STUDY OF THE EFFECT OF PROCESS VARIABLES ON THE BENEFICIATION OF BAUXITE ORE BY FLOTATION: A REVIEW

• Main Author: Farhan Fadhil Bessari, Muhammad
• Format: Final Project
• Language: Indonesia
• Online Access: https://digilib.itb.ac.id/gdl/view/56993
• Institution: Institut Teknologi Bandung

Alumina which is produced from bauxite ore must have a Al2O3/SiO2 mass ratio (A/S mass ratio) more than 8 in order to enter to Bayer Process, so that in low grade bauxite ore, it is necessary to improve the performance by flotation process to increase A/S mass ratio. This research is a literature study on bauxite ore beneficiation using direct flotation and reverse flotation. Process variable reviewed were effect of collector, pH, depressant, size fraction, and dispersant, meanwhile the evaluation parameters are about recovery and A/S mass ratio. The results show that addition of collectors on direct flotation increase the diasporic mineral recovery collector dose of about 2.10-4 mol/L, where the recovery of the diaspore reaches 70% and kaolinite and illite recovery is stagnant at consecutively 30 and 40%. On the contrary, addition of collectors on reverse flotation decreases the diasporic mineral recovery and the recovery reaches a stagnancy at a concentration of 4.10-4 mol/L. The recovery reaches a stagnancy at 40-50% on reverse flotation, so in order to increase the recovery, depressants can be used. In addition, the effect of pH on direct flotation shows that with increasing pH, the recovery of diasporic minerals also increases, especially at pH 7-10 where the recovery reaches more than 80%. The effect of pH on reverse flotation also shows that increasing pH increase aluminosilicate minerals recovery, where at pH 5-9, more diaspore minerals are being floated along with the aluminosilicate mineral flotation without using depressants. The presence of depressants increase diaspore recovery when the dose is increased in the system. Recovery of the diaspore mineral can be increased until exceeding 80% indicated by depressant addition. Size fraction that is effective for bauxite flotation process is -74 ?m. Direct flotation process using 4,4-bis (hydroxycarbamoyl) dodecanoic acid (HCDA) collector at a dose of 800 g/t, pH 7, and dispersant sodium hexametaphosphate (SHMP) at a dose of 30 g/t will result in diasporic mineral recovery of 88.81% and A/S mass ratio of 8.01. Meanwhile, reverse flotation process using quaternary ammonium salts (DTAL) collector at a dose of 450 g/t, pH 7, and a SFL dispersant at a dose of 360 g/t resulted in diasporic mineral recovery of 86.63% and A/S mass ratio of 10.83. Thus, reverse flotation is an effective method that can be used on bauxite ore flotation process.