Lithium has been used as molten salt in aluminum electrolytic baths, as an additive in glass and ceramic manufacturing, and for lubricant production. With the development of science and technology, the application range of lithium has been further extended—it is particularly widely used in the fields of battery, rubber, refining, refrigeration, welding, medicine, aviation and nuclear power. Lithium isotope 6Li has become the main material of thermonuclear reactions, and lithium is an important energy source for the development of human society, with its wide use in thermonuclear reactions and high-energy lithium batteries. Among more than 130 lithium minerals known so far, the most industrially-valued mineral is spodumene.
Spodumene is being separated by various methods, among which flotation is dominant for lithium ore.
Previous studies on the flotation of spodumene mainly focused on cleaning using anion collectors, which indicates that reagent systems are different depending on the type and amount of gangue minerals present in the ore.
Kim Song Chol, a researcher at the Faculty of Mining Engineering, investigated the effects of several reagents on the flotation performance of spodumene via flotation experiments, and evaluated the mechanism of various components in fatty acid soap on spodumene surface via quantitative mechanical simulations.
The results of an individual experiment and an optimization experiment showed that a concentrate with Li2O grade of 2.55% can be obtained with recovery of 76.89% in roughing flotation.
The simulation results of the interaction energy between spodumene {110} surface and several kinds of fatty acid soap showed the following order of adsorption strength; sodium linoleic acid > sodium linolic acid > sodium oleic acid > sodium palmitin acid > sodium stearic acid.