Improving the lead flotation recovery at Lakan lead-zinc processing plant using high-intensity conditioning
Year: 2022
Type: article
Abstract: A sampling campaign carried out on the lead flotation circuit at Lakan lead-zinc processing plant demonstrated that the Pb recovery was only about 68-69%.Characterization of the Pb flotation tailing showed that 61.4% of the Pb is in the -37 µm size fraction, which is difficult to recover by flotation.Batch flotation experiments were carried out on a plant sample of the lead flotation feed and high-intensity conditioning (HIC) was used to improve flotation recovery.The results showed that increasing the collector conditioning time from 1 to 3 minutes significantly increases the Pb recovery from 42.5% to 57.3%.Further increases in conditioning time to 5 to 7 minutes decreased the Pb recovery.With a collector conditioning time of more than 3 minutes, due to the surface cleaning effect, increasing collector and frother dosage improved the flotation selectivity and recovery, even at higher collector dosages.The Pb recovery increased from 69.1% to 79.8% with increasing impeller speed from 600 to 1250 r/min.HIC increases the flotation kinetics and greatly improves the flotation recovery and concentrate grade.
Authors: K Barani, M Godarzi, F Moradpouri
Institution: Lorestan University
Language: English
Subfield: Filtration and Separation
Field: Chemical Engineering
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W4285284697