Effects of operational parameters of spiral

concentrator on micafeldspar separation

O. Y. Gulsoy and M. Kademli
In the present study, effects of several operating parameters on the separation efficiency of mica
from feldspar by spiral concentrator were investigated. For this purpose, an albite ore containing
mica was treated in a full scale Reichert spiral (model HG7) under various test conditions. During
the study, particle size distribution, solid contents of the feed, feedrate and splitter position were
changed. It was observed that in a spiral concentrator mica could be separated from feldspar
owing to its laminar morphology. Accordingly, it was found that particle size and solid contents
had significant effect on the separation. Best results were obtained with feed solid content of 15%
by weight for the particle size fraction of 2212z74 mm. In line with this, Fe
2
O
3
content, which was
0
.
71% in the feed, decreased to 0
.
07% in concentrate.
Keywords: Feldspar, Mica, Spiral concentrator, Gravity separation
Introduction
Mica is one of the main impurities in feldspar used in
ceramic and glass industries. It contains iron, which
causes colouring in ceramic and glass. Titanium is also a
colouring impurity in feldspar. The sources of titanium
in feldspar are rutile, sphene and ilmenite as well as
biotite, in some cases depending on displacement of
titanium with other metals in the crystal lattice.
1
Flotation is usually applied to remove the colouring
impurities from feldspar ore. However, otation may
cause some environmental problems because of the use
of some chemicals. Also, mica and oxide minerals
require different otation steps and some additional
processes are required between the steps in order to
remove the reactant from the mineral surfaces and to
carry out reconditioning.
26
The specic gravities of feldspar and mica minerals
are approximately 2
.
65 and 2
.
73
.
4 respectively. As
mentioned by Iverson, the difference between their
specic gravities is not enough to achieve efcient
separation of these minerals with gravity methods.
7
Coarse mica grains are nearly equidimensional and
spherical. However, in ne sizes the platy character of
the mica minerals is revealed. This physical character-
istic of the mineral has been responsible for its
separation by gravity from feldspar. This distinguishing
property of ne mica particles was rst reported by
Iverson.
7
In his study, Iverson managed to separate mica
from feldspar by tabling. Later, Adair et al. also showed
the possibility of concentration of mica in a Humphrey
spiral.
8
Therefore, gravity methods are considered as an
alternative method to otation.
The purpose of the present study was to investigate
the separation characteristics of mica in a Reichert spiral
and to determine the effects of operating parameters,
such as particle size distribution, feed solid contents,
feedrate and splitter position, on the separation ef-
ciency. Industrial scale equipment was used in the
present study, therefore the results can be applied to
the industry directly. A model HG7 Reichert spiral was
used because of its availability and because preliminary
experiments showed potential for good separations.
Material and method
The tests were carried out in an industrial scale Reichert
spiral (HG7). The equipment was operated in a closed
circuit, including a tank and a pump. There were two
splitters at the equipment discharge. The position of the
outer splitter was not suitable to control product
streams owing to the occurrence of a big gap largely
free of particles between the tailing and the concentrate
streams during the tests (Fig. 1). Therefore this splitter
was xed for all conditions in the main series of tests.
The position of the inner splitter was adjusted to 1/4, 1/2
and 3/4 of the maximum opening (16 mm, L). Samples
were taken simultaneously of primary and secondary
concentrates and tailings during the tests (Fig. 1). Before
each test, the system was discharged, cleaned and then
operated in a manner appropriate to the new feed and
solid contents. Sampling time was measured by a digital
chronometer in each test. Samples were dried and
weighted. Therefore, owrates of each stream could be
calculated.
Pulp owrates studied were 1, 1
.
5 and 2 L s
21
, and
pulp solid contents for these owrates were 15, 20 and
25 wt-%. The solid owrates calculated according to
these test conditions are given in Table 2.
Fe
2
O
3
removal recovery was calculated from 12R,
where, R is Fe
2
O
3
recovery in concentrate, which is
Hacettepe University, Department of Mining Engineering, Beytepe
Campus, Ankara, Turkey
*Corresponding author, email ogulsoy@hacettepe.edu.tr
2006 Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining and The AusIMM
Published by Maney on behalf of the Institute and The AusIMM
Received 17 March 2005; accepted 19 July 2005
80 DOI 10.1179/174328506X99907
Mineral Processing and Extractive
Metallurgy (Trans. Inst. Min. Metall. C) 2006 VOL 115 NO 2
calculated from equation (1)
R~
Cc
Ff
(1)
where C is the owrate of concentrate (t h
21
), F is
the owrate of feed (t h
21
), c is the Fe
2
O
3
grade of
concentrate (%) and f is the Fe
2
O
3
grade of feed (%).
