AkzoNobel is a leading global supplier of flotation reagents and collectors for industrial minerals and iron ore applications. It says it “has gained its leadership position by being at the forefront of the advanced colloid and surface chemistry upon which successful flotation depends – a position it has achieved with more than 40 years of research and development in molecular and surface chemistry, coupled with close collaboration with its customers and in-depth field experience.” The fruits of that unparalleled knowledge and expertise – an extensive range of optimised flotation reagents, collectors and technologies designed especially for all the major markets – will be presented and discussed by Andrey Danilov, Account Manager, Mining Chemicals, at the First International Flotation Reagents Forum in Moscow, Russia, March 24, 2014.
“The strength of our chemistry and process knowhow stems from the fact that we customize solutions to fit each individual ore,” states Danilov. “Choosing the best collector is based on three basic principles: every ore is unique; every ore is treated in a unique process; and optimum process performance is achieved with customized collectors.” AkzoNobel flotation collectors are designed to provide optimized solutions for each major market: calcite, phosphate, iron ore, and potash.
More than 90% of the world’s phosphate production is used in fertilisers. The only commercially exploited phosphate mineral is apatite, a calcium phosphate mineral with different compositions. However, traditional fatty acid collectors float not only apatite but also the other calcium minerals contained in phosphate ore, calcite and dolomite.
AkzoNobel, with its Atrac® and Berol® range of collectors, specializes in direct apatite flotation from hard to separate calcite-dolomite containing ores, using an amphoteric collector, and direct or reversed apatite flotation, using fatty acids and/or phosphoric esters and/or fatty amines. Typical depressants used are caustisized starch for magmatic ores and phosphoric acid for sedimentary ores. Moreover, AkzoNobel is the only company that can offer flotation collectors for apatite without any need for a depressant.
AkzoNobel has been developing flotation systems for both hematite and magnetite type iron ores for more than a quarter-century. “The use of silica flotation, which has been on the rise in recent decades, will continue to grow as more complex ores need to be mined and higher-grade iron concentrates with lower impurities are demanded by the steel industry,” Danilov observes. Flotation systems for removing silica from magnetite ores have to be designed differently from flotation systems for the treatment of hematite ore. In magnetite flotation, the collector must be able to float mixed magnetite-silica grains; in hematite flotation, the typical need is to float fully liberated quartz from hematite.
AkzoNobel Atrac® type collectors, for the removal of phosphorus, and Lilaflot® type collectors, for the removal of gangue (silica), are used to produce high-grade concentrates for iron ore pellet production and for the production of super-concentrates for advanced metallurgical applications.
Flotation is a major method of upgrading potash. AkzoNobel is the world’s leading supplier of collectors for the potash industry. For the direct flotation of potash, AkzoNobel can deliver either standard primary amines produced from different types of fatty acids or specialty amine formulations. It can also offer collectors for reverse flotation of salt from potash ore.
The most common commercially used potash minerals are sylvite and carnallite. For the leading application in potash flotation – the flotation of sylvite from sylvinite, often in the presence of clay minerals – AkzoNobel offers a variety of standard and special grades of alkylamines. Standard collectors include Armeen® HT, Armeen® HTD, Armeen® T, and Armeen® HT 18D. Long-chained collectors for summer conditions include Lilaflot® FAB 53 and Armeen® M. For the removal of halite from carnallite, Armoflote® 619 provides the necessary reverse flotation. “Moreover, a new application currently being pursued is reverse flotation of halite from sylvinite,” Danilov reports.
Flotation is also used to remove slime prior to the main flotation step, starting with flocculation by a polyacrylamide and then flotation of clay flocculants by a collector. Ethomeen® HT/40 is designed by AkzoNobel especially for this application. Its advantages include: better efficiency, improved selectivity and faster flotation kinetics (increased throughput in process). Danilov also notes, “Clay adsorbs cationic collectors very strongly, which requires the use of depressants to blind out their active surfaces and prevent collector adsorption.” For this application, AkzoNobel offers CMC-grade depressants such as Depramin® 96 polymer and other polymers for use as depressants in sylvinite or carnallite systems. “AkzoNobel is also introducing a newly developed cationic polymeric type of depressant,” Danilov adds.
AkzoNobel is dually focused – to provide highly efficient flotation reagents and collectors and, equally important, to ensure a sustainable future. AkzoNobel is ready, willing and able to support its customers with knowledge of the behavior and impact of its collector chemistry on their respective environments. “We achieve this by performing a thorough risk assessment,” Danilov asserts. “We are also able to support our clients in other regulatory affairs – backed by an experienced staff of toxicologists, a world-class analytical department and the deep experience of our team.”
