With the continuous growth of global steel production and consumption, the steel industry's demand for raw iron ore continues to increase. In order to alleviate this situation, it is urgent to further develop and utilize existing iron ore resources. After more than a hundred years of development and utilization, the iron ore resources that are easier to select have been basically developed and exhausted, and most of the remaining are fine-grained poor iron ore that is difficult to select. The large number of associated minerals and the difficulty of mining and selection will increase the difficulty and cost of mineral processing. At the same time, it will increase the cost of energy during the beneficiation process. Therefore, reducing mineral processing costs and realizing efficient utilization of iron ore resources have also become issues that major mineral processing plants must pay attention to. The following will introduce you to the commonly used iron ore beneficiation technologies and the application of flotation technology to help you better understand iron ore beneficiation.
Almost all ores need to be sorted before they can be used, including the extremely complex and difficult to select hematite ore. The following iron ore beneficiation technologies are currently commonly used in beneficiation plants:
(1) Gravity separation: Gravity separation is a commonly used method for ore separation. It is mainly used to process ores with a large difference in specific gravity between the target mineral and the gangue mineral. When the feed size is large, the gravity separation effect is better, but the gravity separation method is not ideal for ores with fine particle sizes. Gravity separation operations are generally carried out in a fluid medium. When processing iron ore with a large particle size, jigging separation and heavy medium separation are often used.
(2) Magnetic separation: A method of separation based on the magnetic difference between the target mineral and the gangue mineral. When the target mineral to be processed is a magnetic magnetite, the magnetic separation effect is ideal. The magnetic separation equipment used by the iron ore beneficiation plant mainly includes magnetic drums, dry magnetic separators and permanent magnet machines, which are often used to separate magnetic iron ores.
(3) Flotation: In the iron ore beneficiation industry, flotation beneficiation technology occupies an important position and is an indispensable beneficiation method. Flotation is often used to treat two types of iron ores: ores with complex ore composition and fine particle size, and iron ores with high grade and gangue composition mainly composed of quartz. There are two commonly used flotation methods in beneficiation plants: positive flotation and reverse flotation. The iron content of the tailings of positive flotation is low, but due to the limited selection range of collectors, the content of the iron ore concentrate of positive flotation is limited. In reverse flotation, the selectivity of the collector is easy to control, so reverse flotation can be used to increase the iron content in the concentrate.
Reverse flotation process can be used to treat iron ore whose gangue minerals are mainly quartz, which can effectively reduce the silicon content in the concentrate product. Ore dressing plants often use cationic reverse flotation to treat iron concentrate products after magnetic separation. Cationic reverse flotation technology is widely used in actual production because of its many advantages, as follows:
(1) Simple reagent system: Cationic reverse flotation technology only uses a single reagent, amine collector, so the reagent system is simple. The flotation temperature requirement is low and the process can be suitable for on-site use.
(2) Simple and reliable operation: The cationic reverse flotation process uses a small number of reagents, which is easy to operate and adjust, so the reverse flotation process has the advantage of strong adaptability.
(3) Better effect after combining with other processes: The effect of single flotation sometimes cannot separate all useful ores, but after combining with magnetic separation, gravity separation and other processes, the advantages are complementary and the process structure is reasonable.
The above content is a brief introduction to the types of iron ore beneficiation technology and reverse flotation technology. According to the type of iron ore, the use of a single or combined beneficiation method to maximize the use of iron ore resources is the main way to solve the shortage of iron ore resources. Xinhai Mining can provide you with efficient beneficiation technology and equipment for hematite, limonite and polymetallic iron ore, and help you efficiently select and obtain concentrate products. Welcome to consult.
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