STUDY OF THE EFFECT OF VISCOSITY MODIFYING REAGENTS IN THE WET GRINDING PROCESS OF PRIMARY TIN ORES OF SKARN TYPE FROM BATUBESI BELITUNG

• Main Author: Bahrudin Iqbal, Irhamni
• Format: Final Project
• Language: Indonesia
• Online Access: https://digilib.itb.ac.id/gdl/view/74899
• Institution: Institut Teknologi Bandung

Tin is one of the most widely used metal both in everyday life and in industry. Currently the main source of tin production is generally obtained from secondary tin ores. However, these secondary tin ores are not expected to last long and will run out in the next few years, so new resources of reserves are needed. One of the processes that can be improved in tin ore processing is the grinding process. The grinding process is a process that requires large amounts of energy. Rheological modification is one way that can be done to improve the performance of the grinding process. In this research, an experiment was carried out in the process of grinding using viscosity modifier reagent was done to process skarn type primary tin ores obtained form Batubesi, Belitung with the aim of maximizing effectiveness of grinding process. Grinding experiment was carried out using wet grinding method. The feed used is a skarn type primary tin ores slurry with solid percent of 70%. Primary tin ores is first subjected to meet research needs according to what has been determined. Then to find out the effect of the viscosity modifying reagent on the grinding process, experiment was carried out with variations without using reagents, doses of 100, 400 and 600 gram per ton (gpt). Then to find out the change in results accurately for each doses variation, wet grinding was carried out with 9 time variations wich is 2, 5, 10, 15, 20, 30, 40, 60, and 80 minutes. In each experiment, the slurry viscosity was measured on the grinding results using rheometer. Then wet sieving was carried out on predetermined size fractions. After sieving, each fractions is weighed and then processed to obtain a particle size distribution charts. Through this experiment it was found that the viscosity modifying reagent in the form of Poly(acryclic acid) PAA was known to have an effect in the form of increasing the viscosity of the skarn type primary tin ore slurry. The increase in viscosity was also influenced by the presence of reagent doses where at 80 minutes of grinding with a dose of 100 gpt a viscosity of 3171 cP was obtained and at 600 gpt a viscosity of 3725 cP. This change in viscosity also affects the grinding results, at 70% solids percent when the viscosity increases the P80 becomes larger. Then, with the increase in grinding time, an increase in viscosity is also obtained which increases because more and more fine particles flocculate. From experiment, it was found that the effect of adding PAA reagent to skarn type tin ore slurry with low pH (5,47) anh high solids percent (70%) increased the viscosity of the slurry as the reagent dose increased.