What is meaning of Beneficiation of Iron Ore ?
What is meaning of Beneficiation of Iron Ore ?
BENEFICIATION OF IRON ORES
Beneficiation
of Iron Ores
Iron ore Is a mineral which is used after extraction and processing for
the production of iron and steel. The main ores of iron usually contain Fe2O3
(70 % iron, hematite) or Fe3O4 (72 % iron. magnetite). Ores are normally
associated with unwanted gangue material. Grade of iron ore is usually
determined by the total Fe content in the ore. Run of mines ores after dry or
wet sizing, if it contains normally greater than 62 % of Fe, are known as
‘natural ore’ or ‘direct shipping ore’ (DSO). These ores can be directly used
in the production of iron and steel. All other ores need beneficiation
and certain processing before they are used in the production of iron and
steel.
Low grade iron ores cannot be used as such for the production of iron
and steel and need to be upgraded to reduce its gangue content and increase its
Fe content. The process adopted to upgrade the Fe content of iron ore is known
as iron ore beneficiation (IOB).
However, Iron ores from different sources have their own peculiar
mineralogical characteristics and require the specific beneficiation and
metallurgical treatment to get the best product out of it. Also for effective
beneficiation treatment, effective crushing, grinding, and screening of the ore
is necessary for which suitable crushing, grinding, and screening technologies
are to be employed. The choice of the beneficiation treatment depends on the
nature of the gangue present and its association with the ore structure.
Several methods/techniques such as washing, jigging, magnetic separation,
gravity separation, and flotation etc. are used to enhance the Fe content of
the Iron ore and to reduce its gangue content. These techniques are used in
various combinations for the beneficiation of iron ores. For beneficiation of a
particular iron ore the emphasis is usually to develop a cost effective flow
sheet incorporating necessary crushing, grinding, screening and beneficiating
techniques which are necessary for the upgrading of the iron ore. A typical
flow sheet for iron ore beneficiation plant is shown in Fig 1.
Fig 1 A typical flow sheet of iron ore beneficiation
plant
Some of the common methods/techniques applicable for iron ore processing
are described below.
Crushing, grinding and screening technique
The purpose of grinding and regrinding is to reduce the ore to a size small
enough to liberate and recover the valuable minerals. The crushing, grinding
and screening systems of an IOB plant are to be designed taking into account
the requirements of the downstream beneficiation processes. The crushing units
may include primary, secondary, tertiary and quaternary crushing systems. Jaw,
gyratory, cone, and roll crushers are used for ore crushing. Semi autogenous grinding
and autogenous grinding circuits are used for grinding the ore. Both rod mills
and ball mills are used for this purpose. Capital investment and operation
costs of grinding equipment are high. Hence economics play a large part in
planning for the degree of crushing and grinding performed to prepare ore for
beneficiation. Other factors considered in determining the degree of crushing
and grinding includes the value concentration of the ore, its mineralogy,
hardness and moisture content. Closed circuit grinding minimizes over grinding
of very friable ore normally found in the ore bodies of our region. The more
the recirculation load the less is the over grinding of particles.
Washing and wet scrubbing
This process is primitive and widely used in lumpy iron ore processing to
dislodge and remove friable and soft lateritic materials, fine materials and
limonitic clay particles adhering to the ore. Wet scrubbing is also useful in
hard and porous ores, which invariably have cavity/pores filled with clayey
material that need substantial removal.
Gravity separation
This technique is used where iron bearing minerals are free from associated
gangue materials. The specific gravity of iron bearing minerals is usually
higher than the specific gravity of gangue materials. Effectiveness efficiency
of the gravity separation depends largely on to proper crushing and sizing of
the ore so as to ensure a proper size feed to the gravity separation equipment
and also removal of slime from the equipment. A large numbers of equipment/processes
functioning on gravity separation principle are available. Some of them are
described below.
·
Dense media separation – The
process is also known as heavy media separation. The process is used for coarse
ores (size range 3mm to 50 mm. Ground ferro- silicon of -300 mesh size is used
as suspension to create a parting density of 3-3.2 which is sufficient for
gangue materials to float and get separated. The suspension material is
recovered by using low intensity magnetic separators (LIMS). Feed for the dense
media separation must be hard and compact with non porous gangue material.
·
Heavy media cyclone – The
process is used for iron ore fines with size range of 0.2mm to 6 mm. The
cyclone type separator utilizes centrifugal as well as gravitational forces to
make separation between ore and gangue material. Ground ferro-silicon of -325
mesh size is used as a media in cyclone.
·
Jigging – Jigging is a gravity
concentration technique where the iron ore is separated into light density
fraction, medium density fraction and heavy density fraction. Size
fraction of the iron ore used for jigging is 0.5 mm to 30mm.
