Nickel metal plays an indispensable role in modern industry and is a key metal element. Nickel ore dressing is the main source of nickel metal, and flotation plays a core role in the nickel ore dressing process. Flotation can effectively improve the grade of nickel ore, maximize the recovery of nickel resources, and reduce resource waste. The following article will introduce the nickel flotation process and the core equipment in the beneficiation process to help nickel ore dressing.
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1. Crushing and screening: The mined nickel ore will undergo coarse and fine crushing operations. First, the jaw crusher is used to initially crush the large pieces of ore, and then it enters the cone crusher for fine crushing to further reduce the ore particle size. During the entire crushing process, the vibrating screen will accurately screen the crushed ore to ensure the efficient subsequent grinding operation.
2. Grinding: The equipment used in the grinding process includes ball mills and rod mills. Nickel ore grinding requires grinding the ore particle size to less than 0.074mm to ensure that the nickel minerals and gangue minerals are fully dissociated, creating favorable conditions for the subsequent flotation process. The grinding process needs to pay attention to the grinding time, medium addition, etc., so as to obtain the ideal mineral monomer dissociation degree.
3. Slurry adjustment and reagent addition: The slurry concentration after grinding is adjusted to 25-35% solid content. This concentration range can ensure that the flotation reagent is fully in contact with the mineral particles, and at the same time, the foam layer in the position flotation machine can be stable, which is conducive to the subsequent flotation process. In the flotation process, it is necessary to add appropriate flotation reagents. Common types of flotation reagents for nickel ore flotation include lime, collectors such as yellow medicine and black medicine, and frothers such as pine oil and MIBC.
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1. Roughing: In the mechanical agitation flotation machine, the ore pulp after reagent blending is in full contact with the bubbles, and the nickel mineral particles adsorb the collector and adhere to the bubbles to form a foam layer, which is initially enriched into a rough concentrate. At this time, the nickel content in the rough concentrate is generally 3% - 8%.
2. Concentration: In order to improve the grade of nickel concentrate, the rough concentrate needs to enter the concentration process. After 2-3 concentration operations, the gangue minerals can be further removed. After the concentration process, the grade of nickel ore can be increased to 10-15%.
3. Scavenging: Scavenging is to recover the residual nickel minerals in the tailings. After multi-stage scavenging, nickel minerals can be recovered to the maximum extent, and the recovery rate of nickel ore can be increased to more than 85%.
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After flotation, the concentrate needs to be dehydrated by a thickener, and the solid particles in the pulp are precipitated and concentrated. Then the concentrated concentrate is pressed and filtered by a filter press to reduce the moisture content of the filter cake to less than 15%. Finally, the filter cake is dried by a dryer. The dried concentrate is easy to store, transport and smelt.
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Jaw crusher: The processing capacity covers 50-2000t/h, and it can process large ore with feed particle size ≤1500mm, meeting the coarse crushing needs of nickel ore dressing plants of different sizes, laying the foundation for subsequent medium and fine crushing operations.
Ball mill: The power range is 100-5000kW, which can grind the ore to a fineness of -200 mesh with a proportion of ≥80%, ensuring that nickel minerals and gangue minerals are fully dissociated. Its stable operating performance and efficient grinding effect are the key guarantees for the flotation process.
JJF type mechanical stirring flotation machine: The single tank volume is optional from 1-38m³, and the inflation volume is 0.6-1.2m³/m²・min. It can provide sufficient bubbles and a stable stirring environment. It is suitable for nickel ore flotation operations with different processing volumes, and has good adaptability to roughing and concentrating.
Flotation column: 6-12m in height, with obvious advantages in flotation of fine-grained nickel minerals, the recovery rate can be increased by 5 - 10%. Its unique countercurrent washing principle and bubble generation mechanism can effectively improve the recovery efficiency of fine-grained nickel minerals.
High-efficiency deep cone thickener: The underflow concentration can reach ≥65%. Through the deep cone structure and unique feeding method, the sedimentation process is strengthened, the concentration efficiency is greatly improved, and the processing load of the subsequent filter press is reduced.
Plate and frame filter press: Filtration area 10 - 300m², processing capacity 1 - 50t/h, can be flexibly selected according to the concentrate output, high pressing pressure, low filter cake moisture content, to ensure that the concentrate dehydration effect meets the smelting requirements.
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The above content is a brief introduction to nickel flotation technology and equipment. Nickel flotation can effectively improve the grade of nickel ore and realize the efficient recovery of nickel resources. Reasonable selection and configuration of crushing, grinding, flotation and dehydration equipment are crucial to improving flotation efficiency, reducing energy consumption and optimizing mineral processing indicators. Xinhai Mining can select nickel ore beneficiation technology and a complete set of beneficiation equipment according to the specific properties of nickel ore, helping the beneficiation plant to achieve efficient production and improve overall economic benefits.
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