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MX2008007938A - Method for defining element content and/ or mineral content - Google Patents

Method for defining element content and/ or mineral content

Info

Publication number
MX2008007938A
MX2008007938A MX/A/2008/007938A MX2008007938A MX2008007938A MX 2008007938 A MX2008007938 A MX 2008007938A MX 2008007938 A MX2008007938 A MX 2008007938A MX 2008007938 A MX2008007938 A MX 2008007938A
Authority
MX
Mexico
Prior art keywords
grain size
content
mineral
separation
size distribution
Prior art date
Application number
MX/A/2008/007938A
Other languages
Spanish (es)
Inventor
Von Alfthan Christian
Saloheimo Kari
Original Assignee
Outokumpu Technology Oy
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Outokumpu Technology Oy filed Critical Outokumpu Technology Oy
Publication of MX2008007938A publication Critical patent/MX2008007938A/en

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Abstract

The invention relates to a method for defining particle and/or mineral content in real time in a mineral separation process from finely divided particle material flowing either in solid or slurry-like form, so that from the particle material, there is extracted a representative sample, which sample is then subjected to grain size analysis, on the basis of which there is calculated the element and/or mineral content of the particle material.

Description

METHOD FOR DEFINING THE CONTENT OF AN ELEMENT AND / OR THE CONTENT OF A MINERAL Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for defining the particle and / or mineral content in real time in a mineral separation process from finely divided particulate material that flows either in solid form or in a form of grout.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION In the concentration of minerals, the material obtained from a mine is first made finer by grinding or grinding, so that the valuable minerals contained in the ore are present as separate grains. In mineral separation processes, valuable minerals are recovered as a concentrate for further refining. Typically the separation process consists of flotation, separation by gravity, magnetic separation or electrostatic separation, or a combination of these techniques. In the control of the separation process, there is generally a need for real-time measurement data in relation to the contents of an element and / or the mineral of the various material flows that exist in the process. On the basis of the measurements of the content of the concentrate, it is typically ensured that the process produces a product with an optimum quality with respect to the subsequent refining. Based on the feed contents of the separation process, it is possible to make preliminary adjustments, and on the basis of the measurements of the contents of the waste stream, it is ensured that the process works is an optimum performance. Separation often includes internal circulation and several different process steps, in which case it is necessary to measure the various intermediate products for process control. It is known that the measurements of the material flows of the process are carried out with on-line analyzers. The most common method for analyzing the content of an element in mineral processes consists of X-ray fluorescence. From the publication FI 51872, a device for the analysis of solid or powdery material in movement according to the principle is known. of X-ray fluorescence. When applied This principle, however, there are notable limitations caused by the method. In practice, with wet processes, a measurement carried out directly from ore slurry is with the required level of precision possible only for certain elements. The measurement of lighter elements is successful only with complicated sampling processing methods that are both sensitive to interference and costly to perform, methods in which the grout sample is typically dried, fine-grained and briquetted for analysis. Respectively, in dry ore processes, X-ray fluorescence in practice works reliably with material processed directly only with elements heavier than silicon. With respect to the control of separation processes, it is often also important to measure the content of lightweight elements. For example, the contents of magnesium, silicon, phosphorus and sulfur are important indicators of the impurities found in the concentrates. From the point of view of process control, in certain separation processes it would also be important to measure the mineral content instead of the content of an element; for example, in the concentration of serpentinized nickel ores, it is essential that the process control know, in addition to the magnesium content of the concentrate, whether the magnesium contained in the concentrate is obtained from steatite or other serpentinized minerals. In the online measurement of the contents of lightweight and mineral elements, the application for example of the Activation Analysis of Proton Gamma Incitator (Prompt Gamma Neutron Activation Analysis) is known., PPGNAA). In this case, the measurement is carried out directly from slurry or dry matter. Accuracy is usually modest, or the duration of the measurement becomes immoderately long. In order to receive sufficient gamma pulses from the sample, the measurement must be applied to a large volume of sample, but the maintenance of said large volume in suspension makes the measurement of the slurry more difficult. Due to safety standards concerning radiation, the equipment becomes expensive and difficult to maintain and maintain. Additionally, for example X-ray diffraction (XRD) is known to be applied in online measurement of the content of an element and mineral; in this case the analysis can be made directly from the slurry or dry matter. Among other applications, we can point out methods of content measurement based on optical spectroscopy and nuclear magnetic resonance, methods which are characterized by high costs, problems of coincidence with samples, slowness and poor analytical precision in the measurement as well as problems related to repeatability. The object of the present invention is to eliminate the disadvantages of the prior art and to perform an improved method for defining the particle and / or mineral contents in real time from finely divided particulate material and flowing either in solid form or in the form of slurry, so that to define the content of particles or ore, the distribution of the grain size obtained from the particle material is used through an analysis of the grain size. The novel essential features of the invention become clear from the appended claims.
