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ORIGINAL ARTICLE
a
Higher Institute of Fine Arts of Sousse, Station Square, 4000 Sousse, Tunisia
b
Earth Sciences Department, Faculty of Sciences of Gabes, Riadh, Zirig City, 6072 Gabes, Tunisia
KEYWORDS Abstract In this study, physical and physicochemical experiments were carried out to improve the
Feldspar; quality of feldspar ore in Sidi A ch massive, located in the Gafsa region of south-western Tunisia.
Quartz; After determination of the mineralogical and the chemical composition, otation methods were
Hydrouoric acid; applied. In this study, non-hydrouoric acid otation methods used in feldspar-quartz separation
Non-HF otation methods; were compared with each other and with the conventional HF/amine method. The results showed
Ceramic; that conventional HF/amine method is the most effective and selective method.
Dielectric Experimental studies indicate that an acceptable concentrate for industrial application can be
obtained from these rocks. The feldspar yield was used to evaluate the process efciency. Besides,
the cone shrinkage, water absorption, degree of vitrication, mechanical properties (exural
strength) and dielectric behaviour were used to monitor the quality of the recovered feldspars.
2011 King Saud University. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +216 22 874 565; fax: +216 75 392 The demand for feldspar as a raw material for the ceramic and
421. glass industries is continuously increasing. In Tunisia, the tra-
E-mail addresses: moh_gaied@yahoo.fr (M.E. Gaied), gallala_ ditional sources of feldspar, pegmatite and nepheline syenite
wissem@yahoo.fr (W. Gallala). ores do not exist. This implies a great importation of this
raw material (26 millions dinars, at 2007). It became, therefore,
1878-5352 2011 King Saud University. Production and hosting by
imperative to look at other types of deposits, such as arkosic
Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
sandstone. In south and central Tunisia, extensive deposits
Peer review under responsibility of King Saud University. of arkosic sandstone (Sidi A ch Formation) are present. In this
doi:10.1016/j.arabjc.2011.04.011 formation, there are two major industrial minerals potash
feldspar (microcline) and quartz.
Many papers on the application of collectors in the ota-
Production and hosting by Elsevier
tion of feldspar have been published. Feldspar has been tradi-
tionally separated from quartz using amine type cationic
Please cite this article in press as: Gaied, M.E., Gallala, W. Beneciation of feldspar ore for application in the ceramic industry:
Inuence of composition on the physical characteristics. Arabian Journal of Chemistry (2011), doi:10.1016/j.arabjc.2011.04.011
2 M.E. Gaied, W. Gallala
Table 1 Chemical analysis of the different size fractions of Sidi Aich sand.
Size fraction (lm) Mass (%) CaO MgO SiO2 Fe2O3 Al2O3 Na2O K2O
Feed (raw material) 100 0.12 0.06 89.85 0.28 4.07 0.15 2.94
500 + 315l 2.85 0.62 0.19 82.22 0.57 7.95 0.18 4.77
315 + 200l 9.63 0.21 0.07 86.64 0.28 6.57 0.16 4.86
200 + 125l 75.7 0.46 0.05 83.56 0.31 8.16 1.83 2.21
125 + 80l 8.57 0.16 0.09 92 0.39 3.4 0.23 1.97
80 + 63l 1.1 0.45 0.19 87.71 0.85 4.91 0.54 2.12
63l 1 1.23 0.38 79.08 1.37 8.81 0.59 2.74
collectors and hydrouoric acid as activator for feldspar while quartz does not oat. Feldspar was oated using tallow
(Rabone, 1957; Shimoiizaka et al.,1976; Manser, 1975; Thom, amine acetate at a pH of 23 (Abdel-Khalek et al., 1994;
1962; Crozier, 1990; Demir et al., 2003). Sekulic et al., 2004), with a pulp density of 25%. Hydrouoric
The use of HF is no longer acceptable due to environmental acid (HF) was used as quartz depressant and feldspar activa-
restrictions and health hazards. Several research investigations tor. This is accomplished by adding about 2000 g/t of 40%
and experimental studies have been successful in developing a concentrated HF. No frother was added and the collector dos-
non-HF otation process for the separation of quartz and feld- age was optimized at 600 g/t of Aero 3030C, collector supplied
spar (Katayanagi, 1974; Malghan, 1976; Malghan, 1981). El by CYTEC United states and composed of Amines, tallow al-
Salmawy et al. (1993a) oated quartz from feldspar using an kyl acetates and Ethyl hexanole. Non-hdrouoric acid ota-
anionic surfactant in the presence of metal hydroxy complexes tion method was applied using anioniccationic collector
or by using nonionic surfactants (El-Salmavy et al., 1993b). A combination (Cutusamine 9002 + E 526 supplied by ArrMaz
combined cationicanionic collector, N-tallow-1,3-propylene Florida, United States).
