Development and Utilization of Associated Feldspar and Quartz Resources in Tungsten Ore
摘要
Quartz and feldspar are the main gangue minerals in the tungsten ore, which accounts for 60–90%. Feldspar and quartz are also valuable materials in the manufacture of glass, ceramic, and fillers. Their comprehensive recycles from the tungsten ore is conducive to the efficient utilization of mineral reksources and environmental protection. However, similar crystal structure and chemical composition make feldspar and quartz similar in physical and chemical properties, resulting in the separation of quartz and feldspar difficult. In recent years, flotation has proved to be the most effective method for the separation of feldspar and quartz, which mainly consist of hydrofluoric acid flotation, sulfuric acid flotation, neutral flotation, and alkaline flotation. But the clean separation of feldspar and quartz remains a challenge. This chapter introduces the flotation separation methods and the flotation reagent combinations for the separation of feldspar and quartz whereas their mechanisms are also analyzed. The results showed that the alkaline flotation with metal ions as activators and soaps as collectors has good potential whereas hydrofluoric acid flotation and sulfuric acid flotation have great environmental harm and strong corrosion of equipment. Moreover, the practical cases of the alkaline flotation of quartz from feldspar in the tungsten ore are introduced, and the practical results show that the alkaline flotation achieves the efficient separation of quartz from feldspar, indicating the alkaline flotation have great industrial application potential.