Process for the selective floatation of kainite from mineral mixtures using sulfated fatty acids as the collector reagent

Abstract

The invention relates to a process for selective flotation of kainite from crushed crude potash salts or, for example, from crystallized salt mixtures obtained by evaporation processes, which in addition to kainite may contain further minerals such as halite, sylvine and other salt minerals, for example, in order to produce a kainite concentrate fraction and a residues fraction. The separation process is characterized in that the crushed or crystallized salt mixture is intensively mixed as a crystallizate suspension with a combination of conditioning agents consisting of a sulfated fatty acid or its alkali metal salt as collecting reagent and a frothing agent known for flotation (for example, glycol ether, monohydric aliphatic alcohols, terpene alcohols, polyglycol ethers, etc.) and is then separated by agitator-driven or pneumatic flotation into a kainite concentrate fraction and a residues fraction. The resulting fractions may be further processed in downstream processes. This process permits industrial-scale processing for selective extraction of kainite from mineral mixtures by means of the flotation process.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.