A Collector Promoter for Apatite Flotation in the Serra do Salitre Complex

The concern about enhancing the productivity of Salitre phosphate mines has led to an extensive research and development program on new reagents, aimed at sustainable processing ore, with greater production concentrate and, consequently, less waste disposal in tailings dam. Flotation is most widely applied technique for rocks, using mainly fatty acids their salts as collectors. In partnership BASF Mining Solutions, a collector system was developed based soy oil acid (SOFA) BASF’s co-collector Lupromin® FP A 1210 Base (L.1210, mix synthetic surfactants). laboratory scale flotation results showed that effective performance achieved ratio SOFA:L.1210 70:30, while industrial application ideal proportion 90:10. This difference reagent directly related surface tension bulk, making apatite more or hydrophobic, affecting performance. These proportions were tested by comparing different conditions pH, contact angle studies provided theoretical framework indicate adsorption, allowing further process optimization. Applying 10% L.1210 scale, stable observed oscillations plant, corroborating promoter there significant increase this circuit Serra do Complex, which increased, least 7.1% P2O5 recovery reduced 12.5% dosage compared use only acid. study, it possible identify two main optimize current scale: pH 9.5 mixture SOFA/L.1210 90/10 (θ = 75.8°); 7.5 70/30 76.8°).