Selection of Temperature regimes for conditioning and flotation of diamond-bearing kimberlite with compound collectors

The condition for stable fixation of a collector on the surface of diamonds and their flotation is the use of collectors of the optimal fractional composition and the choice of the optimum temperature regime of the process. To determine the parameters of the diamond flotation regime, the regularities of the phase transitions of asphaltene-tar fractions at increasing temperature and diluting F-5 with technical diesel fraction were established. It was demonstrated that increasing the collector temperature leads to the transfer of asphaltenetar fractions to a dissolved and finely dispersed state. To an even greater extent, dissolving asphaltene-tar fractions is facilitated by the addition of medium- and low-molecular weight fractions of oil, for instance, a technical diesel fraction.
It was revealed that the KM-10, KM-14, and KM-18 reagents, being compounds of F-5 fuel oil with technical diesel fraction (10–18 % DF), were characterized by optimal viscosity and ability to displace aqueous phase from a diamond surface, thus ensuring stable hydrophobization and high floatability of diamonds. The optimal temperature regime has been selected, which involved maintaining the temperature at the stage of conditioning with the collector at +30–40 °С, at which the maximum selective fixation of compound collectors on the diamond surface, characterized by the value of the limiting wetting angle, was achieved. The flotation tests have confirmed that the best results are achieved at a temperature of +30–40 °С at the conditioning stage and +14–24 °С at the flotation stage. At +24 °С, the best results were obtained for the relatively less diluted KM-10 and KM-14 fuel oils obtained by diluting F-5 fuel oil with a technical diesel fraction at the diluent volume fractions of 10 and 14 %. The diamond recovery achieved in the flotation tests was 3.8–4.5 % higher than when using the traditional collector, F-5 fuel oil. At +14 °С, the highly diluted fuel oil, KM-18 with a volume fraction of 18 % of the technical diesel fraction, demonstrated better collecting abilities.
The optimal compositions of the collector and the regimes of feed preparation and flotation were tested at a foam separation unit. The tests showed that it is possible to increase diamond recovery into concentrate by 2.3–4.5 %. The recommendations are provided on the use of thermal conditioning in the foam separation cycle and maintaining the conditioning medium temperature at +30–40 °С and the foam separation temperature at +14–24 °С.

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