A Brief Review of Pulp and Froth Rheology in Mineral Flotation

Table 1

Literature (part) related to pulp rheological effects on flotation recovery and grade.

Ore type	Froth rheological effect on recovery and grade	References
Copper flotation	Fibrous minerals increased pulp viscosity and decreased copper recovery	Patra et al. [69]
Quartz flotation	A slight increase in pulp viscosity by glycerol increased the recovery of coarse hydrophobic quartz particles	Xu et al. [74]
Gold flotation	Different pH modifiers and rheology modifiers had different effects on pulp viscosity, resulting in different gold recoveries and grades	Farrokhpay et al. [27]
Copper-gold flotation	Clay minerals increased pulp viscosity; copper recovery decreased as pulp viscosity increased; a slight increase in pulp viscosity increased gold recovery but further increasing the pulp viscosity reduced gold recovery	Zhang and Peng [37]
Copper flotation	Swelling clays increased pulp viscosity and reduced both copper recovery and grade, but nonswelling clays were less influential	Farrokhpay et al. [25]
Copper-gold flotation	Copper recovery and grade decreased with increasing pulp viscosity by bentonite; seawater (salt ions) reduced pulp viscosity in the presence of bentonite and improved copper and gold recoveries but further reduced copper and gold grade	Zhang et al. [27]
Copper flotation	Cations (Na^+, K^+, Mg^2+, and Ca^2+) reduced pulp viscosity and increased copper recovery	Wang et al. [44]
Copper flotation	Copper recovery remained unchanged first and then decreased with increasing pulp viscosity by amorphous silica, while copper grade decreased; gangue entrainment increased first and then decreased with increasing pulp viscosity	Chen et al. [39]
Gold flotation	Lignosulfonate-based biopolymer (DP-1777) increased gold recovery and grade through reducing pulp viscosity; gangue entrainment decreased with decreasing pulp viscosity	Liu et al. [76]
Copper flotation	Copper recovery remained unchanged with increasing pulp viscosity by muscovite, but copper grade decreased as pulp viscosity increased; gangue entrainment increased with increasing pulp viscosity	Farrokhpay et al. [36]