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Flotation Recovery of Barite from Ore using Palm Bunch Based Collector

Ogwuegbu Martins, Achusim-Udenko, A. C. Onyedika Gerald and Ayuk Ausaji

Froth flotation of Azara barite ore was carried out using a mixture of available raw materials, the burnt empty palm (Eleasis guineesis) bunch solution, and analytical grade palmitic acid as collector, sodium silicate as depressant. Optimum recovery was obtained at collector concentration of 0.01 moles litre-1. Energy Dispersive X-ray spectrophotometric analysis of the feed ore and concentrate showed an increase from 75.4 % to 91.1 % BaSO4, respectively. The variation of flotation parameters show that between pH range of 4 and 10 and equilibration time of 10 minutes, barite recovery increased. Analysis of the processed palm bunch showed that its major chemical component is K2O (52.1%) which generates KOH on hydrolysis. The investigation reveals that palmitic acid and palm bunch product is a good collector for barite.