Adsorção de coletores em produtos de concentração de minério fosfático fresco (rocha sã)

Abstract

The flotation of phosphate ore, the main basic component in the production of fertilizers, has always required a more challenging approach, due to the process difficulties to obtain the product, which is apatite. Several parameters are considered in this process and the collector is one of the most important. Due to its importance, this work aimed to better understand the adsorption mechanism of the Lupromin721A and Liacid1218 collectors in particles of phosphate ore minerals obtained by flotation, in this case, a fresh rock from a mine located in the State of Minas Gerais, Brazil. In the characterization stage, semiquantitative and quantitative chemical analyzes were performed by XRF and mineralogical analysis by XRD, whose results were consistent with the existing references for the type of ore in question. Two minerals of the apatite group have been identified: carbonate-hydroxylapatite and fluorapatite. The main gangue minerals are calcite and dolomite carbonates. Infrared spectrometry (IRS-FTIR), the main technique of this study, used the transmission method and potassium bromide (KBr) as support medium, to analyze the samples. A long time was spent in preparing samples and collectors, as well as adjusting the equipment, to arrive at the ideal conditions for analysis to detect the adsorbates’ bands. Among these, only the bands of the hydrocarbon chains of the adsorbed collectors, between 2700cm-1 and 3000cm-1 were recorded; these bands are characteristic and prove adsorption but are not diagnostic of the mechanism involved.