Mechanochemical Sulfidization of a Mixed Oxide-Sulphide Copper Ore by Co-grinding with Sulfur and Its Effect on the Flotation Efficiency

Publication date: Available online 11 November 2019Source: Chinese Journal of Chemical EngineeringAuthor(s): Mojtaba Masdarian, Asghar Azizi, Zahra BahriAbstractMechanochemical sulfidization of a mixed sulfide/oxide copper ore by co-grinding with sulfur and additives including Mg(NO3)2 and Fe(NO3)3 salts and iron, aluminum and magnesium powders was investigated for the first time. Also, the influence of sulfidization during the wet-milling process was examined on the separation efficiency and recovery of copper in detail. The results demonstrated that co-grinding with sulfur solely had the best flotation performance at the value of 0.5 wt.% and it was attributed to the possible existence of S–O bonding on copper oxides surfaces. In addition, adding magnesium nitrate salt, magnesium powder, iron nitrate salt and aluminum powder as additive associated with 0.5 wt.% sulfur into ball milling caused the flotation improvement at the amounts of 0.2, 0.2, 0.5 and 0.5 wt.%, respectively. Also, the effect of grinding time and sulfidization pH with 0.5 wt.% sulfur solely was determined and pHs of 7.5 to 8.5 gave the best results. The highest recovery (75.76%) and separation efficiency (63.44%) was achieved at pH of 7.5 and 8.5, respectively.
Source: Chinese Journal of Chemical Engineering - Category: Chemistry Source Type: research