CHAPTER - I

MINERAL PROCESSING
Dr. A. DAS

1.1 INTRODUCTION
The minerals and the metals are integrally associated with the
development of human culture and growth of the society. Minerals are
essential component of Nation's material and economic base. They contribute
to industrialization and form an important infrastructure for the development
of the country. However, conservation of these non-renewable assets is
absolutely essential in view of the rapid industrialization and consumption
of minerals. Attempts should be aimed to use the resources wisely and
efficiently for complete utilization of the components with no waste. Ignoring
the awareness in respect of mineral resources, environmental issues have
come into prominence and the aspect of conservation and safe guarding the
environment can be managed by making proper use of the mined materials,
wasting the least, reclamation, restoration, afforestation and creation of better
environment for better habitat.
Resource wise, India is well endowed with large variety of rich mineral
resources amounting 120 million tonnes in 2002. India produced as many as
64 minerals, constititing 4 fuel minerals, 10 metallic minerals and 50 nonmetallic (industrial minerals) in 2003-04. India's ranking in 2002-03 in world
production was 2nd in barytes, chromite and talc/steatite/pyrophyllite, 3rd
in coal & lignite, 4th in iron ore and kyanite/sillimanite/andalusite, 6th in
bauxite and 7th in manganese ore. However, with rapid expansion of mineral
based industries, high grade ores are preferentially being consumed resulting
with fast depletion of the same and the country is gradually leading to depend
upon low grade and complex ores.
Mineral beneficiation is a process to separate the economic minerals
from the waste rock gangue. The difference of properties between the value
minerals and the undesired minerals determine the method of separation.
This aspect of separation of minerals and upgrading the useful values suitable
for down stream processing, assume greater significance in the context of
low grade and complex ore deposits. Recovery of metal values from these
resources of low tenor is associated with generation of more and more
quantities of waste and greater load on efficient management of these wastes
and protection of environment. The mineral engineers are thus confronted
with the work of finding efficient, innovative and cost effective process and
equipment for solving these problems faced by mineral industries.
3

Mineral processing involves a number of unit operations starting with

the run of mine (ROM) ore as the initial raw material. Traditionally the scope
of mineral processing is limited to liberation of individual mineral phases
and their separation from each other without altering the identity of any
mineral constituents. Mineral processing is the field of study that starts after
mining and ends before extraction of metals for metallic ores. Before
separation of the individual minerals, an intimate knowledge of the
mineralogical composition of the ore, their mode of association, complexity,
texture and size are essential to know the optimum size of liberation. The
study of mineralogy helps processing personnel in acquiring this knowledge.
The liberation of valuable minerals from the gangue is accomplished by
comminution i.e., the process of size reduction to the desired size. Actual
separation is then effected by utilizing the difference in physical and other
properties of value minerals and the gangue viz., size, shape, color, specific
gravity, magnetic property, electrical conductivity, radioactivity, specific
surface property like affinity or repulsion towards water etc. Technology is
accordingly developed to create the suitable process conditions for separation.
Often the surface properties are modified to create a greater difference of a
specific property for the value mineral and gangue.
For low grade and complex ores, the mineral processing steps are
generally carried out in 'wet' condition i.e. using water as a medium. This is
obviously for a number of reasons either demanded by the process including
requirement of liberation or for ease and efficiency of handling & separation
or other aspects. Whatever be the reasons, the concentrates produced in fine
sizes and in pulp condition need to be dewatered, dried and again
agglomerated into a suitable lump form for ease of handling for subsequent
treatment for metal extraction.
With the above introduction, somewhat details of mineralogical
aspects, beneficiation, de-watering and agglomeration are presented in
the following pages.
1.2 Importance of Mineralogy in Mineral Processing
Mineral processing technology is evolved to separate and recover ore
minerals from gangue in a commercially viable method and is mainly based
on the process of mineral liberation and the process of mineral separation.
Though ore is mined with the highest efficiency of the technology, the
excavated ore gets partly contaminated by the surrounding host rock
(overburden) and the geological material closely associated with the ore
during mining. Both the materials are undesirable and hence form the gangue.
Thus, the contributors to gangue may be igneous rock, sedimentary rock
(shale, quartzite, phyllite), hydrothermal vein material, quartz reef and their
4

metamorphic equivalents. For example, chromite and magnetite may form

in a magmatic crystallization process whereas iron ore may form in a
sedimentary environment with the episodes of metamorphism, supergene
enrichment and martitisation. So, the former is associated with ultramafics
(dunite, peridotite, serpentinite), basalt, gabbro whereas the latter is associated
with shale, jasper, quartzite, and their weathered equivalents (kaolinitic and
gibbsitic shale, quartzite, laterite etc.). So, the expected gangue minerals are
different in these two cases. Similarly, the sulphide mineralisation is associated
with hydrothermal veins ( quartz vein or quartz reef) intruded into various
rock types (granites, basalt, meta-basalt, meta-sedimentary rocks). The Table
1 enlists the possible ore minerals and gangue minerals in the ores from wide
range of deposits.
From mineral processing point of view, it is important to identify the
ore and gangue minerals (mineralogical study), their textural relationship
(grain size, grain boundary relationship etc.). The.mineralogical study also
helps in the modal distribution of ore and gangue minerals which decides the
grade of ore. Grain size of the minerals and their textural relationship helps
in deciding the size reduction and liberation in mineral processing. An
effective liberation of gangue minerals and ore minerals influences the
optimum separation efficiency. .
Mineralogical study may be described under the following heads.
1. Mineral identification by optical microscopy, XRD, SEM, EPMA:
For mineralogical characterization of the ores/rocks, optical microscopy
is an invaluable tool. For this, polished sections of ores and thin sections of
rocks are prepared. The ores/ore forming minerals are studied under reflected
light microscopy while the rocks/ rock forming minerals are studied under
transmitted light microscopy. The minerals are identified basically from their
optical properties. The optical properties differ from mineral to mineral
because their crystal structure is different and the chemical constituents of
the mineral; also their relative positions in the crystal lattice sites differ. But
mineral kingdom is so vast sometimes it becomes difficult to identify all the
minerals using only the optical microscope because there are cases where
the optical properties of one mineral very closely resemble another. In such
cases the help of advanced characterization techniques such as X-ray
diffraction (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) with microchemical analysis by WDS or EDS, and Electron Probe Micro-analysis
(EPMA) is taken. The latter techniques help in confirming the mineral phases
which is very important. On the other hand, the textures and liberation
characteristics are studied under optical microscopes.
5

Mineral identification by X-ray diffraction technique is based on the

diffraction peaks at various 2-q values corresponding to d-spacing
characteristic to the mineral. As each mineral has a characteristic
crystallographic identity, its d-spacings are characteristic and the set of
diffraction peaks are characteristic based on Bragg's law. This technique is
useful for identifying clay minerals. In the figure-1 , the phases in the iron
ore sample are identified as goethite, kaolinite, hematite/martite, magnetite
and braunite. The limitation of the technique is for the minerals whose volume
percentage is less than 3% in the sample.
Some of the trace phases of very small size can not be studied by optical
microscopy or XRD. In that case, SEM and EPMA provide a high resolution
image of very high magnification and the chemical analysis is done by Energy
dispersive X-ray spectrometry (EDX) or by wavelength dispersive X-ray
spectrometry (WDX). By chemical calculations, the empirical formula is
computed out and the mineral is identified.
Knowledge of the sizes and intergrowth relationships of ore mineral
grains is of great importance. Only through careful examination of the ores
in polished section can the optimum grain size for effective liberation be
determined. Insufficient grinding may result in loss of valuable minerals in
the tailings; over grinding wastes energy and may produce slimes that are
difficult to treat. The nature of the boundaries between intergrown particles
will show whether or not the rupturing of larger particles during grinding is
likely to occur at grain boundaries. Information regarding fractures and
fissures, and porosity in the ore minerals is derived from the microscopic
study. In figure-2 the mineralogy and texture in various components of iron
ore are shown to provide an apparent perception of granular martite.
2. Study of Modal distribution : Modal distribution of minerals by
microscopy with image analysis system or by grain counting helps in the
statistical distribution of ore and gangue minerals which is directly related to
the grade of ore. Such study also helps in the liberation studies. It can also be
extended to beneficiation products to fmd the efficiency of beneficiation
3. Liberation study by microscopy : The liberation of ore and gangue
is achieved by size reduction (through grinding). The statistical count of
interlocked grains, 'ore minerals free of gangue' (liberarated ore) and 'gangue
minerals free of ore minerals' (liberarated gangue) gives the quantitative
percentage of liberation. This data is useful in deciding the extent of liberation
required for a desired economy of comminution and beneficiation.
100 X ((No. of free ore minerals) + (No. of free gangue minerals)}
Liberation (%) - (No. of free ore minerals + free gangue minerals + interlocked minerals)
6

Table 1: Associated ore and gangue minerals in various ore types.

