What are the flotation methods of copper oxide ore?

Copper mainly exists in the form of sulfide ore and oxide ore in nature, the most important of which is sulfide ore, and oxide ore is formed by the slow oxidation and metamorphism of sulfide ore. With the development of national defense industry, electronic and electrical industry and new technology, the demand for copper is increasing day by day. Although the output of copper is increasing, it still cannot meet the demand.

Copper resources are in short supply, sulfide ores and copper-rich ores are decreasing day by day, and the mining grade of many copper mines in foreign countries has dropped to 0.4%. Therefore, lean ore and a large number of refractory copper oxide deposits need to be developed and utilized urgently.

direct flotation

The direct flotation method is the earliest application without sodium sulfide activation, and directly uses the collector flotation method, including fatty acid flotation method, amine flotation method, neutral oil emulsion flotation method and chelating collector flotation, etc. Efficient and selective collectors are particularly important for direct flotation. In the early stage of flotation research and application of copper oxide ore, fatty acid salts were often used as collectors for direct flotation, but this method is only suitable for ores with malachite-based, simple gangue, and high-grade raw ore.

Sulfur flotation

In copper oxide flotation, the direct flotation method usually cannot achieve good results. The sulfide flotation method is the main flotation method for processing copper oxide ore and mixed ore at home and abroad. For malachite, azurite, red copper Copper oxide ore mainly ore can get better indicators. The beneficiation plants that deal with mixed ores all use the sulfidation-flotation method, and individual plants use the separation-flotation method.

In general, most copper oxide ores have the characteristics of high oxidation rate, large mud content, high combined copper content, uneven distribution of fine particles, mixed oxygen and sulfur, mixed thickness and coexistence of various minerals, and some oxidized Copper ore contains low copper, which determines the difficulty of beneficiation of copper oxide ore.

Because of its molecular structure, copper oxide minerals are generally very hydrophilic. In the pulp, they are attracted to the dipoles of water, so that the dipoles of water form a hydration film on the surface of the minerals. Therefore, it is difficult for the collector to adsorb to the mineral surface, and after the sulfidation treatment, the surface of the oxidized mineral undergoes a fundamental change.

The essence of sulfidation flotation is to sulfide the finely ground copper oxide pulp with a sulfidation agent, and then add xanthate collectors for flotation. The vulcanizing agents used include: sodium sulfide, sodium hydrosulfide, ammonium hydrosulfide, hydrogen sulfide, potassium sulfide, etc., the most commonly used one is sodium sulfide. A layer of copper sulfide film is formed on the surface of the sulfided copper oxide ore, so that the surface of the copper oxide mineral has the properties of the surface of the copper sulfide mineral, and then the flotation is carried out by the action of the collector. The collectors used after vulcanization are: ethyl xanthate and high-grade (butyl, isobutyl, pentyl, etc.) xanthate, black medicine and fatty acid, etc., and high-grade xanthate is more commonly used. Therefore, the quality of the vulcanization process plays a key role in this method.