Hydrogen bubble flotation of fine minerals containing calcium

One characteristic of electro-flotation is the presence of micro bubbles that are well known for improving the flotation performance of fine particles. An electro-flotation method was studied with fine scheelite and fluorite particles sized into three different fractions. Experiments were performed in a modified Hallimond tube. We investigated the effects of gas holdup, particle size, and different mesh electrode apertures on mineral recovery. Flotation results show that two size fractions show increased flotation recovery as the gas holdup increases. For the sized scheelite and fluorite, the flotation effect is diverse for different sizes of the cathode aperture. Pictures of the bubbles taken by a high speed CCD were used to determine the hydrogen bubble size distribution generated as a function of collector, current density, and electrode size. The diameters of the hydrogen bubbles ranged from 12 to 117 μm in alkaline conditions.