Fluorite is an important non-metallic mineral, the main component of which is calcium fluoride. In industrial applications, fluorite is mainly used to produce hydrofluoric acid, flux for metal smelting, refrigerant, fluoride products, optical materials, and ceramic glazes.
Therefore, the Mineral Processing and equipment of fluorite are crucial to improving the grade of ore and resource utilization efficiency. The Mineral Processing of fluorite mainly includes crushing and screening, grinding and grading, selection and purification, and dehydration.
Fluorite ore crushing and screening equipment
The crushing and screening stage of fluorite ore is mainly to crush the fluorite ore preliminarily. According to the physical properties of fluorite ore and the required particle size, different crushing processes can be adopted, such as three-stage one-closed-circuit crushing, three-stage open-circuit crushing, or two-stage one-closed-circuit crushing. In this stage, crushers, screeners, electronic iron removers, and metal detectors are the main equipment used.
- Crusher: Jaw crusher has the advantages of simple structure, large output, stable operation, and adjustable discharge port to meet different production requirements; it is suitable for coarse crushing; cone crusher is suitable for medium and fine crushing with its high efficiency and large output.
- Screening machine: Drum screen is suitable for the situation where the original ore contains a large amount of mud and has a serious degree of adhesion, reducing the blockage of the screen holes, and can be screened with water to play the role of washing the ore; circular vibrating screen is suitable for rock ores without mud and low water content, and can perform efficient screening operations.
- Electronic iron remover and metal detector: used to remove iron impurities, usually set after the first stage of crushing.
Fluorite ore grinding and classification equipment
Entering the grinding and classification stage, the ore particles will be further ground to a monomer dissociation state. As the core equipment of this stage, the ball mill significantly improves the fineness and purity of fluorite through efficient grinding.
- Ball mill: Different types of ball mills are selected according to different grinding processes. Grid-type ball mills are often used in the first-stage grinding and classification process; overflow-type ball mills are commonly used in the second-stage grinding.
- Classification equipment: including hydrocyclones and spiral classifiers. Hydrocyclone cyclones are often used in combination with overflow ball mills, and spiral classifiers are often used in combination with grid-type ball mills.
Fluorite ore sorting and purification equipment
In the sorting stage, when the raw ore is a coarse-grained fluorite lump ore, the gravity separation process can be used. When the raw ore has a high mud content, is accompanied by impurity minerals, or the useful minerals are embedded in a fine particle size, the flotation process can be used.
Fluorite gravity separation equipment
The gravity separation of fluorite ore is based on the gravity difference between fluorite and the associated gangue, and it also has a good enrichment effect on the Mineral Processing of some low-grade fluorite ores. Its main equipment is a jig. The jig for selecting fluorite ore has the advantages of high efficiency, energy saving and environmental protection. The working principle of the jig is very simple, usually consisting of a jig chamber, a diaphragm and a transmission system.
The processing particle size range is 30 (20) ~ 0.5mm; the shaking table is suitable for processing fine-grained fluorite ores, and the processing particle size range is 2 ~ 0.037mm; the spiral chute is suitable for processing complex and low-mud fine-grained fluorite ores, and the processing particle size range is 0.1 ~ 0.37mm.
Fluorite flotation equipment
By adding suitable flotation reagents, the surface properties of fluorite ore and gangue minerals are changed to achieve mineral separation. The main equipment used in this stage are mechanical agitation flotation machines and aerated flotation machines.
- Mechanical agitation flotation machines: including BF type and SF type. BF type flotation machines are mostly suitable for roughing and concentrating operations. SF type flotation machines are suitable for roughing and scavenging operations in the flotation process of large and medium-sized fluorite mines. Its characteristics are that the impeller has backward-inclined blades on both sides, which can realize the double circulation of ore pulp in the tank, and the forward-inclined tank body has the advantages of small dead angle and fast foam movement speed.
- Aerated flotation machines: mainly XCF type and KYF type. XCF type flotation machines are suitable for roughing and scavenging operations in large and medium-sized fluorite flotation plants. KYF type flotation machines are suitable for roughing and concentrating operations in the flotation process of large and medium-sized fluorite mines. XCF and KYF flotation machines can form a joint unit, so that the entire infrastructure is horizontally constructed, which can effectively reduce the cost of infrastructure.
Fluorite Dehydration Equipment
The dehydration process of fluorite ore is mainly divided into two parts: concentrate dehydration and tailings dehydration. Concentrate dehydration mainly uses concentration equipment and filtering equipment to dry it after reaching a certain water content for industrial application; tailings dehydration adopts different tailings dry discharge processes to achieve dehydration according to the tailings treatment requirements.
- Concentrator: suitable for concentrate and tailings dehydration, usually used as a dehydration equipment in the dehydration process.
- Chamber filter press/vacuum filter: used for dehydration of concentrate and tailings, which can reduce the water content of slurry to 9-12%.
Conclusion
In order to ensure the ideal mineral processing effect, it is recommended to conduct mineral processing tests on the ore before mineral processing to scientifically and reasonably determine the mineral processing process. According to the specific processing capacity and ore properties of the fluorite ore Mineral Processing plant, select appropriate mineral processing equipment and methods to achieve optimal utilization of resources and ideal economic benefits.