electrical separation, low temperature roasting, and magnetic differentiation.[3,4] Fatty acids (oleic acid, sodium oleate, hydrocarbon oils, R.M. AWADALLAH, Professor and Chairman, and A.E. MOHAMED, Assistant Professor, are with the Chemistry Department, Faculty of Science, Aswan, Egypt. N.T. EL HAZEK, Professor and Chairman, is with the Nuclear Materials Corporation, Cairo, Egypt. M.Y. HASSAN, Manager, is with Abu Zaabal Fertilizer and Chemicals Company, Sibaiya, Egypt. Manuscript submitted April 23, 1997. METALLURGICAL AND MATERIALS TRANSACTIONS B
etc.) and amines (dodecylamine, dodecylamine hydrochloride, octadecylamine, a-amino arylphosphonic acid, sodium sarcosinate, etc.) are utilized as collectors, and sodium silicate, sodium hexametaphosphate, tannic acid, dextrin, and polysaccharide (amylopectin and tapioca starch, etc) are also used as depressants for beneficiation of phosphates.[4,5] Rice bran oil contains 15 to 20 pct oil. The oil possesses high free acidity, which results from splitting of the triglycerides into free fatty acids and glycerol. The fatty acids composition of rice bran oil shows that oleic and linoleic acids represent the main C18-unsaturated (75 to 81 pct) and C14 2C18 saturated (palmitic, stearic, palmitoleic, myristic, and myristoleic acids) fatty acids. The present work is targeted to beneficiate phosphate ores of the West Sibaiya area applying the flotation process. The effects of screen analysis (particle size distribution), collector doses using local crude rice bran oil or imported oleic acid (as flotation collectors), size fraction of flotation feed, pH value of the pulp using sodium hydroxide, conditioning time, and silica depressant reagent using sodium silicate and cleaning of phosphate concentrate (reflotation, successive, or repetition of flotation) on the flotation of low (oversize and tailings resulting from beneficiation plant), moderate, and relatively high grade phosphate ores of the West Sibaiya area are investigated and characterized. (The economics of the flotation process of phosphate ores (estimation of flotation costs) are evaluated. In addition, accompanying elements (Al, Ca, Cl, F, Fe, Mg, Mn, SO
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