Separation efficiency of different methods in treatment of a low-grade iron ore

Abstract

In the present study, characterization and beneficiation tests were performed on an iron ore sample for the evaluation of separation efficiency (SE) of different methods. Results showed that the decrease in feed size fraction increases the SE irrespective of to beneficiation method. It was determined from the liberation analyses that the increase in SE values at finer size fractions is related withhigher liberation. Calculated SE values revealed that operational parameters significantly affect the SE of all methods and the net forces acting on particles play an important role on SE of different size fractions. Mean SE of different size fractions showed that the separation efficiencies of gravity concentration and magnetic separation takes similar values above 1 mm, however, SE of magnetic separation is significantly higher than gravity concentration below 1 mm for the studied sample. For low grade ores, it is very crucial to develop a flow sheet to achieve the optimum grade and recovery while decreasing the cost likely by using optimum method. Therefore, SE calculations used in this research can be used as a basic method to compare the efficiency of different beneficiation methods. SE method has advantages as they provide fast evaluation of efficiency by using experimental results.

Keywords

• separation efficiency grade
• recovery
• magnetic separation
• gravity concentration.