OBJECTIVES AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The method according to the invention has several advantages. The invention relates to a method for defining the particle and / or mineral contents in real time in a process of separating ore from finely divided particulate material, which flows either as a solid or as a slurry, so that from the particulate material, a representative sample is taken, sample which is subjected to an analysis of the grain size, by means of which the content of an element and / or mineral of the particulate material is calculated. Additionally, according to a preferred embodiment of the invention, based on the grain size analysis, the grain size distribution is defined, where the value of the cumulative grain size distribution is described as a function of the size of the grain size. grain; on the basis of this, the content of the element and / or mineral is calculated mathematically by the use of constants that describe the properties of said element or mineral, defined by means of calibration. The information obtained from the distribution of the grain size can be used to define the content of the element and / or mineral from the feeding of the process, product or lateral product in a mineral separation process, and these data can be used in the control of the process. According to one embodiment of the invention, the grain size distribution is defined by methods based on X-ray diffraction. According to Another embodiment of the invention, the grain size distribution is defined by means of a method based on ultrasonic absorption. According to another embodiment of the invention, the grain size distribution is defined by means of a method based on optical image analysis. According to the invention, based on the definition in real time of the content of particles and / or the mineral of finely divided particulate material flowing in solid form or in the form of slurry, a separation process of the ore is controlled to produce optimal feeding, product or side product. According to one embodiment of the invention, the mineral separation process is flotation. According to another embodiment of the invention, the separation process is separation by gravity. According to yet another embodiment of the invention, the separation process is magnetic separation. According to one embodiment of the invention, the separation process is the electrostatic separation. According to one embodiment of the invention, the separation process is by classification.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The invention is described in greater detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein: Figure 1 illustrates the invention by means of a process diagram; and Figures 2a, 2b and 2c illustrate an example according to the invention.
Detailed Description of the Preferred Modes of the Invention Figure 1 illustrates a method according to the invention by means of a process diagram. From the feeding, product or scrap of a mineral separation process, a representative sample is extracted in a known manner, for example by extracting a sample in two steps from a flow of flowing slurry. Based on the sample, a grain size analysis is performed describing the grain size of the particles contained in the particulate material flowing in the process. The sample can be extracted at desired intervals while the process takes place, either from the feed, product or waste. Data concerning a certain content for the need of process control are available in real time, that is, almost immediately, with tolerance for calculation delay times. The Samples obtained are processed to acquire a grain size distribution by means of a method based, for example, on ultrasonic absorption, laser diffraction or optical image analysis. Based on the grain size analysis, the grain size distribution is formed, that is, the value of the cumulative grain size distribution as a function of grain size. From the distribution of the grain size, the content of a desired element and / or mineral is calculated mathematically by means of a calibration model, a calibration model which describes the dependence between the content of the element and / or the content of the element. mineral and grain size distribution. In the calculation of the content, any mathematical function G (F (x)) can be generally used, where F (x) is the measurement of the cumulative or differential grain size distribution, or a parameter calculated from the distribution; the form of the G function can be defined by means of calibration, by means of the application of multivariate statistical methods. In general, a calibration model is formed based on data, by means of the extraction from the measured grout, of a statistically representative number of singular samples, by means of the analysis of the contents of the element and / or mineral of the samples in a laboratory. and by comparison in terms of coincidence of grain size distributions obtained by means of statistical methods, for example by means of Multi-linear Regression analysis (Multilinear Regression, MLR), Regression of Principal Components (Principal Components regression , PCR) or Partial Regression of Minimum Squares (Partial Least Squares Regression, PLS), with the results of laboratory measurements. The content to be analyzed can be either the content of an element or mineral, depending on the process in question and the need for control of the process. Said value of the defined content is used in the control of the process by adjusting the process in the desired direction on the basis thereof, by adjusting for example the content of the feed, product or content of the by-products. The results shown in Figure 2a, 2b and 2c illustrate the invention, together with the example described below. The example refers to the concentration of sedimentary phosphate ore, in which case the separation process applied is separation by gravity and classification carried out in cyclones. The task is to recover apatite minerals from the ore, apatite minerals which they are in the feed of the separation process clearly in coarser form than the silicate minerals. In Figures 2a, 2b and 2c, the curve describes the cumulative grain size distribution, which is formed from the grain size analysis of the process, concentrate and waste feed. Figure 2a illustrates the grain size distribution of the process feed, as measured by an in-line grain size analyzer based on the diffraction of a laser. Figure 2b illustrates the grain size distribution of the process concentrate, and Figure 2c illustrates the grain size distribution of the process waste. On the vertical axis in the figures, the cumulative amount of the grain size in percentages (% V) is illustrated, and on the horizontal axis, the diameter of a solid particle in micrometers (D μm) is illustrated. In the diet, about 100% of the apatite is above 50 micrometers in size. With regard to silicate gangue, it is again clearly thinner, so that it is distinguished in the cumulative distribution of grain size as a separate step in Figure 2a. After the separation process, the concentrate (Figure 2b) consists mainly of thicker apatite, while the waste (Figure 2c) consists almost exclusively of fine silicates. In this exemplary case, the method described proceeds as follows. When the value of the cumulative distribution of the grain size is obtained from the measurement of the grain size in line as a function of grain size, F (x), for example the phosphate content is calculated from this according to the formula% P2? 5 = a * F (50 μm) + b, where a and b are numerical constants. The definition of the F value (50 μm) is illustrated in Figure 2a. The values of the constants a and b are defined by calibration from known samples, by concordance of the values of the grain size distribution F (50 μm) of samples with a statistically known P 05 content, by means of an analysis of regression, with contents of% P 05. The measurement of the content is used in such a way that the control variables of the cyclonization (the number of cyclones used, their flow of feeding, solid content in the feeding or feeding pressure) are adjusted in order to obtain the content of P205 in the concentrate at the required level. For a person skilled in the art, it is obvious that the various different embodiments of the invention are not restricted to the examples described above, but may vary within the scope of the appended claims.