Firing at 1200uC is a quick test method to control the
quality of feldspar samples. Some impurities change the
colour of the ring buttons. Titanium gives pinkish
colours and iron is the source of the grey colours. The
density of the colours is directly related to the amount of
the impurities.
Because the main source of titanium in the ore was
generally rutile and sphene, a signicant decrease in
titanium content might not be expected. However, the
titanium presented especially in the crystal lattices of the
biotite was removed by the separation of mica, and this
had the potential to result in a slight decrease in titanium
content.
Results
In the present study, the effects of operational para-
meters on the separation efciency of mica in a spiral
concentrator were investigated for a wide range of
feedrate values, which were varied between 0
.
6 and
2
.
1 t h
21
. This range stayed within normal industrial
operational limits of the equipment.
At the beginning of the tests, primary and secondary
concentrates and tailing were obtained as shown in
Fig. 1, and Fe
2
O
3
grades of the concentrates were
determined by chemical assaying. A comparison of
Fe
2
O
3
grades of primary and secondary concentrates for
all test conditions is given in Fig. 2. As can be seen from
Fig. 2, there is no meaningful difference between the
primary and secondary concentrates, and a regression
analysis yields an intercept very close to zero and a slope
close to 1. In addition a paired t test showed that there
was a negligible difference between the primary and
secondary concentrates at the 99
.
9% level of probability.
It was therefore apparent that dividing the concentrate
as primary and secondary was not necessary. Therefore,
only one set of concentrate data representing the average
characteristics of the two concentrates and one set of
tailing data were used in the evaluation of the effect of
ow and percentage of solids, and there was no need to
take a middling stream using a second splitter in the
separation process. This enables the process to be used
and controlled easily at the plant level.
The major part of water in the feed accumulated at the
outside of the separation surface carrying most of the
platy mica with it. The feldspar particles moved
predominantly to the inner part of the surface forming
a natural gap between concentrate and tailing streams.
Because of this the outer splitter was not very effective in
controlling the concentrate quality. During the separa-
tion the outer splitter was roughly adjusted by visual
judgement of the best position. The effects of inner
splitter setting on the Fe
2
O
3
grade of the concentrate for
each test condition are given in Table 3. As can be seen
from Table 3, Fe
2
O
3
grade of the concentrate increases
slightly by sliding the splitter to the outside position.
Table 2 Solid feedrates calculated for each test
condition
Pulp flowrate,
L s
21
Solid content,
wt-%
Solid flowrate,
t h
21
1 15 0
.
596
20 0
.
822
25 1
.
065
1
.
5 15 0
.
894
20 1
.
233
25 1
.
598
2 15 1
.
192
20 1
.
644
25 2
.
130
2 Comparison of Fe
2
O
3
grades of primary and secondary
concentrates
1 View of spiral discharge
Table 1 Chemical compositions of spiral feed and slime (74 mm) fractions
Size fraction, mm Content, (slime, 74 mm), wt-% Fe
2
O
3
content (slime, 74 mm), % Fe
2
O
3
content (feed), %
2850z74 4
.
20 0
.
03 0
.
74
2600z74 5
.
28 0
.
06 0
.
74
2425z74 7
.
10 0
.
07 0
.
76
2300z74 8
.
54 0
.
08 0
.
77
2212z74 10
.
25 0
.
12 0
.
78
Gulsoy and Kademli Effects of operational parameters on micafeldspar separation
Mineral Processing and Extractive Metallurgy (Trans. Inst. Min. Metall. C) 2006 VOL 115 NO 2 81
However, this did not affect the percentage of solids and
owrate of concentrate signicantly.
The minimum and maximum operating owrates
were determined according to the specications of the
Reichert spiral (HG7) used in the tests. Thus, three
different owrates, 1, 1
.
5 and 2 L s
2-1
, were selected and
the tests were performed at these owrates with three
different solid contents that were 15, 20 and 25 wt-%.
The effects of owrate on Fe
2
O
3
grade of concentrate,
Fe
2
O
3
removal and mass recovery were investigated for
each feed size. The relationships for 15, 20 and 25% solid
contents are shown in Figs. 35 respectively with
owrate as the parameter and for each of the owrates
in Figs. 68 with the percentage of solids as the
parameter.
