In this study the unique Magotteaux Mill® system was used to control the grinding chemical conditions, which may be adjusted by varying grinding media, purging gas and pH, during grinding. An electrochemical apparatus was used to investigate oxidation-reduction behaviour of grinding media and sulphide mineral electrodes, as well as their galvanic interaction in-situ of the Magotteaux Mill®. Galvanic interaction between the grinding media (mild steel, 15% chromium, 21% chromium and 30% chromium media) and the sulphide minerals (bornite, arsenopyrite and pyrite) was initially quantified in-situ of the mill by electrochemical techniques under different grinding atmospheres (nitrogen, air and oxygen). An innovative mathematical theoretical model was developed to describe the effect of galvanic interaction on oxidation rates of the grinding media during grinding, which was verified by the experimental data. Galvanic interaction enhanced the oxidation of the grinding media and produced more oxidized iron species in the mill discharge. It was observed that oxidized iron species (EDTA extractable iron) was linear with galvanic current between the grinding media and the sulphide minerals, in agreement with the prediction of the theoretical model. The effect of grinding conditions on pulp chemistry, surface properties and floatability was investigated by the measurement of dissolved oxygen (DO), pH, pulp potential (Eh), ethylene diamine-tetra acetic acid (EDTA) extraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and floatation recovery. / PhD Doctorate
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/173456 |
| Date | January 2005 |
| Creators | Huang, Guozhi |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | EN-AUS |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | Copyright 2007 Guozhi Huang |
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