Handbook of Flotation Reagents ebook is available to be downloaded here now.
- Title: Handbook of Flotation Reagents – Chemistry, Theory and Practice (Flotation of Sulphide Ores)
- Author: Srdjan M. Bulatovic
- Publisher: Elsevier Science
- Pages: 448
arable part of the flotation process. Many books, articles and patents exist on development of reagents, reagent chemistry and reagent application. In spite of all this, researchers and those who work on the development of reagent schemes for the treatment of new ores or improvement in existing operations still rely heavily and almost exclusively on the advise of chemical companies and their technical services to select specific collectors or depressants for the plant. Unfortunately, the reagent schemes do not consist of only collectors and frothers. Pulp chemistry in an operating plant is a complex system involving the interaction of all additives, including collectors, depressants, activators, pH regulators, frothers and, most of all, soluble components of the ore and altered mineral surfaces. In 1992, R. D. Crozier advocated that those who work on reagent scheme development must understand surface chemistry.
This may be true for those dedicated to process, but even if we understand the surface chemistry of pure minerals, the same minerals in natural settings can be vastly different. What does this means in terms of reagent scheme development and development of new reagents? It means that we have to learn how to interpret the interactive effects of flotation reagents in a plant setting in order to develop or improve reagent schemes for given plant feeds. Would knowledge of flotation fundamentals help us solve these problems? Yes, to some degree, when we are dealing with a relatively simple ore. The real test arises when a particular reagent does not do what it is “supposed” to do; for example, if cyanide does not depress sphalerite or a particular collector is not as selective as described in the manufacturer’s book, then one would say “the ore did not read the book.”
A huge database exists on operating flotation plants, treating large quantities of sulfide ores such as porphyry copper ores and single or multiple base metal ores. When the matrix of the ore becomes complex form of the fundamental knowledge of chemical reagents commonly used in flotation and is addressed to the researchers and plan.