Determination of the difference in recovery and kinetics of various size fractions of gilsonite in rougher and cleaner flotation processes

Abstract

Kinetic models are the most important tools for the prediction and evaluation of the flotation circuits performance. In order to determine the kinetic order and rate of flotation of a Gilsonite sample, flotation experiments were conducted using the combination of Gasoline-Pine Oil, and one test without any collector and frother. The pulp density was 10% and the experiments were carried out in both rougher and cleaner stages using different size fractions. Five first order kinetic models were applied to the data obtained from the flotation tests by using the Matrix Laboratory software. Statistical analysis demonstrated that the results of Gasoline-Pine Oil experiment have a high degree of compliance with the all models. Rougher and cleaner tests without collector and frother also matched with the modified gas/solid adsorption and rectangular models with the <em>k</em> values of 0.0869 (<em>s^-1</em>), and 0.0266 (<em>s^-1</em>), respectively. The relationship between flotation rate constant, maximum combustible recovery and particle size were also studied. The results showed that the maximum flotation combustible recovery and flotation rate were obtained with an intermediate particle size in the rougher flotation processes. The maximum combustible recovery and flotation rate in the cleaner flotation process was related to the particle size categories of -850+500 (μm) and -500+250 (μm), respectively.