Abstract

PAIVA, Paulo Renato Perdigão; MONTE, Marisa Bezerra de Mello  and  GASPAR, José Carlos. Concentration by apatite flotation originating from carbonatically affiliated rocks. Rem: Rev. Esc. Minas [online]. 2011, vol.64, n.1, pp. 111-116. ISSN 0370-4467.  http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S0370-44672011000100015.

The current processing study seeks to improve operations for the direct and reverse flotation of apatite originating from carbonatically-affiliated rocks to obtain an apatite concentrate in accordance with the phosphoric acid industry specifications. The direct flotation of apatite was carried out in two flotation phases, rougher and cleaner. The aim of direct flotation was to generate a product to feed the reverse flotation circuit of apatite. Reverse flotation was performed in three stages (rougher, cleaner and recleaner) and at pH 5.0, using phosphoric acid (H₃PO₄) as an apatite depressor. Summing up, the results of reverse flotation tests pointed out apatite recovery, which shows that the specific reagents used favored system selectivity. It was possible to obtain an apatite concentrate with 38.11% of P₂O₅, 50.98% of CaO, 1.07% of Fe₂O₃, 0.67% of MgO and ratio CaO/ P₂O₅ of 1.34.

Keywords : Flotation; silicon-carbonate ore; carbonates; apatite; phosphoric acid.