Flotation of minerals
AssigneeSociete Nationale Elf Aquitaine (Production)
InventorsRaymond Delourme, Jean-Louis Detienne, Jacques Komornicki, Jacques Tellier
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Process of flotation of minerals, which consists of introducing the flotation collector into the mineral pulp to be treated in the form of a microemulsifiable composition. In general, the collector agents are organic compounds containing sulphur, particularly mercaptans, thioethers or polysulphides, which generally are very slightly soluble in water. This process is particularly suitable for minerals based on oxides and sulphides.
Claims11
In the process of froth flotation of copper, lead, zinc or molybdenum values from sulfide and oxide ores in which a flotation collector is added to the water containing mineral pulp and said value is recovered in the froth, the improvement which comprises employing a collector composition comprising a compound serving as the flotation collection selected from the group consisting of mercaptan of 8 to 18 carbon atoms and sulfide of the formula RS.sub.x R' in which R and R' individually are alkyl of 1 to 24 carbon atoms and x is 2 to 8, a liquid microemulsion surfactant and a microemulsion co-surfactant which is a 3 to 8 carbon atom alcohol as the source of the flotation collector, the constituents of said collector composition being present in sufficient proportions as to form a microemulsion.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.