diamine/dioleate, was also applied on feldspar ores (Vidyadhar The oated fraction (the feldspar concentrate) and un-
et al., 2002). oated fraction (the quartz concentrate) were analysed for to-
This paper describes the application of non-hydrouoric tal balance by an Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer
acid otation methods used in feldspar-quartz separation (AAS) Perkin Elmer for the following oxides: SiO2, Al2O3,
and the comparison with conventional HF/amine method. In Fe2O3, MgO, CaO, Na2O, K2O, TiO2.
order to enhance the feldspar beneciation, this study seeks This feldspar was dry milled in a ball mill for 30 min to
to determine the mechanical and dielectric behaviour of cera- homogenize the mixture. The samples were dried for 48 h in
mic based on oated feldspar. air and then at 110 C for 24 h in an electric furnace. After dry-
ing, they were formed into a cylinder with 16 mm in diameter
2. Materials and methods and 5 mm in thickness using uniaxial moulding and then
pressed at 100 MPa. The formed sample was sintered at
The representative ore sample is obtained from Gafsa Province 1230 C for 24 h (condition used by the industrial).
(Kanguet El Ouara), Tunisia (Table 1). For the size analysis, The densication behaviour was described in terms of ring
standard sieves from the AFNOR series were used. Minus shrinkage, water absorption, and diametral compressive
63 lm particles were separated by wet sieving after attrition strength. Firing shrinkage values upon drying and sintering
in Wemco, Unitec machine, equipped with a 9 l cell. Attrition were evaluated from the variation of the length of the bodies.
was carried out at 1400 rpm impeller speed for 5 min and 70 Water absorption values were determined from the weight dif-
percent solids by weight. The oversized particles were reground ferences between the as-sintered and the water saturated sam-
to 250 lm in a ceramic ball mill in order to minimize the iron ples (immersed for 2 h in boiling water), according to the
contamination of the sample. Flotation experiments were con- French standard (AFNOR EN 99, 1982).
ducted with 250 + 63 lm test sample in a self-aerated The bending strength values were determined by using an
Denver D12 otation machine, equipped with a 3-l cell. Both universal testing machine (model NETSZH). We calculated
conditioning and otation were carried out at the same impel- average values of bending strength using the equation: R (N/
ler speed (1200 rpm) and percent solids by weight (2030%). A mm2) = 3FL/bh2, where F is the breaking load in kilograms,
conditioning period of 5 min. for the rst-stage conditioning L = 29.67 mm the distance between supports, b the sample
and 3 min. for the subsequent stages of collector addition width in millimetres and h the sample thickness in millimetres.
was utilized. This test is carried out according to the French standard
In order to reduce the TiO2 and Fe2O3 content of the ore, (AFNOR EN 100, 1982).