Ore-type
Iron ore
(Sedimentary
and supergene
enrichment)

Ore minerals
Martite, Hematite Fe203,
magnetite Fe304
goethite Fe203.1-120

Gangue minerals
Quartz, jasper,
kaoline, gibbsite, shale

Bauxite

Gibbsite, diaspore,
boehmite

Goethite, kaoline,
Ilmenite, zircon, anatase

Manganes
(i) Sedimentary
association
(ii) Metamorphic
association

Psilomelane, pyrolusite,
cryptomelane, manganite,wad

Quartz, feldspar, apatite,

clay, micaceous mineral,
pyroxene, amphibole,
and barite, garnet (?),
hematite, hydrated
iron oxide (goethiie)

Limestone

Calcite, aragonite, dolomite

Beach sand

Braunite, bixybite hollandite,

jacobsite, hausmanite, wad

Quartz, chlorite, shale

Ilmenite FeTiO3, zircon Zr02,
Quartz, amphibole,
garnet(Ca,Mg,Fe)(AI,Fe,Cr)(SiO4)3, pyroxene, olivine,
monazite (Ce,Th,Y)PO4 ,
tourmaline
xenotime TiO2 etc. Sillimanite (?)

Copper
(hydrothermal
and porphyry type
deposit)

Sulphides
[chalcopyrite CuFeS2,
chalcocite Cu2S, covellite
Cu Bornite CusFeS4jOxides
[cuprite, Cu20jCarbonate
[malachite Cu2CO3(OH)2,
Azurite Cu3(CO3)2(OH)2)1
Trace: U, Mo, Au

Minerals in phyllite,
schist, quartz schist,
garnet-chlorite schist,
chlorite, biotite, dolomite,
shale, chert,
quartz, feldspar

Lead-zinc
(hydrothermal
deposit)

Sulphides (galena PbS,

sphalerite ZnS)
Carbonate- Cerrusite PbCO3
Sulphate- Anglesite ZnSO4
Hemimorphite
Trace: Ag, Au, Cd, In, Cu, Sb

Phyllite, schist, quartz

schist, garnet-chlorite
schist, chlorite, biotite,
dolomite, shale, chert,
quartz, feldspar, Barite,
Pyrite, pyrrhotite,
arsenopyrite,
chalcopyrite, argentite

Chromite
(magmatic
deposit)

Chromitite FeCr204,
Trace: Ni

Magnetite, dunite (olivine/

serpentine),pyroxene,
gabbro (plagioclase,
olivine, pyroxene)

Gold

Arseno-pyrite, native gold

Minerals of host rock

(Phyllite, schist, quartz
schist, amphibole, chlorite,
biotite, dolomite, shale,
chert, quartz, feldspar),
pyrite, chalcopyrite

F4 cWddeieVMa50.CP1 Dete:7/8/04 Lament SSP-0159 Co

Co,

cVirldataY1412CF1 Dale :7

Cormert SSP-0159 Ca 111C{671

White clay in
weathered fragment

1000-

so

4o

r.

eD

Deg.:4=2411*a

Fig. 2 : X-Ray diffractograms of selected ore fragments from the bulk

iron ore sample.

Fig. 3A : Microphotograph of partly martitised magnetite within a

matrix of braunite (Br). The martitised magnetite have a core of
magnetite (Mt) with an outer rim of martite (Mrt). Plane polarised
light X200. The longer edge of photo equals to 0.6mm.

Fig.3B : Microphotograph of martite (Mil) and inconspicuously

developed microplaty hematite around which goethite (Go) is
deposited in the voids (V) by precipitation from solutions mobilised.
Plane polarised light X200. The longer edge of photo equals to 0.6mm.

Fig. 3C : Microphotograph of martite (with high reflectivity) and

quartz (grey colour with low reflectivity) association and void. Plane
polarised light X200. The longer edge of photo equals to 0.6mm.
1.3 RELEVANCE OF SIZE DISTRIBUTION
Valuable mineral matter is usually finely disseminated in the bulk ore
containing large proportion of undesirable gangue material. Mineral
Processing aims at enriching the ore by getting rid of some of this gangue
material making use of differences in many of the physical properties of the
two. In order to be able to achieve this, the valuable mineral must be physically
liberated from the gangue by size reduction as indicated by the liberation
characteristics. In doing so, we end up having a wide range of sizes of the
ground ore. This range and the material content in each smaller size ranges
are collectively known as size distribution.
This distribution is a very important aspect in mineral processing. There
are several issues associated with it. The most important is the fact that size
reduction or comminution is an energy intensive operation. Therefore, the
final size distribution must not be finer than what is required for liberation.
Also, the size distribution should be such that the amount of ultrafines in the
distribution is minimum. This is necessary for the fact that processing fines
is extremely difficult and expensive.
Due to the nature of the ores the valuable mineral or the gangue may
get segregated in certain size classes. In such cases downstream processing
may take advantage of such phenomena. Hence, the importance of size
distribution is widely acknowledged.

The following example elaborates the utility of size distribution. In

this example 1 ton of boulders have been broken into particles less than 1
mm. The crushed material is sieve analysed and the data are shown below in
Table 2.
Table 2 : Typical size distribution data
Size range
(micron)
1000-500
500-250
250-150
150-75
75-38

Weight
(kg)
30.8
209.4
256.8
212.3
163.6

Weight
(%)
3.08
20.94
25.68
21.23
1636

Passing Size
(microns)
1000
500
250
150
75

Passing
(%)
100.0
96.92
75.98
50.30
29.07

38-0

127.1

12.71

38

12.71

100
90
BO
70

8, , 60

2 so
40
30
20

/
7

10

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

900

1000

Size (microns)

Fig. 4 : Size distribution plot

Usually, the data in the last two columns are plotted with size in the
abscissa as shown in Figure 4. In the Figure, three parameters are shown.
These are the sizes at which 20%, 50% and 80% of the material pass. These
sizes are known as d20, (150 and d80 respectively and are used to quantify
the distribution. In this example, they are 52, 148 and 282 microns
respectively.
11

There are several mathematical functions to represent various size

distributions. The most common one is known as the Rosin-Rammler
distribution. According to this distribution, if the passing size is denoted as
dp and the percentage of material passing this size as P(dp) then
P (c1 r ) = 1 exp[ (c1 I d *p)a

(1)
Where dp* and a are characteristic parameters of the size distribution.
1.4 COMMINUTION
The process of size reduction is known as comminution. In mineral
processing parlance, comminution in coarse range is known as crushing and
in fine range it is called grinding.
Generally, crushing is carried out in two stages, namely, primary and
secondary crushing. Jaw and Gyratory type crushers are used mostly for
primary crushing. They are characterized by wide input side (known as gape)
and narrow discharge. They can handle large tonnage of material. Jaw crushers
produce a reduction ratio of 4:1 to 9:1 while gyratory crushers produce a
somewhat larger range of 3:1 to 10:1. The reduction ratio is defined as the
representative feed size by representative product size.
Once the run-of-mine (ROM) ore is crushed to smaller pieces by the
primary crushing units, the secondary crushers are employed to achieve further
reduction in size. Examples of secondary crushers are cone crusher, impact
crusher and roll crusher. Cone crushers produce reduction ratios in the range
5:1 to 8:1. Very high reduction ratios, 20:1 to 40:1, can be achieved using
hammer type impact crushers. However, roll crushers do not offer high
reduction ratios. They can attain ratios only in the range 2:1 to 4:1. Roll
crushers also have the limitation on feed size. Very large size particles can
not be gripped by the rollers and the angle of nip is the key parameter in this
regard. Rotary breakers are also used for comminution in coarse size range
particularly in coal preparation.
Comminution is a very energy intensive operation. Generally speaking,
the more energy that is absorbed by the particle, the finer the average size of
the product population. If dp is a representative size of a distribution (usually
d80), the relationship between comminution energy absorbed per unit mass
and the representative size is defined by a differential equation:
dE/dd p

