Tata Research Development and Design Centre, Tata Consultancy Services, India. 2. Menaria Mineral-Chem Consultants, India. ABSTRACT. Beneficiation of ...
Beneficiation of Indian iron ore slimes using guar gum flocculant Venugopal Tammishetti1, Kaustubh Joshi1, Pradip1, Beena Rai1 and Kesri L Menaria2 1. Tata Research Development and Design Centre, Tata Consultancy Services, India 2. Menaria Mineral-Chem Consultants, India
ABSTRACT Beneficiation of alumina rich iron ore slimes is a major challenge for the Indian iron ore industry. High alumina is deleterious for the performance of both blast furnace as well as sintering plants. Slimes generally contain 5 – 10% alumina, and hence despite assaying as high as 60% Fe, those are dumped in tailing ponds. The slimes are typically less than 37 microns. Selective flocculation of iron ore slimes using highly selective reagents is thus an option worth exploring. Our research is directed at employing state-of-the-art molecular modeling techniques for the selection/design of selective reagents for this separation. We have earlier reported our results on starch as a selective flocculant for iron ore slimes. In this paper, we present our results on the selective dispersion-flocculation of natural iron ore slimes using guar gum flocculant. With careful selection of various process parameters such as flocculant dosage, dispersant dosage, pH and settling time, we were able to obtain a concentrate assaying >66% Fe and
