Dissertação de Mestrado
Avaliação técnica e econômica sobre a aplicação de colunas de flotação para aumento da recuperação metalúrgica da flotação catiônica reversa de minério de ferro do Sistema Minas-Rio
Fecha
2016-12-16Autor
Emerson Rosa Silva
Institución
Resumen
Flotation is an important concentration process for iron ore. A major problem found in beneficiation plants, which use this process, is the low metallurgical recovery associated with the fine fraction. The presence of fine particles in the flotation is one of the main factors that reduce its effectiveness. In this work, It was carried out a technical evaluation to verify the technical feasibility of increasing the metallurgical recovery for the current concentration process of Minas- Rio System from 80% to 88%, by increasing the fines metal recovery without losing quality at the final product. Subsequently, an economic evaluation was prepared tocheck on potential financial returns regarding the implementation of the proposed technical solution. In the technical evaluation, several bench tests in the laboratory and tests on a pilot scale were performed in order to compare the performance of the current flotation circuit for Minas-Rio System, which is carried out in conventional flotation cells (rougher, cleaner and scavenger stages) obtaining a metallurgical recovery of 80%,versus the expected performance after the implementation of an additional flotation to the existing circuit, in column flotation (recleaner stage), enabling the achievement of 88% of the metallurgical recovery through the metal recovery of the finest fraction, which is currently sent straight to tailings dam. In the economic part, estimates of capital (CAPEX) and operating (OPEX) expenditure were prepared considering the implementation of the flotation circuit in columns (recleaner stage), making it possible to perform simulations to assess the potentialfinancial gains of this implementation. This maximizing metallurgical recovery means, provides many positive effects for the Minas-Rio System, such as better use of available mineral resources, enabling the increase of productive capacity, reducing waste and greater operational flexibility.