(2)
where, E is the energy absorbed and n is an exponent whose various
values have been suggested by different workers.
The above equation can be solved with the initial condition that E=0
when dp=dp, (product size = parent size) to get (for n # 1):

1
n 1 cl"'
P

(3)

Thus, when n = 1 (Kick's Equation):

E.kln

(4)

dp

When n = 1.5 (Bond's Equation):

1
1 ,
E= ,
L/C L
d" 2

(1"
;2
P-

(5)

When n = 2 (Rittinger's Equation):

,r 1 ---j
1,
E. icL
d p d p,

(6)

The later two equations are generally used to estimate the energy
consumption for comminution. The work index of a material is calculated
using Equation (5), that indicates the ease or difficulty of comminution in
terms of energy requirement.
Grinding machines in the mineral industry are of tumbling mill type.
These mills exist in a variety of kinds such as ball, rod, pebble, autogeneous,
semi-autogeneous, etc. Grinding action is induced by relative motion between
the particles of media - the rods, balls or pebbles and the particles themselves.
High compression roll mill and fluid energy mills are recent developments
in comminution technology.
There are two different types of motion of media particles in the mill,
namely, cascading and cataracting generating from the tumbling motion of
the mill. When the particles move along the inner surface of the mill shell,
lifted up, loses contact with the surface and travel downward in a trajectory
through the empty space inside the mill resulting in an impact on contact
with the inner surface again, the motion is called cataracting. This motion
produces less amount of fines.
When the media particles move up and then roll down along a parabolic
path while remaining within the bulk itself, the motion is called cascading.
This motion generates fines and to be minimised to the extent possible. Clearly,
at lower rpm of the mill cascading is predominant and higher speed is
necessary for cataracting motion. However, this is restricted by the critical
speed, a very crucial parameter, of the mill.

Fc

Fg

Fig. 5 : Forces on a media particle in a tumbling mill

When a media particle is moved up the two forces acting on it are the
centrifugal force Fc and the gravitational force Fg. Balancing them in the
radial direction and simplifying,
28

1/2

C = [D.

(7)

where ? is the angular speed and Dm is the mill diameter. Expressing

angular speed in revolutions per minute,
N

423
D"2

(8)

This is the critical speed of the mill beyond which the media particles
will remain centrifuged at the wall resulting in no impact or grinding action.
Thus, the mill must be operated below the critical speed.
In industrial practice, most comminution operations are closed circuit
except primary crushing. A comminution circuit is said to be closed when it
operates in series with a size classifier and the coarose fraction of the classifier
is re-circulated back into the comminution unit. A secondary crusher with a
vibrating screen and a ball mill/rod mill with a hydrocyclone are most common
closed circuit comminution operations in mineral processing plant practice.
Most industrial grinding circuits are operated under wet conditions.
This circuit ensures a steady output of desired sized particles with a suitable
distribution. The mass flow rate of the output of this circuit must remain
reasonably constant with a pre-set value of the representative size (d80).
Deviation from this target will result in under-utilization or choking of
downstream processing stages. There are several variables that can be
monitored and controlled to achieve this target. Mill charge, feed rate, pulp
density, classifier feed pressure, etc., can be measured and adjusted to the
required value to ensure smooth operation and obtain output of required
specifications.
,A

1.5 CLASSIFICATION
Classification is a method of separating of minerals into two or more
products on the basis of size. In coarse size range this may be achieved
under dry conditions. However, starting from grinding most operations are
generally performed under wet conditions in mineral processing. When a.
solid particle falls in fluid (water) medium there is resistance to this movement
and the value increases with velocity. When equilibrium is attained between
the gravitational and fluid resistances forces, the body reaches its terminal
velocity and thereafter falls at a uniform rate. This terminal velocity is function
of the particle size and density.
Classifiers consist essentially of sorting column in which a fluid is rising
at a uniform rate. Particles introduced into the sorting column either sink or
rise according to whether their terminal velocities are greater or less than the
upward velocity of the fluid. The sorting column therefore separates the feed
into two products - an overflow consisting of particles with terminal velocities
less than the velocity of the fluid and an underflow of particles with terminal
velocities greater than the rising velocity.
Classifiers are divided mainly into two broad classes depending on the
direction of flow of the carrying current. Horizontal current classifiers such
as mechanical classifiers, spiral classifiers, rake classifier are essentially of
the free settling type. Vertical current or hydraulic classifiers such as
elutriators, hydrocyclones, hydrosizers are usually of hindered settling types.
Sieve bends are also commonly used for classification.
Hydrocyclone
Hydrocyclones (Figure 6) are continuously operating classifying devices
that utilise centrifugal forces to accelerate the settling rate of particles. It is
one of the most important devices used in the mineral industry. Hydrocyclones
operate under pressure. The feed, a mixture of water and solids, enters the
hydrocyclone tangentially through the inlet, which forces the mixture to spin
inside the cyclone. This spinning motion generates centrifugal forces, which
cause the air to disengage quickly and exit through the vortex fmder.
The liquid passes down into the conical section where the reduction in
diameter accelerates the fluid thus generating centrifugal forces strong enough
to cause the solids to separate from the liquid. The larger particles are forced
towards the wall because of greater mass and then travel down the length of
the conical section of the hydrocyclone in a spiral pattern towards the solids
outlet, termed the underflow. The liquids migrate towards the center of the
hydrocyclone where the flow reverses and moves upwards towards the
overflow through the vortex finder. The finer particles do not get centriguged
15

Overflow
Vortex Finder

Undertlow

Fig. 6 : Schematic of a hydrocyclone classifier

Ideal
100
Real
Feed
appearing
in
underflow 50

d so
Size ( p\m)

Fig. 7 : Partition curve of a hydrocyclone

towards the peripheri due to their smaller mass and hence accompany the
liquid to the overflow. Thus a separation of larger size particles from smaller
size ones are achieved.
The commonest method of representing cyclone efficiency is by a
performance curve or partition curve as shown in the Figure 7. ThiS relates
the weight fraction or percentage of material in each size in the feed that
reports to the apex or underflow to the particle size. The cut point or separation
size of the cyclone is often defined as that point on the partition curve for
which 50% of particles in the feed of that size reports to the underflow.
Particles of this size have an equal chance of going either with the overflow
or underflow. This point is usually referred as the d50.. The sharpness of the
cut depends on the slope of the central section of the partition curve; the
closer to vertical is the slope, the higher is the efficiency. The slope of the
curve can be expressed by taking the points at which 75% and 25% of the
feed particles report to the underflow. These are the d75 and d25 sizes,
respectively. The efficiency of separation or the so called imperfection I, is
then given by
(9)
I = (d75 d25 ) / 2d50
Several factors affect the performance of a hydrocyclone. The effects
of changing operating and design parameters are given below in the Table 3.
Table 3 : Factors affecting hydrocyclone performance
Effect

Reason

Increase

Decrease Efficiency

More likely to suck

particles up

Pressure Drop

Increase

Increase Efficiency

Apex diameter

Increase

Feed Flow Rate

Increase

Prevents Overload,
Causes flushing of
particles and fluid
And in the extreme
case decreases efficiency
Increase Efficiency
Increase G forces

Vortex Finder
length

Increase

Decrease Efficiency

More likely to suck

particles up

Cyclone dia.

