Date of Award

2025

Document Type

Open Access Master's Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science in Chemical Engineering (MS)

Administrative Home Department

Department of Chemical Engineering

Advisor 1

Timothy C. Eisele

Committee Member 1

Lei Pan

Committee Member 2

Robert M. Handler

Abstract

The reprocessing of tailings is crucial for recovering valuable iron and reducing the environmental impact associated with tailings disposal. This study investigates the practicality of reprocessing tailings to enhance iron oxide content, combining electrostatic separation with a two-stage froth flotation process using oleic acid (direct flotation) and amine (reverse flotation). The primary goal is to efficiently recover valuable iron from tailings, thereby reducing waste and promoting sustainable resource utilization. The process aims to upgrade the iron oxide content to around 93-99% Fe2O3, making the recovered material suitable for the production of direct-reduced iron.

Electrostatic separation was first used to produce a pre-concentrate while rejecting the bulk of the silicate minerals. The pre-concentrate undergoes direct flotation, which successfully enriches the iron oxide content from 25% to 72% Fe2O3. This initial stage serves as a bulk separation process, removing a significant portion of the non-iron-bearing components. Subsequently, a reverse flotation technique is applied to further refine the iron oxide concentrate. The implementation of reverse flotation on the direct flotation product resulted in a substantial increase in iron oxide content, achieving a final grade between 93% and 99% Fe2O3. This two-stage flotation approach, complemented by electrostatic separation, demonstrates a promising pathway for efficient tailings reprocessing and iron recovery, offering both economic and environmental benefits. The findings suggest that this method could be an effective strategy for valorizing tailings and reducing reliance on primary iron ore sources.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

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