Flotation of low-grade alumina-containing material

The article describes the studies on flotation of an alumina-containing material with silica and iron impurities. It is found that the amount of impurities represented by iron and silicon oxides exceeds the standards imposed on a by-product suitable for manufacturing aluminum through electrolysis. By-product processability was estimated via lab-scale testing of optimized reagent regimes for flotation of a product with the specified qualities. The tests proved efficient operation of the collecting agent Amin RA-14 with the frother MIBC. The correction and optimization of the reagent regime used the correlation and regression analyses of the collected data. The obtained model calculated the content of impurities in spent pot lining. The optimized concentration of the reagents is: 275 g/t Amin RA-14 and 25 g/t MIBC. The optimized reagent regime was used in experimental flotation of spent pot lining up to standard production data. The experimental data of the flotation by-product were: ferric oxide content of 0.33%, silicon oxide content of 0.4%, yield of 15.68%.

Burdonov A. E., Sakhabutdinova T. Kh., Barakhtenko V. V., Skvortsov D. E., Zelinskaya E. V. Flotation of low-grade alumina-containing material. MIAB. Mining Inf. Anal. Bull. 2025;(8):114-126. [In Russ]. DOI: 10.25018/0236_1493_2025_8_0_114.

A.E. Burdonov¹, Cand. Sci. (Eng.), Assistant Professor, Assistant Professor, e-mail: burdonovae@ex.istu.edu, ORCID ID: 0000-0002-5356-0349,
T.Kh. Sakhabutdinova¹, Graduate Student, Junior Researcher, e-mail: statyana411@gmail.com, ORCID ID: 0009-0003-3872-0572,
V.V. Barakhtenko¹, Cand. Sci. (Eng.), Assistant Professor, e-mail: vbarakhtenko@ex.istu.edu, ORCID ID: 0000-0002-5356-0349,
D.E. Skvortsov¹, Graduate Student, Engineer, e-mail: daniil-skvorcov@mail.ru, ORCID ID: 0009-0002-6980-056X,
E.V. Zelinskaya¹, Dr. Sci. (Eng.), Professor, Professor, e-mail: zelinskaelena@mail.ru, ORCID ID: 0000-0002-3411-8889,
¹ Irkutsk National Research Technical University, 664074, Irkutsk, Russia.

A.E. Burdonov, e-mail: burdonovae@ex.istu.edu.

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