Increase

Decrease Efficiency

Decrease G forces

Cyclone Length

Increase

Increase Efficiency

Residence time
increases

Particle size

Increase

Increase Efficiency

More likely for

particle to migrate
to exterior wall

Parameter
Vortex Finder
diameter

Change

17

Flow.rate increases,
Increase in G forces

There are a number of empirical relationships that are used by designers

in predicting performance and designing cyclones. There are different
equations to calculate the cut-point (150. Plitt's equation is one of the most
important of them:
dso

=[14.81X

D, 6D:21 exp(0.063V)] AD: 71 h 38 Q

51

(10)

Where, dso is the cut point (gm), D. is the cyclone diameter, D. is

overflow diameter, Di is inlet diameter, V is the volumetric percentage of
solids in feed, D. is the underflow opening diameter, h is the effective cyclone
length, Q is total volume flow rate, S and L are specific gravity of solids and
liquid respectively.
1.6 GRAVITY CONCENTRATION
Gravity concentration process that exploits the differences in densities
of minerals to bring about a separation is the oldest beneficiation method
known to mankind. Although with the advent of froth flotation, the relative
importance of gravity concentration has declined in twentieth century, on an
average higher tonnage of material is still treated by gravity concentration
than flotation. It finds diverse applications in the treatment of coal, beach
sands, iron, gold, diamonds platinum, barite, fluorspar, tin, tungsten ores
etc. The gravity separation processes are comparatively cheaper and
environment friendly.
Gravity separation of two minerals with different specific gravity is
carried out by the relative movement in response to force of gravity and one
or more other forces. Normally one of the forces is resistance to motion by a
fluid, usually water. Besides the specific gravity, the factors such as size,
shape and weight of the particle also affect the relative movement and hence,
the separation. The ease or difficulty of separation depends upon the relative
differences in these factors.
The Concentration Criteria (CC) which gives an idea of the amenability
of separation of two minerals, can be expressed by
CC

(du 4)
(11)

(dL dF )

where, dH = Sp. gr. of the heavy mineral

dF = Sp. gr. of the fluid, and
dL = Sp. gr. of the light mineral.
Generally, when the quotient is greater than 2.5 (whether positive or
negative) then gravity separation is relatively easy. With a decrease in the
18

value of the quotient the efficiency of the separation decreases and below
1.25 generally, gravity concentration is not feasible.
As mentioned above, besides the specific gravity, the motion of a particle
in fluid also depends on its size. The efficiency of gravity concentration
increases with an increase in particle size. The particle movement should be
governed by the Newton's Law, Eq. 12
v=

D
[3gd(D, D
(12)

Df

where, v = terminal velocity of the particle, Ds = density of the solid,

Dr = density of the fluid, and d = diameter of the particle.
For small particle, the movement is dominated mainly by surface friction
and these respond poorly to commercial, high capacity gravity separators.
To reduce the size effect and for making the relative motion of the particles
specific gravity dependent, a closely sized feed is desirable.
There is no single mechanism for the operation of a particular gravity
separator. Generally a combination of two or more mechanisms is helpful in
explaining the behavior of any separator. The various mechanisms proposed
are briefly described below.
Density
The methodology employs a fluid with the apparent density in between
those of them inerals to be separated. Hence due to difference in the buoyancy,
one mineral floats while the other sinks. The most common example is the
heavy medium separation.
Stratification
In this case the minerals are stratified by an intermittent fluidization
caused by the pulsation of the fluid in a vertical plane. Examples are various
types of jigs used for concentration including Baum and relatively more recent
Batac jigs.
Flowing Film
The minerals are separated by the relative movement through a stream
of slurry which is flowing down a plane by the action of gravity. Examples
are sluice, Richert Cone etc.
In another type of flowing film concentrators, the various constituents
are separated by the superposition of a horizontal shear force on the flowing
film. Examples are Shaking table, Bartles-Mozley Separator and Cross Belt
Concentrator.
19

Range of the Available Gravity Concentrators

A wide range of gravity separators is available for concentration of
various types of ores with feed varying particle size distribution. Besides the
cost involved, the important factors in equipment selection are the particle
size distribution of the feed, specific duty required, throughput and efficiency
of the separation desired.
Recent Developments in Fine Gravity Concentration
As mentioned in the previous section, gravity concentration processes
suffer from serious limitations in treating fine particles (typically below 50
micron) efficiently. The factors such as small mass, low momentum, colloidal
coating, hetero-aggregation, high surface area, increased surface energy and
viscosity cause loss in selectivity of separation. But considering the high
loss of values in fines and shines coupled with the environmental pollution
problems, there have been considerable efforts to develop an efficient gravity
separator for fines. The various early fine gravity concentrator like Buddies,
Stakes, Vanners, Round tables and Round frames were relied upon the
principle of thin film concentration and suffer from very low capacity per
unit area and the low ratio of enrichment.
In recent times because of their simple design and less maintenance
problems, water only cyclones are gaining popularity. The equipment is similar
to conventional cyclone except that it has got a large angle lower conical
section. This helps in suppressing the classification and leads to separation
based on the difference in the specific gravity of the suspended particles.
The equipment has been used for coal preparation but there exists scope for
extending its application to lead-zinc, cassiterite, placer deposits of gold etc.
The application of centrifugal forces to heavy media separation, in the
D.M.S. Cyclone, Dynawhirlpool and the Triflow separator, has increased
the range of particle sizes that can be treated down to 200 microns. The
recent fine gravity centrifugal separators like Knelson concentrator, Kelsey
jig and Multi-Gravity separator (MGS) can treat particles further in the finer
size range.
1.7 MAGNETIC SEPARATION
This is one of the concentration processes that utilize the differences in
magnetic properties of various minerals present in the ore body. The magnetic
fraction may be valuable or gangue depending upon its use in a particular
flow sheet or process and so also the non-magnetic fraction, e.g., separation
of magnetite (magnetic) from quartz (non-magnetic), separation of tin bearing
mineral cassiterite (non-magnetic) from magnetite (magnetic) impurity etc.
20

When a material is placed in a magnetic field H, the magnetic field

inside the material will be the sum of the external magnetic field and the
magnetic field generated by the material itself. The magnetic field that exists
in such a material is called the magnetic induction or magnetic flux density,
B, and it is defined as follows:
(13)
B = po(II +
Where, M = intensity of magnetization (a property of the material)
mo = permeability of free space
The magnetic property of minerals of most interest to mineral probessing
engineers is the magnetic susceptibility (c) which is defined by c= M/H. The
most commonly tabulated value of magnetic susceptibility is the specific
susceptibility in electromagnetic units. The specific susceptibility (cs) is
defined as the ratio of specific magnetization (Ms) to the magnetizing field,
cs = Ms/H. All minerals are affected in some way when placed in a magnetic
field, although the affect is too small to be detected in most of the minerals.
Magnetic susceptibility of some common minerals is given in Table -4.
Table 4 : Magnetic susceptibilities of common minerals
Mineral

Specific
susceptibility .
(104 elkg)

-0.3 to -1.4 0

Pyrrhotite

101o30,000

-0.5 to -D6

Hematite

10 to 760

Kaolinite

-2

Ilmenite

46 to 80,000

Halite, Gypsum, Anhydride

-0.5 to -2.0

Magnetite

20,000 to110,000

Serpentinite

120 to 290

Dolomite

-1 to-41

Illite, Montmorillonite

5 to 13

Sandstones, Shales, Limestone

0 to 1200

Biotite

5 to 52

Serpentine

110 to 630

Goethite

26 to 280

Clay

10 to 15

Chalchopyrite

0.6 to 10

Coal

1.9

Pyrite

1 to 100

Mineral

Specific
susceptibility
(104 m3lIts)