Discussion
It can be seen from Figs. 38 that the particle size
distribution is the most effective parameter in the
separation. As explained above, the coarse mica grains
are nearly equidimensional, and the difference in specic
gravity is not enough to make the separation of these
minerals possible. However, the platy character of the
smaller mica particles made the separation of mica from
feldspar possible at ne particle sizes. This situation is
not related to the differences in the degree of liberation,
because mica was in the form of liberated particles even
in the coarse fractions.
Fe
2
O
3
grade of the concentrate, Fe
2
O
3
removal and
recovery to feldspar were directly related to the change
in maximum particle size. An increase in the particle size
increased Fe
2
O
3
grade of the concentrate and decreased
the Fe
2
O
3
removal. The mass recovery decreased slightly
with ner particle size, because the amount of particles
carried by water to the tailings stream increased. This
behaviour was observed at all owrates and feed solid
contents.
Figures 35 show that increasing the owrate to the
spiral generally caused an increase in the Fe
2
O
3
grade of
Table 3 Effect of inner splitter setting on Fe
2
O
3
grades of concentrates at different test conditions
Feed top
size, mm
Splitter
setting
Fe
2
O
3
grade, %
1 L s
21
pulp flowrate 1
.
5 L s
21
pulp flowrate 2 L s
21
pulp flowrate
15%
solids
20%
solids
25%
solids
15%
solids
20%
solids
25%
solids
15%
solids
20%
solids
25%
solids
212 1/4 L 0
.
065 0
.
101 0
.
157 0
.
070 0
.
102 0
.
169 0
.
078 0
.
110 0
.
210
1/2 L 0
.
068 0
.
109 0
.
169 0
.
071 0
.
111 0
.
181 0
.
082 0
.
109 0
.
217
3/4 L 0
.
068 0
.
118 0
.
179 0
.
079 0
.
110 0
.
179 0
.
090 0
.
130 0
.
241
300 1/4 L 0
.
095 0
.
188 0
.
238 0
.
138 0
.
209 0
.
251 0
.
154 0
.
199 0
.
288
1/2 L 0
.
105 0
.
191 0
.
259 0
.
142 0
.
219 0
.
268 0
.
158 0
.
248 0
.
299
3/4 L 0
.
118 0
.
202 0
.
270 0
.
152 0
.
228 0
.
279 0
.
169 0
.
259 0
.
311
425 1/4 L 0
.
293 0
.
398 0
.
478 0
.
319 0
.
413 0
.
498 0
.
379 0
.
449 0
.
518
1/2 L 0
.
293 0
.
410 0
.
498 0
.
329 0
.
440 0
.
511 0
.
397 0
.
461 0
.
532
3/4 L 0
.
298 0
.
423 0
.
509 0
.
338 0
.
458 0
.
527 0
.
411 0
.
479 0
.
547
600 1/4 L 0
.
610 0
.
759 0
.
839 0
.
699 0
.
788 0
.
830 0
.
757 0
.
800 0
.
821
1/2 L 0
.
627 0
.
778 0
.
841 0
.
717 0
.
799 0
.
840 0
.
768 0
.
820 0
.
821
3/4 L 0
.
659 0
.
791 0
.
841 0
.
738 0
.
817 0
.
831 0
.
778 0
.
817 0
.
837
850 1/4 L 0
.
844 0
.
849 0
.
852 0
.
851 0
.
852 0
.
858 0
.
839 0
.
849 0
.
849
1/2 L 0
.
848 0
.
849 0
.
852 0
.
838 0
.
851 0
.
848 0
.
842 0
.
842 0
.
859
3/4 L 0
.
842 0
.
838 0
.
842 0
.
839 0
.
851 0
.
840 0
.
841 0
.
851 0
.
859
3 Variations in Fe
2
O
3
grade of concentrate, Fe
2
O
3
removal (dashes) and mass recovery (dot) as function
of feed top size for different owrate at 15% solids
4 Variations in Fe
2
O
3
grade of concentrate, Fe
2
O
3
removal (dashes) and mass recovery (dot) as function
of feed top size for different owrate at 20% solids
Gulsoy and Kademli Effects of operational parameters on micafeldspar separation
82 Mineral Processing and Extractive Metallurgy (Trans. Inst. Min. Metall. C) 2006 VOL 115 NO 2
the concentrate and a drop in the Fe
2
O
3
removal.