an anionic collector, namely E 526 supplied by ArrMaz
Florida, United States, which is based on sodium petroleum 3. Sample characterization
sulfonates and known to have selectivity for these minerals,
was used. Sidi A ch sand is composed of weekly cemented grains. Grain
The feldspar minerals and quartz were separated from each size distribution of sample is shown in Table 1, about 90% of
other by otation of feldspar minerals and depression of the sample is more than 125 lm. Examination of thin and pol-
quartz minerals. Both feldspar and quartz in amine otation ished sections was supplemented by SEM-EDX and X-ray dif-
and in the absence of HF need not be oated at pH less than fraction analysis showed that the ore contains mainly quartz
4. However, in the presence of HF feldspar is oated at pH 23 and microcline that display cross-hatch twinning and fresh
Please cite this article in press as: Gaied, M.E., Gallala, W. Beneciation of feldspar ore for application in the ceramic industry:
Inuence of composition on the physical characteristics. Arabian Journal of Chemistry (2011), doi:10.1016/j.arabjc.2011.04.011
Beneciation of feldspar ore for application 3
Figure 2 X-ray diffraction pattern of representative sample (A: albite; K: kaolinte; M: microcline and Q: quartz).
Please cite this article in press as: Gaied, M.E., Gallala, W. Beneciation of feldspar ore for application in the ceramic industry:
Inuence of composition on the physical characteristics. Arabian Journal of Chemistry (2011), doi:10.1016/j.arabjc.2011.04.011
4 M.E. Gaied, W. Gallala
Please cite this article in press as: Gaied, M.E., Gallala, W. Beneciation of feldspar ore for application in the ceramic industry:
Inuence of composition on the physical characteristics. Arabian Journal of Chemistry (2011), doi:10.1016/j.arabjc.2011.04.011
Beneciation of feldspar ore for application 5
The results of the physical tests illustrated by water absorp- Gallala, W., Gaied, M.E., Montacer, M., 2009a. Concentration of
tion, shrinkage and bending strength beside their good resis- potassium feldspar from low-grade Sidi A ch sand in tunisia for
tance for electric charges suggest that the feldspars of the industrial applications. Silicates Ind. 74, 125130.
studied area can also satisfy the requirements of the ceramic Gallala, W., Gaied, M.E., Montacer, M., 2009b. Detrital mode,
mineralogy and geochemistry of the Sidi A ch Formation (Early
industry.
Cretaceous) in central and southwestern Tunisia: Implications for
provenance, tectonic setting and paleoenvironment. J. African
Earth Sci. 53 (4-5), 159170.
Gallala, W. Les sables quartzo-feldspathiques de la Tunisie centro-
Acknowledgements
meridionale: sedimentologie, mineralogie, mineralurgie et applica-
tions industrielles, PhD Thesis, Faculty of Sciences Sfax, Tunisia
Thanks are extended to Dr. B. Kachaou for dielectric analyses (2010).
to Pr. Z. Fakhfakh for the SEM operation. We are grateful to Gallala, W., Gaied, M.E., Kchaou, B., 2011. Mineralogical and
Pr. M.S. El Salmawy for his constructive comments and to Pr. physico-chemical characterization of sintered Tunisian feldspathic
M. Montacer for his help with the improvement of the manu- sand. Annales de Chimie Science des Materiaux 35 (5), 261267.
script. We are grateful to F. Chauvelot (CYTEC), G. Wang Katayanagi, A., 1974. Flotation separation of feldspar. United States
and S.H. Sutherland (ArrMaz Custom Chemicals) for provid- Patent. Patent No: 3.844.939.
ing the samples of otation reagents. Konta, J., 1979. Ceramic Monographs, Handbook of Ceramics, Verlag
Schmid Gmb, H Freiburg, pp: 800.
Malghan, S.G., 1976. Selective otation of feldspar in non-uoride
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Please cite this article in press as: Gaied, M.E., Gallala, W. Beneciation of feldspar ore for application in the ceramic industry:
Inuence of composition on the physical characteristics. Arabian Journal of Chemistry (2011), doi:10.1016/j.arabjc.2011.04.011