E. Konadu-Yiadom, C.G. Anderson
Colorado School of Mines,
United States
Keywords: monazite, Flotation, Rare Earth Elements
Summary:
Monazite, a crucial rare earth element (REE) mineral, is vital for the sustainable production of materials used in advanced technologies. Despite its significance, limited research has been conducted on its flotation, particularly from both conventional and unconventional sources. Most of the available literature on the flotation of monazite are focused on the separation of monazite from its gangue minerals such as bastnaesite, xenotime and rutile. Sodium oleate, benzoic acid, potassium octyl hydroxamate, and commercial hydroxamate are used as monazite collectors. Potassium alum, sodium silicate, sodium sulfide, sodium oxalate, and sodium metasilicate are used as gangue depressants. Very little is known about the adsorption density and thermodynamics of the adsorption of collectors on the surface of monazite. This research contributes to bridging the knowledge gap in REE bearing Phosphate, Monazite mineral flotation by establishing a systematic approach to collector performance including adsorption density and thermodynamics through process optimization. The findings, supported by chemical analyses and process testing offer insights into efficient beneficiation strategies for REE production from monazite sourced from both conventional and unconventional sources in the United States. Therefore, this poster investigates the performance of different classes of hydroxamate collectors for the selective flotation of monazite and studies the adsorption density and thermodynamics of the adsorption of collectors on the surface of monazite to bridge this knowledge gap.