·
Spirals – Spiral concentrators
are flowing film separation devices. General operation is a continuous
gravitational laminar flow down on an inclined surface. The mechanism of
separation involves primary and secondary flow patterns. The primary flow is essentially
the slurry flowing down the spiral trough under the force of gravity. The
secondary flow pattern is radial across the trough. Here the upper-most fluid
layers comprising higher density particles move away from the centre while the
lower-most concentrate layers of higher density particles move towards the
centre. Spirals require addition of water at various points down the spiral to
assist washing of the iron ore, i.e. transporting away the light gangue from
the dense ore. The amount of wash water and its distribution down the spiral
trough can be adjusted to meet the operating requirements. Point control
minimizes the total water requirements by efficiently directing water into the
flowing pulp at the most effective angle. Feed size applicability is in the
range of 0.3 mm to 1 mm. Spirals are normally operated at a pulp density of 25
% to 30 % solids.
·
Tables – Tables have wide
range of application in gravity treatment of iron ores. Tables are normally
used in cleaning and scavenging circuits. Feed size applicability is in the
range of 0.3 mm to 1 mm. Spirals are normally operated at a pulp density of 25
% to 30 % solids.
·
Multi gravity concentrator –
They are under development stage and are designed to treat fines and ultrafine
particles of iron ore. They are useful in processing of valuables from slimes
and tails.
·
Cyclones – Cyclones used for
concentration of iron ores are of several types. These include hydro-cyclone,
stub cyclone and heavy media cyclone. Cyclones are cost effective and simple in
their construction. The main parts of a cyclone consist of cyclone diameter,
the inlet nozzle at the point of entry into the feed chamber, vortex finder,
cylindrical section and cone section. They have proper geometrical relationship
between the cyclone diameter, inlet area, vortex finder, apex orifice, and
sufficient length providing retention time to properly classify particles. As
the feed enters the chamber, a rotation of the slurry inside of the cyclone
begins, causing centrifugal forces to accelerate the movement of the particles
towards the outer wall. The particles migrate downward in a spiral pattern
through the cylindrical section and into the conical section. At this point the
smaller mass particles migrate toward the center and spiral upward and out through
the vortex finder, discharging through the overflow pipe. This product, which
contains the finer particles and the majority of the water, is termed the
overflow and should be discharged at or near atmospheric pressure. The higher
mass particles remain in a downward spiral path along the walls of the conical
section and gradually exit through the apex orifice. This product is termed the
underflow and also should be discharged at or near atmospheric pressure.
Magnetic separation
Magnetic separation technologies are used to take the advantage of the
difference in the magnetic properties for separating iron ore from the non
magnetic associated gangue materials. Magnetic separation can be conducted in
either a dry or wet environment, although wet systems are more common.
Magnetic separation operations can also be categorized as either low or
high intensity. Low intensity separators use magnetic fields between 1000 to
3000 gauss. Low intensity techniques are normally used on magnetite ore as an
inexpensive and effective separation method. High intensity separators employ
fields as strong as 20,000 gauss. This method is used to separate weakly
magnetic iron ores such as hematite, from nonmagnetic or less magnetic gangue
materials. Other factors important in determining which type of magnetic
separator system is used include particle size and the solids content of the
ore slurry feed.
Typically magnetic separation involves three stages of separation namely
(i) cobbling, (ii) cleaning/roughing, and (iii) finishing. Each stage may
employ several drums in a series to improve separation efficiency. Each
successive stage works on finer particles as a result of the removal of
oversized particles in earlier separations. Cobblers work on larger particles
and reject substantial percent of feed as tails.
Several types of magnetic separation technologies are used. These are
described below.
·
Wet and dry, low intensity
magnetic separation (LIMS)
·
High gradient magnetic
separation (HGMS)
·
Wet high intensity magnetic
separation (WHIMS)
·
Roll magnetic separators for
processing weak magnetic ores
·
Induction roll magnetic
separation (IRMS) for concentrating dry ores
Flotation process
Flotation process uses a technique where particles of one mineral or group
of minerals are made to adhere preferentially to air bubbles in the presence of
a chemical reagent. This is achieved by using chemical reagents that that
preferentially react with the desired mineral. Several factors are important to
the success of flotation activities. These include uniformity of particle size,
use of reagent compatible with the mineral, and water conditions that will not
interfere with the attachment of the reagents to the mineral or the air bubble.
Today flotation is primarily used to upgrade concentrates resulting from
magnetic separation. Flotation to be used all alone as a beneficiation method
is used rarely.
Chemical reagents used are mainly of three main groups namely (i)
collectors/amines, (ii) frothers, and (iii) antifoams. Reagents may be added in
a number of forms which include solid, immiscible liquid emulsion and solution
in water. The concentration of reagents need to be closely controlled during
conditioning since adding more reagent than needed retards the reaction and
reduce efficiency. Factors which affect conditioning include thorough mixing
and dispersal of reagents through the pulp, repeated contact between the
reagents and all of the relevant ore particles, and time for the development of
contacts with the reagents and the ore particles to produce the desired
reactions.
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