ASSESSMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS: RESIDUAL COLLECTORS ANALYSIS IN WATER FROM FLOTATION PROCESS

摘要

Amines are compounds that carry one or more nitrogen atoms attached to alkyl group. The alkyl group constitutes the amines hydrophobic portion and has different chains and length. Amine salts are normally used as flotation agents (collectors) and are the most important cationic collectors at reverse iron ore flotation in Brazil. The reverse iron ore flotation basically consists of the selective separation of quartz particles from hematite. The amines, at the froth flotation processes, are added to the system being adsorbed on the quartz surface, and both are removed from the flotation cell as foam. Amines compounds can be released into the tailing dams after industrial flotation processes and still remain in the water left from the process. The present paper describes a new methodology development to analyze the residual amine in water from flotation process to evaluate the water quality in tailing dams besides can be applied to optimize the dosage.