Kinetics and Recovery of Xanthate-Copper Compounds by Ion Flotation Techniques

the recovery of copper in aqueous media by ion flotation in a laboratory flotation cell was carried out. hydrodynamics and gas dispersion parameters were obtained. the results show that the increase of potassium amyl xanthate concentration above the stoichiometric amount considerably affects the efficiency of the separation of copper. in a stage of flotation with recirculation, recoveries of 58% and 66 % were obtained with the flat and the cylindrical spargers respectively. the dispersion parameters and bubble surface area flux (sb) show a good relation with the apparent flotation rate constant (k), even when the superficial gas velocity is 0.8 cm/s, where we can find the appropriate hydrodynamic conditions to carry out the ion flotation. the system subsequently changes from a homogeneous bubble flux to a turbulent flux. gas dispersion results show that superficial gas velocity, superficial liquid velocity, dispersion system geometry and the simulated malfunction of spargers considerably affect the recovery of copper in a multi stage system of five flotation cells. the best recoveries were obtained at low superficial gas velocities, achieving efficiencies of 94%, 90% and 95 % with the flat, cylindrical and battery of four spargers respectively.