Calcite
Quartz, Feldspar, Magnesit

In general, minerals can be classified in two broad categor'es, according

to whether they are attracted or repelled by a magnetic field.
Diamagnetic: Diamagnetic minerals are made up exclusively of
diamagnetic ions and are repelled along the lines of magnetic forces to a
point where the field intensity is smaller. Diamagnetic ions have no unpaired
electrons. All their d- and f- electrons are in closed shells. The forces involved
here are very small and diamagnetic minerals cannot be concentrated
magnetically.
Paramagnetic: Paramagnetism in minerals generally arises from ions
with unpaired electron spins, most commonly of the first transition series.
21

They are attracted along the lines of magnetic force to points of greater field
intensity. Paramagnetic minerals can be concentrated in high intensity
magnetic separators.
Ferromagnetism: Ferromagnetism is a special case of paramagnetism,
involving very high forces. In a few minerals, notably Fe, Ni, Co, Mn, Cr,
Ce, Ti and Pt group metals, the interaction between the spins cause spins on
adjacent atoms in the minerals to become aligned parallel to each other. This
suggests that all unpaired spins may become parallel and that a permanent
magnetization may exist even in the absence of external magnetic field
(remanence). They can be separated in a low intensity magnetic separator.
Fundamentals of magnetic concentration
Concentration is achieved by simultaneously applying to all particles
in an ore a magnetic force that acts on magnetic particles and a second force
or combination of forces which acts in a different direction and affects both
magnetic and non-magnetic particles. The most commonly applied
nonmagnetic forces are gravitational, centrifugal and fluid drag. Other forces
that usually enter in an incidental manner are frictional, electrostatic, Van
Der Waals, and capillary. A magnetic separator is generally classified as low
intensity if its maximum field intensity is less than about 2000 gauss (II= 1.6
x 105 Atm, B=0.20 T). Low intensity magnetic separators (LIMS) are used
to treat ferromagnetic and highly paramagnetic minerals such as iron and
magnetite. High intensity magnetic separators (RIMS) generally have field
strengths of 10 to 20 kilogauss. These separators are used to treat weakly
magnetic minerals, such as hematite.
Magnetic separators are commonly classified into two broad groups,
namely, wet and dry based on their usage. A more definitive classification
within these two basic groups is made based on the relative magnetic field
strength of the individual units, i.e. wet low intensity magnetic separators,
wet high intensity magnetic separators etc. Table-5 shows the basic groupings
of the most commonly used magnetic separators.
Table 5 : Basic Groupings of Common Magnetic Separator
Dry magnetic separators

Wet magnetic separators

Low

Drum separators
Bowl traps
Magnetizing coils and blocks
Demagnetizing coils

High : High intensity separators

Low : Magnetic pulleys

Rectangular suspended magnets
Magnetic drums-radial pole types
Magnetic drums-axial pole types
Plate magnets
Grate magnets
High : Induced roll magnetic separators
Cross belt magnetic separators
Ring type magnetic separators
22

Common Types of Magnetic Separators Used for Concentration

Ore Cobbing Magnetic Pulleys : Ore cobbing or concentrating magnetic
pulleys utilize more poles across the pulley width so as to develop as uniform
field depth as possible and a sufficient area of collecting magnetic poles to
carry the large amount of magnetic material commonly encountered in such
applications. Generally, ferromagnetic minerals are used for concentration.
Magnetic Drums : Magnetic drums with axial pole design are used to
concentrate ferromagnetic minerals. Feed materials up to 1-inch diameter
can be treated. The drum speed can be varied between 20-45 rpm in low
intensity whereas it is up to 200 rpm for high intensity separators.
Induced Roll Magnetic Separator : It develops high intensity magnetic
fields and is capable of removing particles that do not respond to the low
intensity magnetic separator. This is widely used to treat beach sands,
wolframite, tin ores, glass sands and phosphate rocks.
Cross-belt High Intensity Magnetic Separators : A cross belt runs
across the face of the electromagnetic pole, and the sharp magnetized points
of this upper pole attract the weakly magnetic material. The cross belt
transports it to a suitable discharge point. Selective mineral concentration of
weakly magnetic minerals e.g. ilmenite, monazite, garnet, chromite,
wolframite, etc., can be separated by using this instrument.
Ring Type Magnetic Separators : The basic construction is similar to
the cross belt but a magnetized steel ring is substituted for the cross belt.
Low Intensity Wet Drum Magnetic Separators : This is used to
concentrate ferromagnetic particles such as iron of abrasion, magnetite and
some pyrrhotites. The feed size is limited to 1/8 inch or even finer. Two well
known usage are the concentration of magnetic taconite ores and the recovery
of magnetite media in heavy media separation plants.
High Intensity Wet Magnetic Separators : High intensity separators
generally use a field strength of about 20,000 gauss. Use of a matrix of shaped
iron pieces which produce high field gradients to act as collection sites for
paramagnetic particles. The commonly used matrix to form the high gradient
sites is balls, rods, grooved plates, expanded metal and fibers. High gradient
magnetic separators use uniform field of a solenoid. The core is filled with a
matrix of secondary poles such as ball bearings or wire wool to obtain the
high gradient.
Super Conducting Separators : Small laboratory super conducting
solenoids with fields up to about 60 kilogauss are commonly available and
are used for the production of large volumes of relatively permanent magnetic
field. Negligible power loss is an important advantage.
23

1.8 ELECTROSTATIC SEPARATION

Electrostatic separation is one of those important unit operations where
electrical conductivity property of mineral surface is used selectively to
separate out desirable mineral from other undesirable minerals. Electrostatic
forces are generated by the action of an electric field on a charged particle.
Consequently, in any electrostatic separation process one needs a source of
electrical potential to generate the electric field and a process by which the
individual particles are charged electrically. It is found that the following
factors have significant effect on the process:
1.Intensity of electric field 4. Temperature of the particle/bed
2. Particle size
5. Inter-electrode distance
3. Relative humidity
Electrostatic separation has the following advantages over any other
processes:
1. The electrostatic forces work on the particles to be separated only;
they do not affect the medium in which the particles are located
2. The trajectories of the particles under the influence of the electric
field follow the electric field lines. The electric field lines may be
shaped to suit the particular application
3. The direction of electrostatic forces may be reversed by either
changing the polarity of the charge or the direction of the external
electrostatic field
4. The electrostatic forces may be arranged to work in combination
with other forces such as gravitational or centrifugal forces
5. The electrostatic separation forces are independent of the substrate
of the material on which the surface electric charge is generated.
They are determined solely by the product of electric field and
charge. In magnetic separators the forces are considerably greater,
yet such forces work on magnetic materials only. The electrostatic
forces do not differentiate between magnetic and non-magnetic
materials. The charged magnetic particle placed in an electric field
will be subjected to forces practically equal to those acting on a
similar particle made out of non-magnetic material and charged
with the same charge.
However, the process is associated with the following disadvantages
as well:
1. Limitation of maximum mass that it can effectively work upon.
2. The size of the material to be separated should be very small which
leads to the increase of comminution cost.

Electrification Process
The separation by this process can be achieved by selective charging
of the particles which is known as electrification. Different electrification
processes are utilised in practice. They are Tribo-electrification, Corona
electrification and Induction electrification.
Electrostatic separation Equipment
Generally two types of equipment are used for separation. These are as
follows:
1. Drum type electrostatic separation unit
This equipment consists of a rotating drum made of mild steel or some
other conducting material, which is earthed through its support bearings as
shown below in the Figure 8. An electrode assembly, comprising of a brass
tube in front of which is supported a length of fine wire, spans the complete
length of the roll, and is supplied with a filly rectified DC supply of up to 50
kV, usually of negative polarity. The voltage supplied to the assembly should
be such that ionisation of the air takes place. This can often be seen as a
visible corona discharge. Arcing between the electrode and the roll must be
avoided as it destroys the ionisation. When ionisation occurs, the minerals
receive a spray discharge of electricity, which gives the poor conductors a
high surface charge, causing them to be attracted to and pinned to the rotor
surface. The particles of relatively high conductivity do not become charged
as rapidly since the charge rapidly dissipates through the particles to the
earthed rotor. These particles of higher conductivity follow a path, when
leaving the rotor, approximating to the one, which they would assume if
there were no charging effect at all.

