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OBJECTIVE
Approximately 50 tones of Arkansas bauxite were produced for the
purpose of beneficiation using a dry pulverization flow sheet, followed by
wet processing on a small commercial high intensity wet magnetic
separator, followed by dewatering and calcinations to produce high grade
calcined bauxite meeting National Stockpile Specifications.
TECHNICAL APPROACH
A typical flow sheet used for the processing of kaolin is shown in
Figure 1. Tasks include a dry handling section, followed by wet
beneficiation, and finally a dewatering section.
Only four of the unit operations described in Figure 1 are necessary
in the proposed bauxite beneficiation flow sheet. These are blunging,
screening, magnetic separation, and classification by centrifuge
(dewatering) and are circled in Figure 1. In addition, it will be necessary to
use an extrusion and a calcining step.
Figure 2 shows the dry process flow sheet to be used for size
reduction of the bauxite ore to prepare for the wet process flow sheet and
calcinations shown in Figure 3.
The proposed sequence used in the beneficiation of bauxite is
Circled on the kaolin flow sheet, Figure 1.
The sequence in Figure 3 consists of the following:
6) Blunge (make down bauxite in water slurry to approximately 25%
Solids)
7) screen slurry on 200 meshes (to remove oversize which could plug
Matrix in magnet)
8) magnetic separation (to remove most of Fe2O3 and some TiO2);
9)dewater the non -magnetic fraction using a solid bowl
Centrifuge;
10) Extrude and calcine beneficiated bauxite (pressure extrusion to
Achieve high density after calcining); and
11) Screen calcined bauxite and package for shipping.
The preliminary results shown in Table II reveal that the nonmagnetic
fraction contains 2.93% Fe2O3 vs. 2.5% required by the refractory grade
specifications (calcined basis). It is confidently expected that grinding of the
bauxite on commercial equipment will reduce fineness below 325 mesh and
enable the magnetic separation step to reduce the Fe2O3 content below 2.5%.
In all other respects, the calcined non -magnetic fraction was significantly
improved compared to National Stockpile Specifications. The alumina
content was over 5%, higher than the specifications, while the SiO2a n dTiO2
contents were only half of that permitted by the National Stockpile Specifications.
Average density after firing was 3.50 vs. 3.05 required by the
Specifications. Previous work (Halaka and Iannicelli, Reference 2) show
that a 1% reduction inTiO2 content was equal to a 3% reduction in Fe2O3
content, as far as refractory properties are concerned.
As mentioned, the critical magnetic separation step to reduce Fe2O3
in hydrous bauxite has been demonstrated on a PEM 5" pilot plant high
intensity wet magnetic separator on a wide variety of bauxites, including
Arkansas bauxite (Reference 1).
In summary, the proposed flow sheet in Figure 3 is a selective
amalgamation of kaolin wet process know-how with bauxite calcinations
practice. It requires special attention to avoid introduction of deleterious
soluble salts in the bauxite and to achieve the desired reduction in iron
Content by magnetic separation.
CHEMICAL REQUIREMENTS
Hydrous Calcined Bauxite Type
Bauxite I
Head Sample –
56.6 2.6 8.65 2.46 0.14 0.10 0.01 0.02
Hydrous*
Head Sample –
82.4 2.98 10.69 3.51 0.20 0.14 0.02 0.03
Calcined 3000° F*
Nonmagnetic-
Calcined 3000° F*
92.1 3.12 2.93 1.61
(120 Seconds
Retention-20KG)
National Stockpile
Refractory Grade 86.5 7.00 2.5 3.75 0.30
Type I