New

FLOTIGAM® 5806
Collector Developed
for Froth Flotation of
Brazilian Phosphate
Rock

CASE HISTORY

THE BOTTOM LINE

Drawing from 70 years of process optimization experience, Clariant’s CLARIANT MINING SOLUTIONS

FLOTIGAM® 5806 gives a major phosphate mine a collector alternative performance and value delivered.

that... 2750 Technology Forest Blvd.

The Woodlands, TX 77381
USA
 Delivers mineral concentrate with a P2O5 grade of 35.8% Phone +1 281 465 9100

 Improves P2O5 mass recovery www.mining.clariant.com

 Is custom-made and designed to meet changing feed conditions COPYRIGHT ©

CLARIANT INTERNATIONAL LTD 2014
 Lowers collector consumption

OBJECTIVES

A major mining operation in South America produces a purified

phosphate rock for use as raw material in phosphoric acid production and
a number of products for the fertilizer industry, including di ammonium
phosphate (DAP), mono ammonium phosphate (MAP), simple
superphosphate, triple superphosphate (TSP), thermophosphate and
natural phosphate.

Working with an extremely complex phosphate igneous ore, Clariant

developed a new anionic collector to improve the grade of a run of mine
12% P2O5 composition. Clariant needed to design a collector that
produced a phosphate concentrate with P2O5 grade of approximately 35%
and low silicon dioxide, ferric oxide, aluminum oxide, magnesium oxide
and calcium oxide contaminant grade.
To achieve this result, Clariant partnered with the mine staff to provide a
reagent solution that works in conjunction with other plant upgrades to
reach an attractive price-performance balance. In addition to the
importance of collector price, the type of raw material, its toxicity,
biodegradability and other factors figured into the equation.

BACKGROUND

The phosphate igneous alkaline deposits of this mine in Brazil are very
complex in terms of mineralogy. They consist of carbonate and silicate
gangue – mainly calcite, mica and quartz–associated with the apatite.
These deposits have a wide variety of ore typologies with different CLARIANT MINING SOLUTIONS

behaviors in the anionic flotation process. performance and value delivered.

2750 Technology Forest Blvd.

The Woodlands, TX 77381
Phosphate deposits associated with alkaline igneous rocks differ USA
significantly from phosphate resources of sedimentary origin. They are Phone +1 281 465 9100
characterized by low phosphorous grade, approximately 12% in this case,
www.mining.clariant.com
and complex mineralogy. In Brazil, the most abundant phosphate COPYRIGHT ©
resource is associated with igneous rock, notably in the form of CLARIANT INTERNATIONAL LTD 2014

carbonatite intrusion, which occurs in significant concentration in at least

1:2 alkaline-carbonatite complexes.

Froth flotation is the main concentration process applied to phosphate

ores from alkaline-carbonatite complex, primarily because of their low
grades and complex mineralogy. As a semi-soluble salt, apatite is very
susceptible to slight variation in its surface properties, which affect its
flotation behavior.

Prior to a change in ownership at the mine, flotation circuit technicians

used only one collector supplier for the phosphate beneficiation process.
Aware of Clariant’s vast experience in mineral froth flotation, the new
owners turned to Clariant to develop a new collector.

ACTIONS

Clariant technicians first conducted lab trials on ore samples from the
mine. Due to the nature of the valuable minerals (low soluble salt) and the
gangue minerals of this phosphate rock, Clariant determined it was
necessary to develop a different fundamental approach for the collector.
2
The standard fatty acid anionic collector used at the mine is also
commonly used around the world for semi-soluble salt minerals. While
fatty acids and their salts (carboxylates) have collective properties, low
cost and wide-spread availability, they offer low selectivity and require the
use of modifier agents to improve results.

Similarity between the surface chemistry of the apatite and some gangue
minerals is one of the main factors of the selectivity losses in the flotation
process, particularly for those minerals bearing alkaline-earth elements
such as carbonates, iron-magnesium silicates and barite. Additionally, the
flotation process is inherently complex because variations in feed particle
size, water quality, conditioning parameters, and flotation parameters CLARIANT MINING SOLUTIONS

influence performance. performance and value delivered.

2750 Technology Forest Blvd.

The Woodlands, TX 77381
Clariant technicians developed a new type of anionic collector designed to USA
achieve the target P2O5 grade concentrated with a high recovery rate. Phone +1 281 465 9100
After analyzing lab trial results, the Clariant technical staff determined
www.mining.clariant.com
that FLOTIGAM 5806 exhibited the best characteristics to selectively float COPYRIGHT ©
the apatite, while leaving the gangue minerals at the bottom of flotation CLARIANT INTERNATIONAL LTD 2014

cell as tailings.

FLOTIGAM 5806 then went through pilot trials at the mine. The mine’s
staff concluded that Clariant’s new collector met established targets with
the added benefit of lower collector consumption than the standard
collector.

RESULTS

Proven by Clariant in lab and mine plant trials, the new FLOTIGAM 5806
collector offers this phosphate mining operation...

 High P2O5 recovery rates in excess of 90%

 A P2O5 concentrate of 35.8%
 10% lower collector consumption than the standard collector
 Low contaminant grade for SiO2, Fe2O3, Al2O3, MgO and CaO

3
 CLARIANT MINING SOLUTIONS

performance and value delivered.

2750 Technology Forest Blvd.

The Woodlands, TX 77381
USA

Phone +1 281 465 9100

www.mining.clariant.com
COPYRIGHT ©
CLARIANT INTERNATIONAL LTD 2014

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