Beneficiation of Barite Ore from Azara in Nassarawa State, Nigeria, using Froth Flotation
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Date
2019
Authors
Mgbemere, Henry E.
Obidiegwu, Eugenia O.
Obareki, Emmanuel
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Publisher
Nigerian Journal of Technological Development
Abstract
Barite ore from Azara in Nassarawa State has been beneficiated using Jigging and Froth Flotation techniques by varying the pH of the solution. The chemical analysis indicates the presence of major elements Ba, S, O and minor elements like Ti, V, Al and Si which confirms that it is barite while the particle size analysis showed that the average particle size is ≈ 150 μm with a 1,167 cm2/g specific surface area. The X-ray diffraction analysis of both the as-mined ore and beneficiated samples indicate increased intensity in the later. The jigging result shows that 51% of the feed is the underflow while 46.7% is the overflow. The measured specific gravity as a function of pH show that values between 3.78 and 4.23 are obtained. The elemental composition of the Barite after beneficiation shows that in addition to high contents of BaO and SO3, the amount of SiO2 present is still very high. The sample with a pH value of 7 gave the highest specific-gravity value of 4.23 while that with pH of 3 gave the lowest specific-gravity value of 3.78. The implication is that the barite sample with pH of 7 is acceptable for oil and gas applications while more work is needed for samples with other pH values.
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Research Subject Categories::TECHNOLOGY::Chemical engineering::Metallurgical process and manufacturing engineering