Fig. 8 : Principle of Electrostatic Separation

25

A combination of pinning and lifting effects can be created by using a

static electrode large enough to preclude corona discharge, following the
electrode. The conducting particles, which are flung from the rotor, are
attracted to this static electrode and the compound process produces a
very wide and distinct separation between the conducting and nonconducting particles.
2. Plate type electrostatic separation unit
A plate or screen type electrostatic separator is also used for separation.
This type of equipment mainly consists of an oval type, high voltage electrode,
which induces the electric field. The material is fed through a sloping,
grounded plate under gravity. The electrostatic field is effectively shorted
through the conducting particles, which are lifted towards the charged
electrode in order to decrease the energy of the system.
Application
Electrostatic separation is used successfully for beneficiation of wide
range of minerals. Important examples are:
1.Beneficiation of coal.
2. Beach sand beneficiation.
1.9 FLOTATION
Froth flotation is a process used to separate minerals, suspended in
liquids, by selectively attaching them to gas bubbles. Hence, in flotation we
have a three-phase system. The separation principle is based on the lack of
affinity of the mineral surface towards water, a property denoted by
hydrophobicity. Flotation is undoubtedly the most important and versatile
mineral processing technique and applications are being expanded to treat
greater tonnages and to cover new areas. It is a selective process and can be
used to achieve separation from complex ores such as lead-zinc, copperzinc etc.
Principles of flotation:
Froth flotation utilises the differences in physico-chemical surface
properties of various minerals. After treatment with reagents, such differences
in surface properties between the minerals within the flotation pulp become
apparent. For flotation to take place, an air bubble must be able to attach
itself to a particle and lift it to the water surface. The process can be applied
to relatively fine particles. In flotation concentration, the mineral is usually
transferred to the froth leaving the gangue in the tailing in direct flotation

and in the reverse flotation the gangue is separated into the float fraction
leaving the concentrate in the pulp.
In flotation, the minerals can be classified as hydrophobic, i.e., having
no affinity towards water and hydrophilic, i.e., having strong affmity towards
water. Very few minerals are naturally hydrophobic and the hydrophobic
conditions could be achieved by using chemical reagents. Diamonds are
naturally hydrophobic and this property is made use of in grease tabling to
recover diamonds.
The tensile forces acting on the surface of the particles are responsible
for the development of an angle between the mineral surface and bubble
surface and this angle is known as contact angle. The flotability of mineral
increases with the contact angle. Surfaces with greater contact angles are
said to be hydrophobic or aerophilic. Most of the minerals are not water
repellent in their natural state and flotation reagents must be added to the
pulp to attain selective hydrophobicity of the surfaces. The most important
reagents in this regard are collectors. Various other reagents are also used in
flotation and are briefly discussed below.
Reagents for flotation process
The reagents employed in flotation are generally interfacial surface
tension modifiers, surface chemistry modifiers, and/or flocculants. Usually
these are classified as collectors, frothers and modulating agents.
Collectors are reagents that are absorbed on the mineral surfaces to
render water repellent property of the surface. The collectors are mainly
classified as ionising and non-ionising. The ionising collectors may be divided
into anionic and cationic types. Anionic collectors are characterised by an
organic-acid group and are the most important type. The cationic collectors
are characterised by the cation. Usually, very small quantities of collectors
are used in flotation ranging from 0.2 to about 1.0 kg per ton of material
processed.
Frothers are another group of reagents used to obtain the stability of
the froth. Frothers are similar to ioninc collectors. Generally, they are
heteropolar, surface-active organic reagents capable of being adsorbed on
the air-water interface and reduce the surface tension to form a stable airbubble. Chemically, the frothers may contain any of the groups such as
hydroxyl, carboxyl, carbonyl, amino group and sulpho group. The alcohols
containing hydroxyl group are most common. Pine oil, cresylic acid, MIBC
are widely used frothers.
Modulating agents are chemical additives that modify the environment
of the flotation and may be classified into activators, depressants, pH
regulators and flocculants.
27

Activators are chemical compounds, which interact at the mineral

surface thus altering its chemical nature to promote its interaction with the
collector.
Depressants are chemical compounds, which again alter the mineral
surface to prevent or hinder the action of collectors. They are required to
depress certain minerals to promote the selective flotation of desired minerals.
pH regulators are used to control the selective separation of the minerals
and can be achieved by using a variety of bases and acids.
Flocculants are another class of reagents that may effectively control
flotation in certain cases. They are essentially surfactants like collectors but
having different effect and hence different application. Their principal
characteristic is a polymeric hydrocarbon chain, which bridges together large
number of fine particles producing an aggregate of them called flocs. Unlike
a single fine particle, a floc may have enough mass for effective flotation and
help in recovery of fines through the flotation route.
Flotation Mechanism
The process of flotation is a sequence of several operations, some of
which are done in the preparatory stage and some in the flotation cell itself.
The sequences are:
1) Liberation of desired material
2) Absorption of reagents on particle surfaces through conditioning
3) Generation of air bubbles
4) Collision of particles with bubbles and their adsorption
5) Generation of air-water mineral complex in the presence of reagents
and
6) Transport of air-water-mineral aggregate to the surface.
Flotation Machines:
Preliminary laboratory test work on few grams could be conducted in
Hallimond tube. In this tube the mineral particles are held on a support of
sintered glass inside it containing the distilled water and the collector
under test. Air bubbles are introduced through the sinter and hydrophobic
mineral particles are lifted by the bubbles. The bubbles burst at the water
surface allowing the particles to fall into the collecting tube. Commercial
flotation machines may be divided in to mechanical cell, pneumatic cell
and cyclone cell.
A mechanical cell equipped with a stator and a rotor to keep the mineral
particles in suspension and to disperse air supplied (partly by suction and
partly by compression) through a central pipe around the shaft for the rotor.
74

The stator may be attached to the air pipe or to the cell walls.
Manufacturers of mechanical flotation cells in the industry include Denver
equipment, Galigher, Wemco, Outokumpu and Sala. Denver type flotation
machines are also being manufactured indigenously in India.
In a pneumatic cell, suspension of solid particles in water is achieved
by the compressed air being suitably dispersed throughout the volume of the
cell. It employs a perforated grid (or pipes) arranged in an appropriate position
near the top of the cell. This arrangement allows a thick bed of froth to be
formed. The flotation pulp, appropriately prepared and ready for separation,
is fed with a minimum of agitation on top of this bed of froth.
A cyclone cell, into which the feed is delivered (together with air)
through a cyclone feeder, under pressure. These are known as air-sparged
hydrocyclones. Very few of this type are presently in use.
Operating guidelines in flotation machine
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

Peripheral speed affecting amount of air drawn.

Pulp density affecting volume of air and power consumption.
Pulp feed point below impeller may create choking.
Pulp level affects turbulence and aeration.
Frother quantity may affect bubble size and air intake.
Impeller and stator position affects air intake and specific power
consumption.
7. Mechanism of removal of froth affects the quality of froth.
8. Improper removal of chamber product affects efficiency and quality.