Claims (11)

  1. Claims 1. A method for defining the particle and / or mineral content in real time in a process of separating ore from finely divided particulate material and flowing either in a solid form or in a form similar to the slurry , which is characterized in that from the particulate material, a representative sample is extracted, which is then subjected to an analysis of the grain size, on the basis of which the content of an element and / or mineral of the material is calculated. in particles.
  2. 2. A method according to claim 1, characterized in that from the grain size analysis, the grain size distribution is defined, where the value of the cumulative distribution of the grain size is described as a grain size distribution. function of the grain size, and the content of the element and / or mineral is calculated mathematically from said value by the use of constants, defined by means of calibration, describing the properties of the element or mineral in question.
  3. 3. A method according to claim 2, characterized in that the grain size distribution is defined by methods based on laser diffraction.
  4. 4. A method according to claim 2, characterized in that the grain size distribution is defined by means of a method based on ultrasonic absorption.
  5. 5. A method according to claim 2, characterized in that the grain size distribution is defined by means of a method based on the analysis of an optical image.
  6. 6. A method according to claims 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5, characterized in that on the basis of the definition in real time the content of particles and / or ore of finely divided particulate material and that flows in solid form or in the form of slurry, a process of mineral separation is controlled in order to obtain an optimum food, product or by-product.
  7. 7. A method according to claim 1 or 6, characterized in that the separation process applied is flotation.
  8. 8. A method according to claim 1 or 6, characterized in that the separation process applied is gravity separation.
  9. 9. A method according to claim 1 or 6, characterized in that the separation process applied is the magnetic separation.
  10. 10. A method according to claim 1 or 6, characterized in that the separation process applied is the electrostatic separation.
  11. 11. A method according to claim 1 or 6, characterized in that the separation process applied is the classification.
MX/A/2008/007938A 2005-12-21 2008-06-19 Method for defining element content and/ or mineral content MX2008007938A (en)

Applications Claiming Priority (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
FI20051308 2005-12-21

Publications (1)

Publication Number Publication Date
MX2008007938A true MX2008007938A (en) 2008-09-26

Family

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