Investigation of the relationship between the particle size distribution and the kinetic parameters in pyrite flotation

The effect of the feed size distribution on the kinetic parameters in pyrit e flotation was studied. The kinetic parameters of the particular sizes wer e determined as a function of whether other particle sizes were present. Fr om the data, a relation between the pyrite flotation rate and the particle size distributions was obtained. It was shown that the flotation rate const ant (k) is a function of the size modulus (d(t)) of the Gates-Gaudin-Schuhm ann distribution, and its variation may be expressed as k = a . exp(b . d(t )) for either individual size fractions or composite feed. Parameters a and b are dependent on the particle size distribution of the feed. Specificall y, parameter a increases linearly as the distribution becomes coarser. The above relationship was also tested under conditions in which the collector (KAX) dosage was varied from 130 to 278 g/t. It was shown that the establis hed relation was not dependent on the collector dosage.