However, the effect of the increase in the owrate on
separation was small when compared with the effects of
other variables. There was virtually no owrate effect
for a top particle size of 850 mm and very little for
200 mm. The negative effect of the owrate on the
separation was progressively less evident with increasing
percentage of solids in the feed so that it was almost
negligible for 25% solids.
The effects of feed solid contents on Fe
2
O
3
grade of
concentrates, Fe
2
O
3
removal and mass recovery are
given in Figs. 68. These gures show that regardless of
feedrate, increasing percentage of solids in the feed
increased the Fe
2
O
3
grade of concentrate and decreased
percentage of Fe
2
O
3
removal except for the feed top size
of 850 mm. Also, reducing the separation efciency
increases in the solid contents slightly reduced the
amount of concentrate. This occurred at all spiral
feedrates.
Conclusions
In the present study, the effects of the process variables
such as particle size distribution, per cent solids in the
feed, splitter position and owrate on mica separation
were examined. The results revealed that the maximum
particle size had an extreme effect on separation efci-
ency. Separation was not possible when the maximum
particle size was 850 or 600 mm. The separation
efciency of mica increased as the particle size distribu-
tion got ner, and the most suitable maximum size was
212 mm when Fe
2
O
3
content of the concentrate was
reduced from 0
.
70 to 0
.
07% with 93% removal of Fe
2
O
3
and mass recovery of y70%. This iron content met the
specications required by the glass industry. Firing
buttons with a pale pink colour conrmed this result. It
appeared that particle size needed to be reduced to
2212 mm, in order to ensure that the mica was in a platy
form which had the desired distinctive behaviour on the
spiral surface.
6 Variations in Fe
2
O
3
grade of concentrate, Fe
2
O
3
removal (dashes) and mass recovery (dot) as function
of feed top size for solid content at owrate of 1 L s
21
5 Variations in Fe
2
O
3
grade of concentrate, Fe
2
O
3
removal (dashes) and mass recovery (dot) as function
of feed top size for different owrate at 25% solids
7 Variations in Fe
2
O
3
grade of concentrate, Fe
2
O
3
removal (dashes) and mass recovery (dot) as function
of feed top size for solid content at owrate of
1
.
5 L s
21
8 Variations in Fe
2
O
3
grade of concentrate, Fe
2
O
3
removal (dashes) and mass recovery (dot) as function
of feed top size for solid content at owrate of 2 L s
21
Gulsoy and Kademli Effects of operational parameters on micafeldspar separation
Mineral Processing and Extractive Metallurgy (Trans. Inst. Min. Metall. C) 2006 VOL 115 NO 2 83
Although the effect on separation efciency of
owrate and percentage of solids in feed was less
pronounced than that of particle size, increasing
owrates or percentage of solids signicantly reduced
the separation efciency. Only concentrate obtained
with the minimum owrate (1 L s
21
) and minimum per
cent solids (15%) met the desired specication corre-
sponding to a solid feedrate of y0
.
6 t h
21
.
The position of the outer splitter was important in this
separation. Serendipitously it was in the ideal position
and the small changes in the position of the splitter
available did not affect the separation efciency
signicantly. A wide feldspar band on the inner surface
of spiral and a mica ow close to the outer wall were
formed. Therefore, the separation between feldspar and
mica minerals was sharp, and an absence of a middling
stream provided important advantages in control of the
separation.
To be effective separation with spirals required
removing material by screening which would tend to
report to the micaeous tailing stream and be lost to
concentrate. As mica was prone to accumulate in coarse
screen fractions, the mica and therefore iron contents of
the nes were much lower than the coarse fractions. The
iron content of the 274 mm fraction was sufciently low
for it to be used directly in industry.
Because concentrate could be produced with iron
content within the limits required by the glass industry,
titanium minerals could be removed by otation to
produce a nal concentrate with suitable iron and
titanium contents as required by the ceramic industry.
Therefore, one of two standard stages of otation can be
avoided by spiral separation.
Acknowledgement
The authors would like to thank A. S . C ine-Akmaden
for its contributions to supplying the samples used in the
present study.
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Gulsoy and Kademli Effects of operational parameters on micafeldspar separation
84 Mineral Processing and Extractive Metallurgy (Trans. Inst. Min. Metall. C) 2006 VOL 115 NO 2