Oleo flotation and oil agglomeration are also prevalent in coal industry.
Electro-flotation is a recent development in the recovery of ultra fines. Scope
of electro-flotation has also been extended to the field of effluent treatment.
1.10 DE-WATERING
The removal of water from solid, either partially or completely, comes
under the unit operation, 'Solid-Liquid Separation' which forms an integral
part of several mineral processing and hydro-metallurgical processes. In recent
years the importance of solid-liquid separation techniques have gained
considerable importance in order to reduce the load on thermal dryers which
are highly energy intensive and also for environmental protection. The
economics of coal utilisation, large scale mineral processing and water
treatment operations are critically dependent on the solid-liquid separation
technology since any improvement in product moisture reduction techniques
can result in significant cost saving.
29

The term, 'De-watering' in solid-liquid separation is used to define two

different operations:
a) The reduction of slurry volume and production of semi-dried solid
which are most commonly achieved through sedimentation. In this
case separation is affected by exploiting earth's gravitational field
(thickener) or centrifugal field (centrifuge or hydro-cyclone).
b) The slurry is subsequently de-watered through filtration in which
separation of solids from liquid is achieved by passing the slurry
through a filtering medium on which solids build up forming cake.
Various models, such as those of Richardson & Zaki, Michaels &
Bolger, Rober as well as Kynch etc. are described in the literature to
understand the sedimentation kinetics. Basically the whole of settling cycle
can be divided into two zones: (a) constant (or maximum) settling rate, and
(b) falling rate. period.
To understand the phenomenon of de-watering, it is important to define
how the moisture could be associated with the solid system. Usually the
moisture 'retention property of a solid system is influenced by the interparticular geometry, inherent physical flaws in the solid structure, and
porosity of the solid itself. For an ideal spherical particulate network
moisture could be present in three distinct forms: (i) capillary, (ii) funicular,
and (iii) pendular. In filtration process capillary water is partially removed,
while pendular and surface water are removed by centrifugation or thermal
drying. The process of filtration is often explained in terms of capillary
theory which treats the pore system in a filter cake as a bundle of capillaries
of changing diameters. The displacement of liquid phase will be in a tortuous
way along the capillaries: the capillary with the widest diameter will dewater first after overcoming a certain pressure difference. On further increase
of differential pressure the narrower capillaries will de-water subsequently.
The kinetics of de-watering can be interpreted in terms of the theory of
flow through porous media and Darcy's law holds good according to which
the volume flow rate (U) through a packed bed of unit area is given by:
(14)

U = *OP)/(fit *

where,
AP is the pressure difference across the filter cake having thickness L
K = permeability of the (cake) bed
= the fluid viscosity
The conventionally available de-watering techniques are not
sufficient for treating very fine particles (-325 mesh size) due to associated
111

problems. Hence there is an increasing need to develop improved dewatering techniques. Use of flocculants and surfactants in the de-watering
process has been successful in achieving this end to a considerable extent
in recent years.
Filtration of fine particles has always been a difficult area of mineral
beneficiation as well as coal preparation and has attracted much of R & D
effort throughout the world. Traditionally de-watering of fine particles has
been carried out using rotary vacuum filters, usually drum or disk filters.
During recent years a variety of pressure filters such as (a) air blown filter
press and (b) tube press have been developed. Extensive field trials have
shown that pressure filter can reduce free moisture down to very low level.
However, the widespread adoption of this equipment has been slow because
of relatively high capital costs involved. Current R & D is focused on the
development of a potentially low cost system, based on the use of an ultrahigh speed centrifuge.
R & D effort has been made towards the use of (a) flocculants - chemical
(organic) based and more recently bacteria based, and (b) surfactants as dewatering aids. Flocculants are usually linear, long chain, water-soluble
polymers based on polyacrylamide. These increase the yield of filtered solid
and produce a permeable filter cake amenable to rapid de-watering. In this
case, the long chain polymers bridge between individual particles, to produce
multi-particle aggregates. Surfactants typically consist of hydrophilic and
hydrophobic grouping. Although surfactant enhanced de-watering is of
technical and economic importance, the fundamental surface chemical
phenomena which decide their mode of action are not fully understood.
It is generally believed that these allow filter cake capillaries to drain
more rapidly by reducing the surface tension, and thus reduces moisture
content of the cake.
1.11 AGGLOMERATION
Often concentrates are produced from mineral processing plants in fine
particulate form and as such those can not be utilized for metal extraction
unless they are bound into some compacted or lumpy form called
'agglomerates' suitable for handling and feeding into furnaces. The process
of 'agglomeration' can be classified mainly into the following groups, namely,
Briquetting, Nodulizing (rotary kiln sintering), Vacuum extrusion, Sintering
and Pelletizing.
Briquetting : This is a very simple process, in which fine grained
materials are pressed into briquettes with the addition of moisture and/or
another binder under high mechanical pressure. The briquettes may undergo
31

farther treatment or thermal processing before their use. Although their

metallurgical behaviour in melting or reduction furnaces is very good, iron
ore briquetting could not make headway since the processing cost is relatively
higher and the production capacity of briquetting units is limited compared
to sintering or pelletisation units. Also, getting suitable strength becomes a
problem and their handling produces undesired fines. The briquetting process
is still utilized to agglomerate small quantities of flue dust or other circulating
materials produced in integrated iron and steel plants.
Nodulizing : In this process, iron bearing fmes and carbon are passed
through a rotary kiln, inclined at a few degrees to the horizontal, counter
current to hot gases produced by a gas fired burner. The flame temperature is
about 1300-1400 C and the maximum temperature of the agglomerates is
about 1100-1200 C. The exhaust gases leave the kiln at 300-400C. The hot
agglomerate discharges on to a water cooled chute and is removed by a water
cooler conveyor. The agglomerate quickly builds up in the walls of the sinter
zone to form rings. These are removed at frequent intervals by means of
scraper. The product from the kiln is in a semi-plastic state, and when cooled,
is dense, slaggy and difficult to reduce.
The ore fines and/or flue dust are mixed with water, and a binder such
as bentonite is added if necessary. The mix is fed into a de-airing chamber,
which is connected to a vacuum pump, by means of a scroll feeder, and
extruded through a series of dies by means of an auger. Short cylinders are
produced by means of a knife which slices through the extruded material at
regular intervals. The cylinders fall on to a conveyor, where they remain for
a curing time of approximately forty-five minutes. They may be charged to
the furnace as cured or may be fired.
Pelletisallon: This consists of two distinct operations, namely, forming
the ball shaped pellets at atmospheric temperature and then firing them at a
temperature below the softening temperature. Iron ore fmes and concentrates
are ground to suitable fineness generally 50-70% below 50 microns and mixed
with some quantity of moisture and a suitable binder e.g., bentonite, lime etc
and the mixture rolled in either a horizontal drum or an inclined disc. At this
stage, the spheres known as green balls or pellets have adequate strength to
withstand handling to the firing stage. Pellet firing, called induration, is
normally carried out using either a gas or oil. Initially, shaft kilns were used
but later, horizontal traveling grates, or a combination of horizontal traveling
grates and rotary kilns, were developed for this purpose. During induration,
not only the crystal structure is changed but also other bonds appear by
reactions between slag forming constituents - both between each other and
with iron oxides. In another pelletisation process, called 'Cold bonded
32

pelletisation', binders like calcium hydroxide or cement is added during green

ball formation. They are indurated by using steam under high pressure in an
autoclave or keeping the green pellets under moist condition over a long
period of time to complete the setting process.
Although, studies on pelletisation started some time in 1913 in Sweden,
the first commercial plant came into existence in Sweden in 1950.
Sintering : The sintering process consists, in essence, of mixing iron
ore fines, moisture, other fine iron bearing recycling material like mill scale,
flue dust etc., fluxing material e.g. lime, limestone, dolomite, quartz etc. and
solid fuel, normally coke breeze, and loading the mix on to a permeable
grate. The upper surface is ignited by oil or gas burners and air is sucked
downwards through the grate. After a short ignition period, heating of the
top surface is discontinued and a narrow combustion zone moves downwards
through the bed, each layer in turn being heated to 1200-1500C. In advance
of the combustion zone, water is evaporated and volatile compounds are
driven off. In the combustion zone, bonding takes place between the grains
and a strong agglomerate is formed. Most of the heat in the gases leaving the
combustion zone is absorbed by drying, calcining and pre-heating the lower
layers in the bed. When the combustion zone has reached the base of the
sinter mix the process is complete, and the sinter cake is tripped from the
grate and roughly broken up. After screening, the undersize is recycled and
the oversize is cooled and sent to the blast furnaces.
The sintering of non-ferrous ore fines is sometimes carried out in the
reverse direction. A thin layer of mix is first charged on to the grate and
ignited, mix is then added to bring the bed up to the full height and air is
blown upwards through the bed. The process is complete when combustion
at the bed top has been completed. This process is referred to as up-draught
sintering, in contradiction to the normal down draught sintering.
Evaluation of properties of agglomerates : In order to evaluate the
suitability of the agglomerated products in the blast furnaces, direct reduction
reactors and smelting reduction furnaces, certain test procedures have been
assigned by standardization organizations around the world. So far physical
properties are concerned, they are strength indices, namely, Shatter Index
and Tumbler Index. The other important properties are chemistry, reducibility,
reduction degradation index (RDI) and softening-melting characteristics.
Of all the agglomeration processes, only the continuous sintering strand
and pelletizing are now of any significance. The reasons for the failure of
other processes are:
33

