Fundamental aspects of spherical oil agglomeration of calcite

In this study, concentration of calcite particles was investigated using oil agglomeration. For this purpose, effects of operating parameters were investigated and also zeta potential measurements and Fourier transform infrared spectrophotometer (FTIR) analyses have been carried out. In the experiments, effects of operating parameters such as pH, stirring speed, amount of Na–oleate as a collector and kerosene as a bridging liquid, solid ratio, suspension conditioning time, collector stirring time and agglomeration time were investigated to obtain optimum conditions. Zeta potential measurements were carried out depending on pH values and amount of Na–oleate. FTIR analyses were investigated to determine the adsorption type of Na–oleate on calcite surface. By the evaluation of the experimental results, optimum oil agglomeration conditions of calcite were determined as follows: pH 10; stirring speed, 1600 rpm; amount of kerosene, 180 l t−1; amount of Na–oleate, 10 kg t−1; solid ratio, 5 wt.%; suspension conditioning time, 2 min; collector stirring time, 1 min and agglomeration time, 5 min. In the optimum conditions, calcite was concentrated with recovery of 94.13 wt.%.