In recent years, with the strong rise of the new energy industry, related raw materials have received widespread attention. Among them, graphite, as an important battery anode material, is of great significance in the development of new energy sources, and its mineral processing technology and equipment have been significantly developed.
Equipment used in graphite mineral processing
The graphite mineral processing mainly includes crushing, grinding, mineral processing and other stages. In this article, we will learn about the equipment used in graphite ore mineral processing according to the main mineral processing of graphite ore.
Graphite crushing stage
The nature of graphite ore is relatively soft. Generally, the hardness of graphite ore is medium hard or medium hard to soft. Therefore, the crushing process of graphite is relatively simple. Usually, the crushing process that can be used includes two stages of one closed circuit crushing, two stages of open circuit crushing or one stage of open circuit crushing. Process, a small number of newly-built graphite ore concentrators may also adopt a three-stage and one closed-circuit crushing process.
The primary crushing of graphite ore usually uses a jaw crusher, the secondary crushing can use a cone crusher to further reduce the particle size of graphite ore, and the screening equipment can use a circular vibrating screen.
Crystalline graphite grinding stage
Since graphite has a scale structure, it is necessary to ensure that the graphite concentrate has more large scales as much as possible during the grinding stage, so as to increase the large scale rate of the concentrate. At this stage, the shape of the grinding media and the form of the mill have a great influence on the large flake rate of the graphite concentrate. In the selection of grinding equipment, rod mills, vertical stirring mills and other equipment can be selected as the main grinding equipment.
Crystalline graphite mineral processing stage
According to the properties and characteristics of graphite raw ore, the mineral processing of crystalline graphite can be divided into four types: coarse flake graphite ore, medium flake graphite ore, fine flake graphite ore, and aphanitic graphite ore. Due to different properties, the selection of these four types of graphite There are differences in the sorting methods, with flotation as the main sorting method.
Selection method 1#: The graphite flakes of coarse flake graphite ore are large and have good buoyancy. The graphite particle size is generally 0.6~2mm, the graphite content is 1%~10%, and the raw ore contains a certain amount of mica. In this type of graphite ore The main purpose of sorting is to protect the large scales, and the graphite concentrate grade is above 87%.
Selection method 2#: In the medium flake graphite ore, the graphite flakes of the raw ore are medium in size and have good buoyancy. The graphite particle size is 0.2~0.6mm, and the graphite content is 4%~15%. The content of mica in this kind of raw ore is small, and the ore dressing is mainly to protect the existing graphite flakes, and to increase the yield of large flake graphite, and the graphite concentrate grade is controlled at 86%~90%.
Selection method 3#: The graphite flakes of fine flake graphite ore are smaller, and the buoyancy is poorer than that of medium flake graphite. The particle size of graphite in the raw ore is 0.03~0.2mm, and the graphite content is 6%~15%. The separation of this type of graphite ore is mainly to improve the purity of graphite, and at the same time protect the graphite flakes from damage, which can reduce the requirement of graphite recovery rate. The grade of graphite concentrate is generally around 90%. In this kind of ore separation, multi-stage grinding and multi-stage separation processes are often used to strengthen the mineral processing.
Selection method 4#: The graphite particle size of aphanitic graphite is generally below 1 μm. Due to its finer graphite particle size, other mineral processing methods can also be used besides the flotation method, such as alkali-acid method, hydrofluoric acid method, high-temperature purification method, etc.
In the graphite flotation process, the flotation equipment used can be inflatable agitation flotation machines, mechanical agitation flotation machines, flotation columns, etc. Among them, KYF type flotation cell and XCF type flotation cell can be selected for inflatable stirring flotation machine, SF type flotation cell, JJF type flotation cell, BF type flotation cell etc. can be selected for mechanical agitation type flotation cell. Among them, the XCF flotation machine can be combined with the KYF flotation machine to form a flotation unit, which can realize the horizontal configuration of the flotation unit without the use of foam pumps, and reduce the infrastructure cost required for the ladder configuration.
In summary
The above is about the content of graphite ore mineral processing equipment. In the actual mineral processing production, the scientific and reasonable mineral processing and mineral processing equipment should be determined according to the properties of graphite and the test results after the mineral processing test, so that the economic benefits of the mineral processing plant and the rational use of resources can be guaranteed.