I. High fuel cost due to thermal inefficiency

2. Mechanical unreliability leading to high maintenance costs and low
availability
3. Liability to serious operating problems
4. Unsuitability for large scale production
5. Poor quality of product
Briquetting generally is liable to mechanical problems. Unfired
briquettes have very little strength when heated under reducing condition.
Therefore, they break down in the furnace stack causing serious dust loss.
Fired briquettes are much more satisfactory but the extra cost is a serious
economic burden. Vacuum extrusion gives rise to a product which is unlikely
to be strong enough to withstand degradation in the blast furnace stack unless
it is fired before being charged, which puts up the production cost to an
uneconomic level.
Both the continuous sintering and pelletizing process yield a satisfactory
product. It is also possible to maintain high plant availability and to scale up
the units to a high output rate. The sintering process is particularly suited to
treat ore fines, and has the advantage that it is quite practicable to add flue
dust and flux to the sinter mix. Coke breeze, which is a by product of the
blast-furnace coke manufacturer, is a very suitable fuel. The sintering
process is not suitable for agglomerating fine concentrates, and here the
pelletizing process is most suitable. When the ore fines or coarse
concentrates are to be pelletized, it is usual to carry out further grinding
before pelletization is carried out.

1.12 MATERIAL BALANCE, PLANT EVALUATION

AND MODELING
Simple mass balance for a processing plant often leads to a reasonable
estimation of the performances of individual unit operations as well as overall
plant. In these computations often the mass flow rates and the assay values
of various material streams are used. However, in many instances, the streams
may not be sampled and therefore the assay data may not be available. Also,
the mass flow rate values are not measured for many intermediate streams of
a flowsheet. However, with the available data and measurement of minimum
additional data may be sufficient for detailed mass balancing and plant
evaluation. This is illustrated with an example below. In the Figure 9, the
stream name is followed by its identification number.
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SC-6

FF-1
R

ST-7

RT-3

RC-2

CT-5
C

CC-4

Fig. 9 : A typical circuit for processing in Mineral Processing Plant

In the above Figure, the fresh material is fed to process operation R
(stream name FF, ID no 1). The valuable stream from R (RC-2) is further
processed in operation C for quality improvement, while the gangue stream
from R (RT-3) is processed in operation S for recovering any remaining
valuable before discarding. The gangue stream from C (CT-5) is likely to
have some valuable and is fed back to process R along with stream FF. The
valuable from C (CC-4) is good quality material and is the valuable product
of the circuit. Similarly, the valuable stream of operation S (SC-6) is fed
back to R and the gangue stream from S (ST-7) indeed has little or no valuable
and is the other product (waste) of the circuit.
Usually, the solids mass flow rates of the fresh feed (stream 1) and
valuable product (stream 4) are measured. The valuable content (assay) of
various streams are also measured. If 'F' denotes the mass flow rate of solids
and 'a' denotes the assay value then, say the following data are available (the
calculated data are marked so in the Table):
Stream No.

Mass flow rate

100

56.94
(calc)

104.21
(calc)

25.82

31.12
(calc)

30.03
(calc)

74.18
(calc)

8.2

16.9

3.6

26.3

9.1

7.8

1.9
(calc)

(F, tph)
Assay
(a, %)

For the overall circuit the following mass balance may be written:
F 1 = F4 + F7
for the total mass conservation and
Fl x al = F4 x a4 + F7 x a7 for the valuable mass conservation
With the data from the Table, the above two equations may be solved
to obtain the mass flow rate and assay of the waste product stream (F7=74.18
tph and a7 = 1.9%). Thus, overall plant performance may be computed as:
Yield = (mass flow rate of valuable stream)/(mass flow rate of feed stream) = 25.82%
35

Recovery = (valuable flow rate in valuable stream)/(valuable flow rate in feed stream)
= (F4 x a4)/(F1 x al) = 82.81%
Similarly, mass balance around process C gives:
F2 xa2=F4 xa4 +F5 xa5
F2 = F4 + F5
and
Solving the above two one gets F2 = 56.94 tph and F5 = 31.12 tph.
So, process C has the following performance indicators:
Yield = 45.35% and Recovery = 70.57%.
Mass balance around process S:
F3 = F7 + F6
and
F3 x a3 = F7 x a7 + F6 x a6
Solving them for F3 and F6 one gets F3 = 104.21 tph and F6 = 30.03 tph.
Yield = 28.82% and Recovery = 62.44%.
Now, the values around process R are known and its performance may be computed:
Yield = (56.94)/(100 + 30.03 + 31.12) = 35.33%
Recovery = (16.9 x 56.94)/(8.2 x 100 + 30.03 x 7.8 + 31.12 x 9.1) = 71.95%
Thus, the evaluation of individual unit operations and overall plant
performance may be done through mass balance techniques.
Modeling Concepts:
The operations in mineral processing can be broadly divided into three
categories, namely, transformation, separation and de-watering. The units
that change the characteristics of the material are known as transformation
units. For example, the crushing and grinding operations change the particle
size of the material. The separation units are those that separate the minerals
making use of the differences in their properties. For example, flotation unit
separates on the basis of hydrophobicity of the mineral surfaces and heavy
media cyclones separate the heavy minerals from the lighter ones. Filters
and dryers separate the water from the solids. Even thickeners and fine screens
are often considered de-watering units for one of the product streams is
predominantly water.
This simple classification of operations is effectively exploited in
modeling the unit operations and thereby simulating the plant performance.
The model of a transformation unit should be able to compute the product
characteristics given the details of the feed material along with machine
parameters. It may be noted that all transformation units must have only one
feed stream and one product stream. Thus in generic form the model of such
units may be represented in the vector-matrix form:
P=TF

(15)
36

Where, P and F are vectors describing the product and the feed
characteristics and T is a transformation matrix that defines how the
characteristics of the feed are converted into that of the product stream. The
determination of this matrix, however, is quite involved and requires in-depth
analysis of the mechanisms of the process.
The separation units on the other hand must have a minimum of two
product streams. The model of these units should be able to describe the
various product streams from the given description of the feed stream. This
is achieved by making use of efficiency vectors. The efficiency of transfer of
material of certain type to a particular product stream may be expressed in a
similar vector-matrix form:
PI = El F

(16)

P2 = E2 F

(17)

..etc., where, P1, P2 ... are vectors describing different product streams, F is
the vector describing feed stream and El, E2 are efficiency matrices signifying
transfer to a specific stream. It may be noted that the efficiency matrices are
all diagonal matrices and they must add up to 100% (Identity matrix). Thus,
for a two-product separation process El = I - E2. Again, the estimation of
these efficiency matrices depends on the science of the process. The approach
for the estimation of these matrices varies widely with each process and may
be deeply involved task. However, such a description of the calculated product
streams are then passed to a simulation tool as feed to a subsequent operation
in the plant flowsheet. A complete simulation of the entire flowsheet could
thus be made possible.
FURTHER READING
1. Wills, B. A. (1985), Mineral Processing Technology (3Td Edition),
Pergamon Press.
2. Kelley, E.G. and Spottiswood, D.J. (1982), Introduction to Mineral
Processing, John Wiley & Sons.
3. Prasher, C. L. (1987), Crushing and Grinding Process Handbook, John
Wiley and Sons.
4. Tarjan, G. (1982), Mineral Processing, Vol. I & II, Akademiai Kiado,
Budapest.
5. Taggart, A. F. (1951), Elements of Ore Dressing, John Wiley and Sons.

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