ENHANCEMENT OF COLEMANITE FLOTATION BY ULTRASONIC PRE-TREATMENT

Abstract

Ultrasonic treatment methods are widely used for surface cleaning purposes prior to application of flotation. In this study, enhancement possibility for colemanite recovery was investigated with use of an ultrasonic bath prior to flotation. Representative colemanite ore samples from Hisarcik and Espey open pit mines, located in Emet, Turkey were used for this purpose. Ultrasonic flotation experiments were carried out by using circularly shaped RK-106 model of ultrasonic bath with constant frequency and power, manufactured by Bandelin GmbH in Germany and Denver Sub-2A type flotation machine with an impeller speed of 1200 rpm and 1 cubic decimeter capacity. The reagent for colemanite flotation was Cytec-R825 with variable dosages during conventional and ultrasonic flotation experiments. The results showed that ultrasonic pre-treatment helps desliming and hence yields more borate recovery in floated part with lower borate content in tailing than under conventional flotation conditions by using similar reagent dosages.